Incorporate Dropbox files in your Moodle course

Dropbox is a free file hosting service that offers cloud storage, file synchronisation, personal cloud and client software.

You may want to incorporate Dropbox files into your Moodle course if:

  • you are already using Dropbox for teaching or as a School-wide file repository
  • your course contains multiple files that don't need to be edited, or
  • your course already utilises legacy course files.

If you regularly update files used in a Moodle course, it is easier to keep them updated in Moodle using Dropbox than it is using legacy course files.

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Advantages and disadvantages of using Dropbox

Advantages

  • Dropbox offers a user-friendly interface.
  • You don't need to be logged in to either Dropbox or Moodle for a file to be updated in Moodle.
  • Dropbox is integrated with many mobile devices, including the iPad.
  • Dropbox is useful even when not linked with Moodle, for backing up files, for making files accessible from all your devices and for sharing files.

Disadvantages

  • Dropbox is a third-party service, so the external service provider for Moodle, Netspot, cannot assist you if you experience issues using it.
  • If you change the location, within Dropbox, of a file that is linked to Moodle, you will break the link.
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How to link Moodle to Dropbox
  1. On the Adding/Updating page for any activity or resource that allows file upload, click Add in the file selection box.

      2. In the File picker, select Dropbox.

      3. In the File picker's right-hand panel, click Login.

      4. In the Dropbox - API Request Authorization - Sign in window, enter your user name and password and click Sign in.

      5. In the  API Request Authorization - Dropbox window, click Allow. The window will close and your Dropbox files will display in the File picker.

     6. Navigate to the file you want to insert and click its icon.

     7. In the Select box, select Create an alias/shortcut to the file. (This ensures that when the file is updated in Dropbox, it is also updated in Moodle.) Click Select this file.

     8. The file displays in the Moodle file selection box, with a blue arrow at the bottom left to indicate that this is a linked resource. Click Save and return to course.