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Mass Actions in Depth

Summary

Tool Description:

UsingThe BulkMass Actions inblock Moodleallows 4.5you streamlinesto tasksperform likeactions reorganizing,upon hiding,multiple resources or recyclingactivities, contentrather acrossthan your courses. Here’s howhaving to useperform Bulkrepeated Actionsactions (Bulkon Editindividual Mode) in Moodle 4.5 to efficiently manage multiple activities, resources, or sections within a course.items.

This Guide Will Help You to:

✅ What Bulk Actions Can & Cannot Do:

The Bulk Actions feature is great for things like:

  • Archive or repurpose content quickly by hiding/showing or duplicating multiple items.

  • Move content into a more logical structure or different sections en masse.

  • Tidy up by deleting outdated or unused items in a single operation.

  • Duplicating

  • Deleting

But it doesn't support editing specific settings like:

  • Due dates

  • Cut-off dates

  • Availability windows

🔹 How to Use Bulk Actions

  1. Navigate to your course page and turn editing on usingAdd the toggle in the top right.

  2. Click the new “Bulk actions” button located just below the Edit Mode toggle (lse.atlassian.net).

  3. Once activated, checkboxes appear next to each section, activity, and resource.

  4. Select the items you wish to edit—across sections or within a single section (lse.atlassian.net, CCA Portal).

    • Change Availability (hide/show)

    • Duplicate items

    • Move items to a different location or section

    • Delete selected items (lse.atlassian.net, CCA Portal)

    • Click an action (e.g. "Hide", "Move"), confirm if prompted, and Moodle processes the changes.

    • To exit, click the “x” or the Bulk actions button again (lse.atlassian.net).

       

      A sticky toolbar appears at the bottom (and sometimes top) of the page listing available actions:

       

✅ Bonus: Mass Actions Blockimage.png

Clarkson Moodle also uses the Mass Actions Block, It offers a more persistent interface compared to the toolbar (lse.atlassian.net, CCA Portal).

  1. Add it via the Block drawer on the right side of your Moodle page.

  2. Add a block → “Mass Actions”

  3. Use it instead to enable bulk editing, select items, and apply the same actions

🎥 See It in Action

Here’s a quick demo showing how to activate and use Bulk (Mass)Mass Actions:

Make Bulk Changes with the Mass Actions Block in Moodle

🔸Example TipsScenarios for Using this Tool

    Here
  • are a few examples of it's time-saving use:

    • BulkScenario: editYou supportsmay multipleneed selectionsyour acrossstudents sections—noto use a link to the Clarkson library during Modules 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 in your course.

    Without Mass Actions: You would need to editcreate itemsthe onelink byto one.the Clarkson library 5 separate times, once in each module or create the link once, then duplicate it and move it manually 4 separate times.

    With

  • Mass

    DuplicationsActions: You would create the link to the Clarkson library once in Module 1, select it, then use the Mass Actions block to duplicate it directly to each of morethe thanmodules.

    5

    Scenario: itemsYou runget Module 1 of your course set up and organized how you want it, with headings. You would like to use a consistent heading structure for all the rest of your modules.

    Without Mass Actions: You would need to either re-create the headings from scratch in backgroundeach tasks—Moodlemodule notifiesor youindividually onceduplicate doneeach item and move it to Module 2 (lse.atlassian.net,then CCAdo Portalit again for Module 3, etc.).

    • With

  • Mass Actions: You would select the headings from Module 1 that you would like to duplicate to other modules and use the Mass Actions block to duplicate it directly to each of the modules.

    SectionsScenario: mustYou want to hide just the homework and quizzes in each module throughout your course before you open the course at the beginning of the term.

    Without Mass Actions: You would need to click the Edit link and choose hide for every homework and quiz in every module individually.

    With Mass Actions: You would click the check box to the left of every homework and quiz, then click Hide from the Mass Actions block once.

    If the Mass Actions block appears to be duplicatednot individuallyworking viacorrectly, refresh your browser or remove the three-dotMass menu—Actions block and add it to your course again. Removing it and adding it back will not throughaffect bulkanything modethat (docs.moodle.org).you have previously done using the Mass Actions block.

Seek Further Assistance


For additional assistance please contact, Clarkson OIT Help Desk;

Online: Get Help
Email: helpdesk@clarkson.edu
Call: 315-268-HELP (x4357)

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