How can I save my course for safekeeping?

You should use the Archive or Export process to extract your course data into a single compressed file outside of Blackboard.

This file can then be later restored back into Blackboard. When you do this you will be given a link to the archive file, which is always in a ZIP compressed file format.

Note: you can extract uploaded files from this zip using standard zip file tools, like WinZip, but you cannot extract any of the other information, like student work, gradebook, or discussions.

Why should you do this?

• Do this as a safekeeping procedure. It is very important because once a course is deleted or removed from Blackboard, it can NOT be gotten back. Really. Never. Practice defensive computing and archive your data.

Remember: Any instructor could inadvertently remove any other Instructor’s course. And it has happened.

When should you archive?

• Once you have all the material in it at the beginning of a term, archive it before you make it available to students. Then you have a clean backup of the course. Archive again later on whenever you make major changes that you might want to save, especially at the end of the semester.

How to Archive a Course

1. : Click on the Control Panel > Archive Course command.
2. When the archive process is done, you should see a screen the says in small print: Status: The operation archive has completed.



3. You must now save the archive file to your local computer hard drive. Follow the prompts and (in Windows) right click on the link:

Browser Notes:

• In Firefox (See image below), the menu will say “Save Link As”
• In Internet Explorer, the menu will say “Save Target As”
• In Safari, click the link and it will download to your desktop

1. In the save dialog box, choose a place to save the file to your hard drive. The file name Blackboard creates will always of the form “ArchiveFile_” plus the course id. You can and should add to this filename to make it more descriptive; for instance, adding the term, year, or date to it.
2. At the next screen, click the Submit button to start the process. The process may take some time (10 to 30 seconds) to complete depending on the size of your course.

Note: If you do not see the archive complete message, then archive process failed for some reason: DO NOT continue or remove your course. Please contact Randy first.

Click the Save button to complete the process.