Quotas

One of the questions Blackboard Support is frequently asked is "Why can't I add files to my course suddenly?" Often the reason you can't add files is that you've exceeded your quota--the amount of storage available in a course. If you have a lot of large media files (especially videos), you might exceed your quota. If you regularly import course content, you might have a lot of duplicate files, and that can also make you exceed your quota. To quickly find out if you have exceeded your quota (5 GB, or 5000 MB), you can check the size of your folders.

Reducing your Blackboard footprint

Here are some strategies to help you reduce your Blackboard footprint so that you don't exceed your quota. 

Look for large or old files

In your Blackboard course site, click Files under Course Management.  Click on the link to your course folder (the first link; it is always the course ID).  

Now you can navigate through your course folders and files to find duplicates and large files. 

The third column lists the size of the files and folders. Move your cursor over the word SIZE to show a yellow chevron. You can then click on that cell to sort the files by size; if it shows them smallest to largest, click again to sort them from largest to smallest. 

Files that have an Ally accessibility indicator next to them are in use in the course site.  The accessibility indicator looks like a meter. It will be red, green, or orange. In this case, the indicator is red, which means that the files are not very accessible. Learn more about Ally and accessibility. 

Files that do not have an accessibility indicator next to them are not in use in the course site.  If you don't need these files,  delete them.

Note that Ally checks PDF, Word (.doc, .docx), PowerPoint (.ppt), Open Office/LibreOffice (.odt) files, HTML files, and image files (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .tiff).

Excel files are not scanned and will not have indicators. 

Remove video files

In the past, you might have needed to upload video files to Blackboard to use them in your course. However, TCC now uses Panopto, a video capture and storage service that is integrated with Blackboard. With Panopto, you can upload video files or record video directly, and never even touch your Blackboard quota! In addition, Panopto automatically adds captions to videos, which makes the videos accessible and searchable. Learn how to get started with Panopto.

Reduce file sizes

Microsoft Office Files

Use the tools available in Microsoft Office to reduce file size for PowerPoint and Word files. The Compress Pictures option is located in the Save As dialogue box, under tools near the Save button. You can also save files as PDFs before uploading, which often makes smaller, read-only versions of the files.

Images

Use a graphics program to resize images for screen viewing before uploading. You can also use an online service such as http://www.shrinkpictures.com or http://www.picresize.com.

Audio

Use software to resample or trim audio files to reduce their size.

Delete outdated master sites or organization sites

This won't decrease your quota, but it does make Blackboard a more pleasant environment. Look for non-credit sites that can be removed to free up space. Credit sites will be removed according to our established schedule.  You can complete the site removal form to request that non-credit and organization sites be removed.