Submit an assignment from a Mac computer

Owned by Daniel Stanley
Last updated: Aug 02, 2017Version comment
3 min read

Background

Being able to upload a document to an assignment is one of the most important Moodle skills to master. This article describes how to upload an assignment using a Mac computer.

It is important to remember that your teachers will most likely grade your work on a Windows PC. It is your responsibility to ensure that the file you submit can be read by your teacher. If you created your file using Pages or Keynote, it is very important that you export the document to a Windows friendly format , such as a Word document format or PDF, and upload the exported file.

As you create Windows-compatible versions of your assignments to submit, be very careful not to misplace your original file. If you teacher requires you to redraft or resubmit a task, you will need to be able to access the original file.

Step-by-step guide

To upload a document to a Moodle assignment from your Mac:

  1. Open Safari and log into Moodle and locate the course you are preparing the assignment for.

  2. Locate and open the assignment on the course page. If the course has more than one assignment, make sure you open the correct one.

  3. Prepare to upload your file by locating the document on your laptop using Finder. 

    It is best to have the browser window sized to take up only a portion of the screen so you can see both the browser and Finder at the same time. This will help you drag and drop your file between windows easily.

  4. In the assignment screen click Add submission.



  5. To submit your file drag and drop your assignment from Finder to the 'File submissions' box.

    Note that some assignments will be setup to allow you to upload more several files. For these, drag any additional files into the 'File submissions' box.

  6. Once your assignment file is visible in the submissions box, click the Save changes button.

 

Your assignment file should now be visible in the File submissions area of the assignment screen. Moodle records when you uploaded the file, and shows you how much time remains before the due date (or how late it is!). You can even replace the assignment in some circumstances by clicking the Edit submission button.

Moodle has a file size limit of 30Mb. If you see error messages when uploading your assignment, check the file size. PowerPoint files with many images sometimes exceed this limit. Saving a large document as a PDF might be the solution to this problem. Videos can also be quite large. For these, you might need to use a video conversion tool to reduce the size of the file.

Alternative upload method

While the drag-and-drop method described above is easiest, it doesn't always work well on some of the older web browsers. You can, however, upload an assignment without using the drag-and-drop method. 

  1. Log into Moodle and locate the course you are preparing the assignment for.

  2. Locate and open the assignment on the course page. If the course has more than one assignment, make sure you open the correct one.

  3. Click Add submission in the assignment screen.

  4. Click the Add... button.
  5. Click Upload a file from the left hand panel, then Choose file. Browse to the location of your assignment file and select it.

  6. Click Upload this file.

  7. Click the Save changes button.

 

This is the best method to use if your file is not on your local computer, but on Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or DropBox. Select the service (for example, Google Drive) at Step 5. You might be asked to log into the service. Select the file then proceed from Step 6.