What is the Link External Option for?

What is the Link External Option for?

by Blair F. -
Number of replies: 1
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I am using 2.2.4 and am copying some questions in a course that was originally set up in 1.9.  I am pointing to some MP3 files that are in the legacy file folder and I notice that I have the option to "Link External," but I don't exactly know what that means.  So, to test it, I did one question with the option on and one without.  The links look like this:

Using the Link External option:

href="http://ourmoodledomain/file.php/1829/content_files/Audio_tracks/c3-1.mp3"

WITHOUT the Link External option:

href="http://ourmoodledomain/draftfile.php/9192/user/draft/254455272/c3-1.mp3"

I'm not sure which is better one to use.  I've seen this "draftfile.php" before, but I cannot find an explanation of what it really means. I have to do this for many questions, so I don't want to find out later I made the wrong choice and have to re-do it all!

Thanks, in advance.

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In reply to Blair F.

Re: What is the Link External Option for?

by Davo Smith -
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In general, for repositories:

External link - access the file directly from its current location (so if it is modified on the original server, the new version will be accessed by the user, if the original is deleted, then the link will be broken)

Copy the file - copies the file into the Moodle file system (so it will not update any more).

In terms of 'legacy files', this translates into accessing the file via the legacy files URL, or accessing the file via the Moodle 2.x file-handling system. The 'draftfile' link is due to you looking at the link whilst you are editing the form, when you save the form, it will be accessed via a 'pluginfile' link (draft files are where files are stored during form editing, so that 'cancelling' the update, will restore all the files that were originally present). Realistically, with legacy files, I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference which version you choose (but for files that were hosted externally, it could make quite a difference, in terms of performance, continued availability of the file, making sure the file was always up to date, etc.)

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