Moodle

You can use Collabora Online directly in moodle for courses and submissions.

Installation

The integration is installed as a Moodle plugin. There are two plugins. The main one is named Collaborative document and implement most of the functionality. The second one is named Collaborative submissions and allow using Collabora Online to submit paper edited collaboratively.

Configuration

This documentation is base on Moodle 4.5.

Log into Moodle as a site adminstrator. Go to Site Administration then Plugins and select Collaborative document.

Main configuration

The page for the main configuration of the plugin looks like this:

It presents the following options:

Setting	Description
Collabora URL	The URL of the Collabora Online server. There is no default and must be set.
Default Display	How to display the Collabora Online frame: Current tab (default) New tab
Default display name	Whether to display the document name by default when creating an activity. (default: Yes)
Default display description	Whether to display the document description by default when creating an activity. (default: Yes)
Interface mode	The default UI mode: tabbed, compact or server default (default).
Enable versioning	Whether Moodle should preserve the older versions of a document (default: Yes).
Share user images with Collabora users	Whether user avatar shall be used in Collabora Online sessions. This allow provide more privacy when disabled. (default: Yes)
Show server audit	Whether the server audit button and other admin only features are enable for the Moodle site administrators. (default: No)
Explicitly allow Collabora url	As a security feature, Moodle block certain address from being used for HTTP connections. If needed you can explicitly allow the Collabora Online server address based on the Collabora URL. (default: No) If the server is on a public address, it can usually be left alone. Otherwise it can also be addressed by changing the list in Site Administration > General > HTTP Security

Templates

You can setup templates used to create new documents.

Setting

Description

Templates

Files to be used as templates. Select and upload documents.

Default Format

Set the default format for templates:

File upload
Specify text

Show legacy templates

Whether legacy templates can be used.

Usage

Collaborative document can be added to courses. In a course, switch to edit mode, and add an activity where appropriate. Select Collaborative document.

../../_images/moodle-select-activity.png

Once done you’ll be presented a form to edit the activity.

../../_images/moodle-new-collaborative-doc.png

You can set the following options:

Setting	Description
Name	The name of the document. Mandatory.
Description	The description of the document. And whether you want it displayed or not on the course page.
Format	The format of the document: File upload: the format will be of the file uploaded. Specified text: the format will be a Writer document with the specified text content. Legacy templates: use one of the legacy templates for the specified document type.
Initial file	For the File upload format, upload an initial file to set the content.
Specified text	For the Specified text format, input the text.
Display	How to display the Collabora Online frame: Current tab (default) New tab
Height	Height if the frame if display is Current tab. 0 mean it is automatic.
Display name	Whether to display the document name, if display is Current tab.
Display description	Whether to display the document description, if display is Current tab.

Once you click Save and return to course, you can view the course.

You can view the document:

This is how you add collaborative document editing to your Moodle course.

Source code

Collaborative document editing

This activity module enables Moodle users to create documents (simple text files, rich text, spreadsheets and presentation documents or upload a document) via a self-hosted Collabora Online Server and work collaboratively on this documents. The source code is available on GitHub at https://github.com/learnweb/moodle-mod_collabora

Collaborative submissions

This sub-module adds an additional type to submissions section: Collaborative Submissions and other options (initial file name, format, width and height of the document) allowing the student to start a submission by creating a new document on the fly. The source code is available on GitHub at https://github.com/learnweb/moodle-assignsubmission_collabora