Backup Moodle Course for Safe Keeping or for use on another Moodle site

A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup.  An Instructor can create a backup or download an existing backup for safe keeping, or for use on another Moodle site.

To backup a course

1. Open course.
2.  Administration block > Course Administration > Backup.
3. Initial settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required
   • Typically you do not need to save any user information if you are saving a course shell to use for a new semester or to provide to another instructor, or for use on another Moodle site.  
     • Checked items to include: activities and resources, blocks, filters, calendar events, question bank, groups and groupings, competencies.
     • Unchecked items: IMS enrolled users, Anonymize user information, Include user role assignments, Include comments, Include badges, Include user completion details, Include course logs, Include grade history.
   • Then click the Next button.
4. Schema settings - Select/deselect specific items to include in backup, then click the Next button.  Typically you would select all course activities and user data will have a red X. 
5. If desired, select specific types of activity to be backed up by clicking the link 'Show type options'. Review the list, then select Next.
6. Confirmation and review - Check that everything is as required, using the Previous button if necessary, otherwise click the 'Perform backup' button
7. Complete - Click the Continue button
8. A backup file (with distinctive .mbz extension to avoid confusion with .zip files) is then saved in the course backup area. Backup file names are of the form backup-moodle2-course-coursename-date-hour.mbz, ending in -nu.mbz when backed up with no users and -an.mbz with anonymized names.
9. Select the link to download the file to a computer or external hard drive.

Next steps:  Read article Restore Moodle Course from Backup file (.mbz)