Moodle: Course Backup and Restore

Creating a Moodle Backup

To backup a course,

1. Go into the desired course.
2. Near the top of the course page, click on the More tab and choose the Course Reuse option.
3. Click on the drop down menu and select the Backup option.
4. Click jump to final step and wait as your backup file is created. 
5. After the file has been created, click Continue.
   You will be taken to a page where you can restore and/or download your backup file.
6. Click the download link to save the file to your Downloads folder.
   If you do not download the backup file immediately, you can always go More⇒Course Reuse⇒Restore, to access your course backup file.

ℹ️ Note: It is against FERPA and College Policies for faculty to keep student records, and therefore faculty are not allowed to include Users in their Moodle course backup files.

Restoring a Course

To restore a course from a backup file,

1. Go into the desired course.
2. Near the top of the course page, click on the More tab and choose the Course Reuse option.
3. Click on the drop down menu and select the Restore option.
4. You can either upload the backup file from your personal storage or choose a file from the course backup list.
5. Once the file is selected, click the Restore button. 
6. Follow the steps below through the restoration process.
   1. Confirm - Check that everything is as required then click the Continue button
   2. Destination - Choose whether you would like to merge courses or if you would like to delete the old course material and create a new course with the Backup file, the click Continue. 
   3. Settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and possibly other items as required then click the Next button
   4. Schema - Select/deselect specific items and amend the course name, short name and start date if necessary then click the Next button
   5. Review - Check that everything is as required, using the Previous button if necessary, then click the 'Perform restore' button
   6. Complete - Click the Continue button

Questions? 

If you need further assistance or have specific questions that aren't covered in this article, please don't hesitate to reach out for personalized support by submitting a Moodle Support ticket. 

Acknowledgements

Created by Carly Born, Em Palencia, Sam Johnson-Lacoss '24 and Paul Claudel Izabayo '25.