Documentation Required: Import course into content library #1348
Description
Course → Content Library Import Feature
The new Content Libraries has a planned feature to allows users to import content from a course into a content library: openedx/frontend-app-authoring#2519
Purpose
Import copies course content into a v2 content library where it can be managed centrally and referenced across multiple courses. This is distinct from backup/restore (which creates library snapshots for local archiving and preservation) and migration (which moves v1 libraries to v2).
How It Works
Import Flow:
- Select a course - Choose a course to import content from
- Analysis stage - The system analyzes the course content (may take 20-60 seconds for large courses based on engineer estimates)
- Review import details - See a content summary showing supported and unsupported blocks
- Import completion - All content is imported into a collection within the target library, and the user is presented with a summary of import status
What Gets Imported:
- The full course hierarchy is preserved from sections down: sections, subsections, units, and components
- Each item is also represented at the library's top level for flexible reuse
- Course settings are preserved where applicable; unset settings stay unset / use default values
Key Features & Considerations
- Block support - The system identifies which blocks can and cannot be imported, with clear error messaging
- Re-imports are supported and create content in a separate collection (logged as duplicates). The API supports a merge strategy that tries to update previously imported / matching content.
- Full course import only - Currently planned to import the entire course rather than selective portions
Related Tickets
- Related / came up from this thread: Add documentation on library backup & restore #1335 (comment)
- [Frontend] Epic - Import (course-to-library) frontend-app-authoring#2519
- Epic 11 - Course to Library Import - Backend frontend-app-authoring#1681
Note, the purpose / how it works section / key considerations section above was generated partly using genAI text summary tools, and I've edited it/corrected the details.