Why use it?

A Moodle book is useful for displaying lengthy information. It is a multi-page resource organised into chapters and sub-chapters, which can contain text as well as embedded images and videos.

A book within a Moodle space is much more accessible for students (compared to a series of PDFs or links), and easier for editors to update.

Students can page through information or use the table of contents which opens automatically in the Blocks Drawer area on the right.

Expand to view Book screenshots

 

Open

 

Step 1: Add a book

EDIT MODE ON. Scroll to the section where you want your book to be displayed, click Add an activity or resource and pick Book.

Expand to view screenshot

Open

Select ‘Book’ from Resources menu

 

Step 2: Settings

General

Give the book a meaningful Name and, optionally, a Description.

Appearance

Choose how you want the chapters and sub-chapters of the book to be displayed in the Table of Contents.

Chapter Formatting

• None – Titles only, useful if you want to define your own numbering.

• Numbers (default) – formatted as 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.

• Bullets – Titles and sub-chapters appear with bullets and indented.

• Indented – Sub-chapters appear indented.

Custom titles

Tick the box if you do not want to use the same title in the table of contents and on the main chapter page. For example, you might use ‘Lecture One’ in the contents list, but give the page itself a longer title, such as ‘Chapter One: Introduction to Economics’.

Click Save and display.

Step 3: Add chapters

Add the first chapter

Enter a Chapter Title and populate the Content area.

Click Save changes.

Add more chapters

From the Table of contents add further chapters or sub-chapters by clicking on the plus sign icon＋. Repeat as above.

Step 4: Manage your chapters

Edit a chapter

From the Table of contents edit a chapter or a sub-chapters by clicking on the cog iconnext to it. 

Delete a chapter

From the Table of contents delete a chapter or a sub-chapter by clicking on the bin icon next to it. 

Hide a chapter

From the Table of contents hide a chapter or a sub-chapter by clicking on the eye icon next to it. 

Reorder chapters

From the Table of contents reorder chapters or a sub-chapter using the up/down arrows .

Export and Import chapters

From the quick navigation menu at the top, you can choose to import and export chapters. This option is only available to editors and managers. It is not visible to students.

The ‘Import from Microsoft Word’ option allows editors to upload a document as a book chapter. However, it is only possible to add one chapter at a time, and the uploaded file must be in '.docx' format.

If you wish to download a whole book for easy reuse in other modules, you should use the IMS content package option instead. See the section below on [#Reusing book content] for details.

Step 5: Using the book

Navigation

Navigation is possible via:

• the table of contents on the right (the blocks drawer opens automatically when book is opened)

• the next and previous buttons.

Printing

The whole book or selected chapters can be printed by anyone who can read the book. Check the MORE link of the top course menu. PRINT BOOK or PRINT THIS CHAPTER.

Step 6: Reusing book content

Exporting a book from one course and importing it into another

Export from one module

To export an entire book from one course, open the book. Click on the MORE link of the top course menu

Click ‘DOWNLOAD IMS CP’. Moodle will create a .zip file, which will be automatically downloaded to your device.

Import to another module

Navigate to the module to which you wish to add the book and create a new book into which to import your content (see Step 1 above).

Inside the new book choose IMPORT CHAPTER at the top.

Upload the .zip file of your book.

Make sure that the ‘Type’ drop down is set to ‘Each HTML file represents one chapter’.

Click ‘Import’.