Files and Folders

Folders

A folder stores files and other folders in the Content Collection. All folders are contained within other folders up to the top-level (/) folder. Entire content areas are folders stored under the top-level folder. Be aware that top-level folder access is generally reserved for administrators.

Files and folders in a single area of the Content Collection can't share identical names.

UCA determines the size quota of each folder to prevent unmanaged growth. Size quotas are defined for each folder, but flexible to allow some subfolders a larger quota than others.

Files

The Content Collection also stores files, which are automatically available to the user who added the file. To share the file with other users, they need appropriate permissions. Permissions, comments, and metadata functions work the same for files as for folders. Files include several other management features that aren't used for folders.

Manage files and folders

Depending on the permissions you have for a file or folder, you may see the following options in the item's menu.

If you don't see one of these options, they may be disabled for that file or folder. Select Edit Settings in the item's menu to change the available options.

More on how to edit folder properties

More on how to manage files in the Content Collection

• Comments: Comments store text from users. Comments are opinions or instructions regarding the contents of an item or folder.
• Passes: Passes are created for an item to allow anyone, even those without a user account, controlled access to an item. When viewing content through a pass, the viewer cannot access other areas of the Content Collection. Passes can assign read permission only or read/write permission to allow collaboration. Passes are a great way to share a file with someone who is not able to access the Content Collection by providing them direct access to the file using an external URL.

  More on passes

• Permissions: Permissions are an easy way to share content while protecting it from unauthorized changes. Permissions enable users to read and perform actions on items and folders added to the Content Collection. The item's owner must grant permissions for users to access content directly from the Content Collection and also through links in courses and portfolios.

  The following permissions are available within the Content Collection:

  • Read: Users have the ability to view items or folders.
  • Write: Users have the ability to make changes to items and folders.
  • Remove: Users have the ability to remove items from the folder or the folder itself.
  • Manage: Users have ability to control the properties and settings of items and folders.

  More on permissions

• Alignments: Align items or folders to goals to report goal coverage information for this course. Content items in the course can be aligned to current Source Goals that have been made available in the system. Once content has been aligned to standards, a Course Coverage Details report can be run from Course Reports on the Control Panel. This report displays goals coverage information for the course.
• Tracking: Tracking is used to view how other users interact with an item. Tracking displays every instance that the file was changed or read and shows the user who took the action. Tracking is useful for managing changes and for instructors to verify that students have read an item.
• Versions: Versions are created to allow collaborative work without overwriting earlier drafts. Each draft is stored as a separate version that can be checked out and checked in to manage changes. Only the user that has a version checked out can make changes to the file.
• Metadata: Metadata is added to a folder to make it easy to find when searching and to make it easy to identify the content in the folder by adding a description.

  More on metadata