Add a document or media file as a menu item

In some courses, you can associate a single document, presentation, or other file with a menu item. When you open the menu item, the file shows in the content pane. For example, you can upload a course syllabus and save it as a menu item.

The file can have multiple pages, such as for a PDF document or a PPT presentation.

  • Document file types — doc, docm, docx, dot, dotm, dotx, pages, pdf, rtf, and txt
  • Media (image, audio, video) file types — 3gp, ai, avi, bmp, camrec.gif (static only), indd, jpeg, jpg, m4a, m4v, mov, mp3, mp4, ogg, ogm, ogv, ogx, opus, png, psd, spx, svg, tif, wav, webm, webp, wmv, and wrf
  • Presentation file types — key, ppsx, pptm, pptx, and rtf
  • Spreadsheet file types — csv, mtw, numbers, xls, and xlsx
  • Other file types — htm, html, html_fixed_page, html_gdoc, json, xml, and zip (that contains a supported file type)

For files larger than these limits, add a link from the course menu item to point to the file.

  • Spreadsheet (xls, xlsx) — 3.5 MB
  • Document (doc, docm, docx) — 45 MB
  • Zip — 80 MB
  • All other file types (for example, presentations) — 100 MB
  1. If available in your course, open the content editor for a content page.
    • If the content page already exists, select the course menu item to open it then select Edit.
    • If the content page doesn’t exist yet, select Manage Course, Edit Course Menu, then Add page. Enter a name for the page.
  2. For Content Type, select Document.
  3. To control whether students see the menu item, use Visible to students.
  4. Either drag the file to where it says Drop files here or select Browse to select it. You can add one file per course menu item.

    If you upload a zip file, select one of the files in it.

    1. Select the expand folder icon to show the contents of the zip file.
    2. Select the file you want for the content page. You can select only one.
    3. Select Done.
  5. For image files, enter a description in Alt text (Required).

    (The Add button is unavailable until you complete this step.)

  6. Select Add to create the new menu item.

    The new document menu item displays at the bottom of the course menu. You can rearrange its position. You can also rename the menu item, hide/show the menu item to students, or archive the menu item.

To edit a document that is added as a menu item:

  1. Archive or delete the earlier course menu item.
  2. Edit the document or other file in its native application.
  3. Follow the instructions above to upload the edited version.