# How to read this guide?

This guide has been written as a reference with a smooth learning curve, getting you through the installation, configuration and backup process (see *Installation and configuration*), then the general configuration options (see *Platform administration*), then user management (see *Users management*), then through courses management (see\_Courses management\_), sessions management (see Sessions management), and then a series of global features or extensions you need to know about (see Global features).

If you want to go along practising with this book without installing your own Chamilo portal (which we **do not** recommend, as you will miss the first requirement to be a Chamilo admin: be able to install it), you can have a go as *admin* on our development portal: [http://stable.chamilo.org](http://stable.chamilo.org/). This portal is normally only there for development purposes, but you can access it as a temporal fix if you are stuck.

A considerable amount of seriously relevant information has been added as footnotes, so make sure you check them if you think the guide is missing something.

You will find this guide can serve as a quick reference too, thanks to its Frequently asked questions chapter.

If this guide doesn't answer your questions, you can use the Chamilo forum, where numerous other users, teachers or administrators, but also developers of the software, will be able to help you find the answers.

Finally, in the eventuality of having greater needs, you might also use the services of our [official providers](https://chamilo.org/providers), a group of companies and institutions which provide professional services around Chamilo, have proven their involvement and seriousness in the project and are sustaining its collaborative model.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.chamilo.org/1.11.x/admin-guide/chamilo-_what_is_it/how_to_read_this_guide.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.