Course Import and Export

Chamilo supports importing and exporting courses for backup, migration, and content sharing purposes.

These features are located inside the course, in the Maintenance tool located under the cog icon at the top of the course homepage.

Exporting a Course

Teachers can export their own courses from the course Maintenance tool. As an administrator, you can export any course:

1. Enter the course

2. Access the Course maintenance tool

3. Select Create a backup

4. Choose what to include (content, user data, etc.)

5. Download the export file

The export creates a package containing the course's documents, exercises, forums, learning paths, and configuration.

Importing a Course

To import a course from a Chamilo export file:

1. Enter the course

2. Access the Course maintenance tool

3. In the Import backup section, upload the export file

4. Choose what to include (content, user data, etc.)

5. Configure import options:

   • Whether to overwrite existing content

   • Whether to include user data

6. Run the import

Copying a Course

To copy the contents from another course into your course, you will need a source course and a destination course to be created first.

1. Enter the destination course

2. Access the Course maintenance tool

3. In the Copy course section, select the Source course

4. Validate the options

5. Click Continue and follow the instructions

Common Cartridge

Chamilo supports the IMS Common Cartridge 1.3 (IMS CC 1.3) standard for interoperability with other learning management systems. You can:

• Import Common Cartridge packages (.imscc files)

• Export course content in Common Cartridge format

This allows content exchange with other platforms that support the Common Cartridge standard (Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, etc.).

Recycling a course

The course recycling feature simply allows you to keep the shell of the course but to erase its content.

Deleting a course

This will completely erase your course, including all its contents and the user activity in it.

To delete a course permanently:

1. Enter the destination course

2. Access the Course maintenance tool

3. In the Completely delete this course section, enter the code of the course manually to confirm your intention

4. Validate

You then get redirected to the portal homepage, because the course does not exist anymore.

Moodle Import

Chamilo can import course backups from Moodle. The importer converts Moodle's content structure to Chamilo's format, including quizzes, documents, and course settings.

Work in progress. Although it already covers a wide base, the Moodle importer does not currently cover every Moodle activity type and content format. Treat it as a starting point that may still require manual adjustment after the import completes. If you detect any failing/missing element in the import or export, please report it to us through our Github space by clicking New issue at the top and giving as much details as possible (including the course backup itself if it's not confidential).

Tips

• Regular backups — Encourage teachers to export their courses periodically as a backup

• Test imports — When importing content from another platform, test the import in a trial course first to verify that everything transferred correctly

• Content portability — Use Common Cartridge format when you need to share content with other LMS platforms