## Resources: Overview

### What it does

In the Resources tool, you can make many kinds of materials available online. Resources can include word processing documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, links to web sites, and simple text documents that display right on the page.

In Resources, you can post up to 10 items at a time, post items outside of folders, create folders inside other folders, and create HTML documents. You can show or hide an item at any time, and set a start and/or end time for its availability.

Using the Permissions feature, site owners can control which types of users can read, post, revise, and/or delete files in specific folders. Site owners and instructors can make a resource available to anyone by choosing to post it with the "public view" setting checked.

### Key concepts

Viewing resources: When you click `Resources` in a site's menubar, you will see a list of that site's resources and folders containing resources. Click a resource's title to open it. To view the contents of a folder, click the folder icon next to the folder's name or the name itself to open it, or click the black arrow next to the folder's name to expand it (i.e., make its contents visible without opening it).

Sorting resources: You can sort the resources by title, size, resource creator, and last modified date. Site leaders can customize the order in which items appear.

Sharing resources: Each item is available via a URL, which you can share with site participants.

Drag and drop: You can drag and drop files to and from your desktop using WebDAV. For more information, see Uploading files to Drop Box and Resources using WebDAV with Windows XP or Uploading files to Drop Box and Resources using WebDAV with Mac OS X.

Group spaces: Resources can be shared with pre-defined groups, which gives you more control over who has access to resource items.

### Things to consider

- Many classes post weekly readings in their Resources. These can include links to websites as well as to other kinds of documents, like Adobe PDF files. Some classes also post presentations or slides used in lectures.
- By setting folder Permissions, a large collaboration site can use one folder in Resources as a space to archive important documents, and allow only certain site participants to modify those documents.