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Adding Items and Attaching Documents

An Item is Blackboard's basic content type. Anything you just type in, or any document you add is considered an Item. You can upload files that students can open or download. You can also add HTML, images, sound or movie files that students can view directly within Blackboard.

To add an item:

1. From the Control Panel, click on the content area link where you want to add the item (Course Documents, Course Information, etc.) OR
   
   In the course, go to the content are where you want to add the item (Course Documents, Course Information, etc) and click the Edit View link in the upper right corner.
   
   
2. Click on the Add Item icon.
   
   
3. Choose a name for your item from the drop-down menu or type a name in the Name field.
   
   
4. Type a description in the Text field. This could be the information you want to add, or it could be a description of a file you're attaching.
   
   
5. If attaching a file, click on the Browse button to select your file to upload.
   
   
6. Enter a name for your attached file if desired. If you don't enter a name, the filename will be used.
   
   
7. Choose whether to create a link to the file, display the media file within the page, or unpackage the file. Most of the time you want to create a link to the file. You would choose to display the media if you have a picture or movie file that you want displayed directly on the page. You would choose to unpackage the file if it were a zip file. This is most commonly used when you export a PowerPoint file as HTML to display in the page.
   
   
8. Choose any options you wish to use:
   • Do you want to make the content visible? This option must be selected if you want students to see the item.
   • Do you want to add offline content? This option is used if you wish to use content from a companion CD-ROM.
   • Do you want to track number of views? Use this option to track which students access the item. This really only works if it's something the student needs to click on, like a file they need to open or download.
   • Do you want to add metadata? This option is used to add metadata (data about the item, such as owner, resource format, copyright information, etc.)
   • Choose date restrictions: This option controls when the item is visible.
     
     
9. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of files can I upload to Blackboard?
You can attach just about any type of file to Blackboard. However, if you attach a file in, for example, an Excel format, the student will need to have Excel on their computer to view it.

Is there anything I can't put in the filename?
Filenames should contain only letters, numbers, and underscores or dashes. There should be no spaces or special characters such as #, @, or *.

What should I put in the Name of Link to File field?
You can type whatever you'd like in this field, but somewhere in the item there should be an indication of what students should do with the link, such as "Click to view" or "Click to download".

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