Restricting Access

Instructors have two main ways to limit student access to specific course files or folders.  One common reason an instructor may want to do this could be if they are posting a study-guide for an upcoming exam, but do not want their students to have access to it until the week of the exam.

 

Make the file only available via an instructor-provided link

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This option essentially hides the file or folder from students within the course Files area. 

 Instructors can then choose to post a link to the file (e.g., within an assignment, page, announcement, etc.) at a time of their choosing.  After uploading the file, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the publish/unpublish icon for the file you uploaded.
  2. Select the Not visible in student files option.

 

Define access dates for a file or folder

This option essentially limits students' access to a file or folder to within a specified date range.  This is a good option if you want to post several "sensitive" files (e.g., study guides for all the course's exams) at the beginning of the term and schedule them to become available to students on specified dates in the future.  After uploading the file or folder, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the publish/unpublish icon for the file/folder you uploaded.
  2. Select the Schedule student availability option.
  3. Enter Available From and Available Until dates

 

See more information about restricting access to course files Links to an external site..

 

Click here to return to the last page of the Course Files: Uploading and Usage Options module