Associated File Manager

In order to have consistent paths for ease of development and maintenance I recommend using the Associated Files manager to manage your shared files in ANGEL, in particular, I recommend putting your files at the top level of the Associated Files Manager.

Note: Be sure you are in the top level folder in order to associate the files with the course instead of a Lessons sub-folder.

To get to the top level of the Associated File Manager

Click the Lessons tab,
then click Utilities.
then click Associated File Manager.

If you have already uploaded content you will see folder with long, cryptic names. Inside those folders are the files that you uploaded.
**EXAMPLE: 0773B2996EJB001

If students have been active in the course there may also be folders with student-submitted work, so be careful when making changes.

I recommend creating your own folders and using descriptive names such as “graphics” or “scripts”. Once you have created your folders, make it a practice of moving any files that you upload to one of your appropriately named folders for easy linking.

Linking to your files

Linking to files in the Associated File Manager is simple. Files in the Associated File Manager at the Lessons level can be linked to with just ../YOUR_FILE (replace YOUR_FILE with the name of your file) or ../YOUR_FOLDER/YOUR_FILE.

It doesn't matter if you are in sub-folders of your lesson content, it will still work right.

Note: you can be in a sub-folder of your lesson content and it will still work right. However, if you are not under the Lessons tab you will need to include the full path (excluding the initial https://angel.msu.edu) or use the $COURSE_PATH$ token as noted below.

Exception: this method of linking will not work for changing icons at the top level of the Lessons tab. To change the icons there we recommend you try using the $COURSE_PATH$ token. So instead of ../YOUR_FOLDER/YOUR_FILE you would use $COURSE_PATH$_assoc/YOUR_FOLDER/YOUR_FILE.

When creating a link by choosing Lessons>Add Content>Add a Link you will also need to use the $COURSE_PATH$ token, since relative linking will not work.

Disadvantages

Because using this method places your files in a central location, they are not accociated with a particular subset of content. As a result, it will be more difficult to port individual pages or groups of pages to other course since dependent files will not be brought along automatically. You'll need to copy the files from the Associated File manager as well. This isn't a problem when exporting the entire course.

You can't browse (using the HTML editor) for images to insert and locate images at the Lessons level of the Associated Files manager. If you have a lot of images and aren't re-using them on lots of pages it would probably make more sense to put them in the Associated Files for the page that uses them, making it possible to access them through the HTML editor.