Backing Up An Item

You can back up an individual item in your course to make it easier to share with another person. When sharing, it's best to have the item to be shared in the top section or the first topic. Just follow these instructions:

  1. Log into ACORN and enter the originating course.
  2. Near the top right corner of the window, click on the gear icon gear icon and select backup arrow Backup.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Next button.
  4. Under Select, click on None.
  5. Scroll down to the topic where you have an item you want to share, click on the checkbox beside the topic name, click on the checkbox beside the item you want to share, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Next button.
  6. In the Filename box, you can rename the file to something more appropriate (remember to include .mbz as the file name extension), scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Perform backup button.
  7. Click on the Continue button.
  8. Beside the file you have created in the User private backup area click on the Download link, browse to your save location (remember where it is...), and click on the Save button.

You now have the item backed up in a file that can be used to restore it to another course. You can also share this file with your colleagues for them to use.

Here is a brief video that shows the process:

Restoring An Item


You or your colleague can now restore this backed-up item into a different course:

  1. Log into ACORN and enter your destination course.
  2. Near the top right corner of the window, click on the gear icon gear icon and select restore arrow Restore.
  3. In the Import a backup file section, click on the Choose a file... button.
  4. Make sure Upload a file is selected on the left and click on the Browse... button, browse to the folder where you have stored the backed-up file from the previous course and double-click on it (or click once and then click on the Open button), then click on the Upload this file button.
  5. After the file uploads and you can see its name in the Choose a file... box, click on the Restore button.
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Continue button.
  7. Now be VERY CAREFUL!
  8. Scroll down to the Restore into this course section and MAKE SURE you leave the Merge the backup course into this course option selected (otherwise, you will have to hang your head in shame and contact us to get your course contents restored. This is not a pleasant experience for anyone, and you will almost certainly lose work you have done). Click on the Continue button.
  9. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Next button (you can ignore all the selected options as none of that information has been backed up to this file and therefore can't be restored).
  10. DO NOT change any options on this page, just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Next button.
  11. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Perform restore button.
  12. Click on the Continue button. The restored item will appear at the bottom of the same topic it came from in the original course.

Here is a brief video that shows the process: