File Attachments

About file attachments

File attachments may be added to different places in a Course, for example, to an Item, an Assignment, or a File in a Learning Unit. There are two options for adding file attachments:

Files on local network: Select Browse next to Browse Local Files to navigate to a file on the network.
Files in the Blackboard Content System: Select Browse next to Link to Content Collection item to navigate to a file in the Blackboard Content System.

Users will open the file by clicking a link to the file that appears in the Course. After selecting a file to attach, users may enter a name for the link to the file. This name will appear to users, instead of the name of the document. For example, users would see “Biology Syllabus” instead of syllabus_bio_101.doc.

Accepted characters in file names

Blackboard allows the use of all characters in file names. However, the user's operating system and browser may limit the types characters accepted. For example, some browsers do not accept multi byte characters.

Recognized content attachments

The following file types are recognized by the Blackboard Academic Suite. These files can be displayed within a content item.

Note: The Blackboard Academic Suite can recognize additional file types and associated applications if a MIME extension is added. Contact your System Administrator for more information about adding MIME extensions.

Extension	File Type	Programs associated with the File Type
.aam	Multimedia	Macromedia® Authorware® plug-in Note that the .aam file is the starting point for a series of files that must be enclosed in a .ZIP file.
.aiff	Audio	Audio program
.asf	Multimedia	Microsoft® .NET™ Show
.au	Audio	Real Audio Player™
.avi	Video	Video player (not Macintosh® compatible)
.doc	Text	Microsoft® Word® or other word processor
.exe	Executable	Executable file
.gif	Image	Graphics program or Web browser
.html, .htm	Web page	HTML editor or Web browser
.jpg, .jpeg	Image	Graphics program or Web browser
.jif	Image	Graphics program or Web browser
.mp3	Audio	Audio program
.mpe	Audio/Video	Audio program
.mpg, .mpeg	Image	Graphics program or Web browser
.moov,movie	Movie	QuickTime® movie
.mov	Video	Movie or media player
.pdf	Text	Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®
.png	Image	Portable Network Graphics
.ppt, .pps	Slide show	Microsoft® PowerPoint® and PowerPoint Player®
.qt	Movie	QuickTime®
.ra	Audio	Real Audio Player™
.ram	Video	Real Audio Movie™
.rm	Audio	Audio program
.rtf	Text	Rich Text Format
.swf	Multimedia	Macromedia® Shockwave® plug-in
.tiff, .tif	Image	Graphics program or Web browser
.txt	Text	Text or HTML editor, word processor
.wav	Audio	Audio program
.wma	Audio	Audio program
.wmf	Graphic	Microsoft® Windows®
.wmv	Media/Audio	Microsoft® Windows®
.wpd	Text	WordPerfect® or other word processor
.xls	Spreadsheet	Microsoft® Excel®
.zip	Text	WinZip®