Upload larger files for research and teaching

In AGORA, files can in principle be uploaded ad libitum in a room: There is no upper capacity limit for the total amount of material uploaded in a room. In February 2021, the RRZ increased the upload limit for individual files on AGORA to 500 MB so that teachers can make their teaching units available asynchronously.

In OpenOlat, the upload limit for individual files is 512 MB.
In addition, individual files up to 512 MB in size can be uploaded to the course storage folder. The course storage folder (includes all materials uploaded in the course) has a total capacity of 1.5 GB. Individual course elements can have a maximum size of 512 MB. Further details on the OpenOlat upload limits can be found in the following screenshot:

On Lecture2Go you can upload video and sound files that are theoretically unlimited in size. You only need to be connected via the UHH network or the VPN client, which is why the upload speed may mean a limitation on the file size. It is possible to block the download and “publish” the videos or sound files unlisted, i.e. only make them available to users who have the access link. There are instructions for this procedure on the homepage of the e-learning portal (in german).

In the attachment uploader, you can upload files with a maximum size of 700 MB. After a successful upload, you will receive a link that you can share with your students or colleagues. The files are available for one year via this link. This allows you, for example, to share PowerPoint files that are too large for AGORA or OpenOLAT. To use the attachment uploader (in german) you only need your UHH user ID (B identifier).

The size of video files, for example PowerPoint recordings or film clips that you want to share in the seminar, can be easily reduced. For example, use the VLC player, which is available for Windows, MacOS and Linux and is often pre-installed. Go to File (Windows) or File (MacOS) and “Convert/Stream”. Select your video file there (“Open medium”) and select “Select profile” on “Customise...”. There you can slightly reduce the video quality, for example by deviating from the 1080p standard and switching to 720p. This reduces the number of pixels, but everything remains very well visible, whereas the file size may be drastically reduced. To do this, enter 720 for “Width”. The other values are automatically changed based on the original file. Save the setting by clicking on “Apply” and select a destination and file name for the edited file. Click on “Save” to start the conversion process, which may take some time depending on the system you are using. However, you can easily save this time with a faster upload and help your participants who sometimes have slow internet connections.

In order to comply with the upload limits in OpenOLAT, AGORA or MS Teams (see above), it can be useful to upload PowerPoint presentations in smaller sections of only a few slides. Another advantage is that students will find a portioning when listening that is more in line with their attention span - experience has shown that studying a presentation set to music is more strenuous than the usual classroom lecture.

Ideally, you can take this into account right from the conception of your lecture or its setting to music or, if necessary, implement it after saving by first duplicating the finished file and then deleting the first slides in one version and the last slides in the other.

UHHCloud

In the case of academic collaborations, you may wish to exchange large amounts of data (e.g. video or audio material) with external parties who do not have access to Lecture2Go or other university tools. You can use the UHHCloud service for this purpose.

Folder sharing

To create a shared work environment on UHHCloud, create a folder for which you then grant folder sharing to one or more other people. There are various ways to share your files or folders. You can find out how this works in the quick guide below.

Fig. 1

1. Log in with your uni username under UHHCloud.
   
   
2. Switch to the ‘Persönliche Dateien’ section in the bar on the left-hand side of the screen. (Fig. 1, a)
   
   
3. Now search for the file or folder you want to share or create a new one using the ‘+ Neu’ button at the top. (Fig. 1, b)
   
   
4. Now click on ‘Freigabeoptionen anzeigen’ to the right of the folder or file. (Fig. 1, c)
   
   
5. A new window will now open in which you can manage the settings for sharing.

Sharing and inviting by email

If you only want to share with one or a few people, we recommend using email sharing or temporarily inviting guests to the UHH cloud platform. If there are several collaborators, link sharing is recommended.

Sharing by email

Fig. 2

1. Enter the e-mail address of the person to be invited in the text field under ‘nach Freigabe-Empfängern suchen’.
   
   
   
   Fig. 3
   
   
   
2. You can then decide whether you want to send a sharing (Fig. 3, a) or a guest invitation (Fig. 3, b) to this email address. In this case, click on the entry with the letter symbol to select the sharing option (Fig. 3, a).
   
   
   
   Fig. 4
3. You can now make some settings to customise the share. In the upper part of the window, you can define the general mode for sharing. You can make more specific settings in the lower part. For example, you can set a password, set an automatic expiry date for this share (recommended), hide the option to download the shared content or send a message or note to the recipients. Confirm your settings with the ‘Freigabe speichern’ button.
   
   

Invitation by email

Fig. 2

1. Enter the e-mail address of the person to be invited in the text field under ‘Nach Freigabe-Empfängern suchen’.
   
   
   
   Fig. 3
2. You can then decide whether you want to send a sharing (Fig. 3, a) or a guest invitation (Fig. 3, b) to this email address. In this case, click on the ‘Gast einladen’ entry (Fig. 3, b).
   
   
   
   Fig. 5
   
   
   
3. Now enter the name of the person to be invited and specify a language for the platform. Then confirm with the ‘Benutzer einladen und Freigabe erstellen’ button.

Linksharing

If you want to grant access to several people, it is advisable to use link sharing.

1. To do this, first click on the plus sign next to the ‘Link teilen’ menu item in the ‘Teilen’ menu (Fig. 6).
   
   
   
   Fig. 7
2. Now click on the new menu item ‘Nur anzeigen’ under ‘Link teilen’ (Fig. 7, a). You can now select different types of sharing here. You can then use the clipboard icon (Fig. 7, b) to copy the generated link to your clipboard, for example to paste it into an email. If you want to make all the settings for sharing yourself or set a password for link sharing (recommended), click on ‘Benutzerdefinierte Berechtigungen’.
   
   
   
   Fig. 8
3. You can then select various sharing options in the ‘Erweiterte Einstellungen’ menu. For example, you can set a password here so that not everyone with access to the link automatically has access to your shared data. It is also possible to set an automatic expiry date for the link sharing, hide the option to download content or add a message to the recipients of the link. The centrepiece of this menu, however, is the assignment of user-defined authorisations. Here you can tick whether recipients of your link can read, create, edit and/or delete content from your share. Once you are happy with your settings, click on ‘Freigabe aktualisieren’.
4. To output the link with the current settings, click on the clipboard symbol in the ‘Teilen’ menu (Fig. 7, b) and paste the copied link into an email, for example. Do not forget to tell your recipients the sharing password if you have set one.