Desire2Learn WebDAV User Guide

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1 Desire2Learn WebDAV User Guide About WebDAV Create a WebDAV connection in Microsoft Windows Setting up WebDAV through Internet Explorer Create a WebDAV connection in Mac OS X Using third-party products to create a WebDAV connection Managing WebDAV Troubleshooting WebDAV About WebDAV Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is a standard for collaborative authoring on the Web. It is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which permits collaborative editing and file management between users via the Internet. WebDAV enables you to manage files for your websites directly from your own computer without logging into Learning Environment. See for further information about WebDAV. System and browser requirements Windows XP, Vista, or 7 Mac OS X 10.4 or higher Microsoft Windows: Internet Explorer 7 (has built-in WebDAV capabilities) or higher Firefox 4 or higher (requires add-ons) Mac OS X: The Goliath WebDAV client (available at: Create a WebDAV connection in Microsoft Windows Do one of the following:

2 In Windows 7 or Windows Vista: Click the Start button, right-click on Computer and select Map Network Drive. Select Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures and click Next. In Windows XP or older: Click the Start button and select My Network Places. Select Add a network place from the Network Tasks panel and click Next. When prompted to choose Where do you want to create this network place?, select Choose another network location and click Next. Enter your site's WebDAV URL address followed by the folder path in the Internet or network address field and click Next. Note Administrators need the Manage Files permission at the org level to access URL paths with the format: Instructors need the Manage Files permission at the org unit level, and a specific course path added to their course files folder to access URL paths with the format: /<CoursePath>/# Variable <domain> <CoursePath> Description The domain for the WebDAV site. This must be set up before you can use WebDAV. The location of the applicable course within the Course folder in Learning Environment. If you are unsure of a course's course path, go to the course's Course Home, click Content in the navbar, and select Manage Files from the Content Areas. Your course path appears at the top of the files table If you are prompted for a username and password, enter your D2L Site Login credentials. Enter a name for your network place and click Next. Once the wizard completes your setup, click Finish. The new network place is located in My Network Places. Note You must create an individual WebDAV folder for each course you manage. Your WebDAV sites's files and directories are now available in your new network folder. You can create, move, copy, and delete files and folders through Windows using this new network folder. If you cannot view or modify your course files after completing this setup process, contact your site administrator.

3 Setting up WebDAV through Internet Explorer If you experience difficulties setting up WebDAV through the standard instructions, you can try connecting to your content folders through Internet Explorer Open Internet Explorer. Select File and click Open. Enter your course's URL in the Open field. The URL should follow the format: /content/<coursepath>/#. Click OK. Enter your username and password, and click OK. If you cannot view or modify your course files after completing this alternative setup process, contact your site administrator. Note You must create an individual WebDAV folder for each course you manage. Create a WebDAV connection in Mac OS X In the Finder, select Go and click Connect to Server. Enter your WebDAV site's URL address in the Server Address field. Note Administrators need the Manage Files permission at the org level to access URL paths with the format: Instructors need the Manage Files permission at the org unit level, and a specific course path added to their course files folder to access URL paths with the format: /<CoursePath>/# Variable <domain> <CoursePath> Description The domain for the WebDAV site. This must be set up before you can use WebDAV. The location of the applicable course within the Course folder in Learning Environment. If you are unsure of a course's course path, go to the course's Course Home, click Content in the navbar, and select Manage Files from the Content Areas. Your course path appears at the top of the files table. Click Connect.

4 Note If you change your network settings while connected to the WebDAV server, disconnect from the server then reconnect again. Select your server and click Eject from the File menu to disconnect. Using a third-party product to create a WebDAV connection If you still have problems establishing a WebDAV connection through the above instructions, you can try installing a third-party WebDAV client to connect to your site. The following are a list of third-party products users have successfully used to connect to their WebDAV sites: BitKinex (Microsoft Windows only) Cyberduck Goliath (Mac OS X only) Managing WebDAV WebDAV enables you to easily manage the files that you use in your course content. However, you must still manage your course modules and topics in the Content tool. If you edit a file using WebDAV that is already associated with a topic, the file remains associated with the topic. After your WebDAV folder is set up, you can create, move, copy, and delete files and folders through this new network folder. You must be connected to the Internet to access or modify any files within the network folder. File Locking WebDAV supports file locking so that when you edit a file in a web folder, other users can view the same file, but they cannot edit it. Once you save and close the file, other users can edit it again. Web Folder Functionality In Microsoft Office, the web folder icon appears in the folder list, which enables you to edit files directly from the application. In applications that do not use web folders, you can save files on your hard drive and then move or copy them to the web folder after making your edits. Naming Conventions File names can contain letters, numerals, periods, and underscores when using WebDAV.

5 Troubleshooting WebDAV I'm using Windows XP and my username and password aren't accepted when I try to set up WebDAV. If the authentication window is titled "WebDAV Authentication" above the Username field: Ensure Caps Lock and Num Lock are off, then retype your username and password. If your password is still not accepted, contact your system administrator and confirm that your WebDAV access is enabled. If the authentication window does not say "WebDAV Authentication" above the Username field: Click Cancel, type your login information into the new window and click OK. When I follow the instructions for Windows XP, two windows appear asking for my username and password. Duplicate authentication windows sometimes appear in Windows XP. If you receive duplicate authentication windows: Check the text that appears above the Username field. If it does not say "WebDAV Authentication", click Cancel. If the authentication window does say "WebDAV Authentication," type your username and password and click OK. When I create a new WebDAV folder in Windows XP, I get an error that says "The folder you have entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another." This error is caused by a bug in Windows XP, described in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article The following are ways of fixing this issue: Create your WebDAV folder using the alternate WebDAV setup using Internet Explorer. When you type the URL for your course, add a number sign (#) to the end of the URL. Example: " vs. " /<CoursePath>/". If you still receive the error, add a period (.) to the end of the URL instead of the number sign. Desire2Learn WebDAV User Guide Desire2Learn Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Configuring the WebDAV Folder for Adding Multiple Files to the Content Collection and Editing Them

Configuring the WebDAV Folder for Adding Multiple Files to the Content Collection and Editing Them The Content Collection should be the repository for all of the files used in Blackboard. The Content Collection