The text editor is a field where you can enter content that will display within your Moodle course. The text editor is fundamental for developing content in Moodle, and allows academics to:
- Format text
- Insert or record Media
- Link to course content
Moodle's Default Text Editor
UNSW Moodle's Default Text Editor is the 'Atto editor' which replaced the original 'TinyMCE' editor in the Moodle 3.11 update.
Some additional features Atto provides over TinyMCE includes:
- Modern text editor features (Autosave, grids, accessibility checker, and more)
- Additional embed options (Quiz, Lecture Recordings+ and H5P)
- Record short audio and video clips
Comparison between Atto and TinyMCE
Refer to the images below to view a visual comparison between the Atto and TinyMCE text editors.
| Atto | TinyMCE |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Refer to the following table to compare the features between Atto and TinyMCE text editors.
| Feature | Atto | TinyMCE |
|---|---|---|
| Font family selector | No | Yes |
| Font size and type (headings) | Yes | Yes |
| Font colour selector | Yes | Yes |
| Undo & Redo | Yes | Yes |
| Toggle Fullscreen | Yes | Yes |
| Standard text editor features (bold, italics, underline, subscript etc.) | Yes | Yes |
| Text highlight | No | Yes |
| Insert media (direct upload, theBox etc.) | Yes | Yes |
| Draw freehand | Yes | Yes |
| Insert emoticons | Yes | Yes |
| Equation editor | Yes | Yes |
| Insert special characters | Yes | Yes |
| Insert table | Yes | Yes |
| HTML editor | Yes | Yes |
| Word & Character Count | Yes | Yes |
| Insert graph | No | Yes |
| Directly record audio & video | Yes | No |
| Embed H5P content | Yes | No |
| Embed Lecture Recordings+ content | Yes | No |
| Embed Moodle Quiz questions | Yes | No |
| Bootstrap grid formatting | Yes | No |
| Horizontal rule | Yes | No |
| Accessibility checker & other improvements | Yes | No |
| Screenreader helper | Yes | No |
| Autosave content | Yes | No |
| Insert image via copy & paste | Yes | No |
| Insert image via drag & drop | Yes | No |
| Supported, updated and maintained by Moodle | Yes | No |
Selecting a different editor
TinyMCE will still remain as an alternative but will not be the default text editor. Users can change their text editor anytime via their preferences.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Getting Started
If you are new to text editors, learn how to get started with text, images/media, and formatting.
Working with Text
Staff and Students are presented with the text editor every time they edit/add content within Moodle. This can range from creating content pages to making forum posts and providing assessment feedback.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Adding Images and Media
The most common content used alongside text is images, video and audio. While images are flexible and easy to add, other common media can also be added via the toolbar. You need to be more careful with videos and audio since they are much larger in file size.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Formatting with Grids and Tables
Once you are familiar with adding content, formatting options can be used to make use of space on the screen and group any related content. The options you use depend on your situation:
- Grid: Great for laying out content in a column format. Best used to display general content as content will be resized to best fit the screen size.
- Table: Display content in a table structure. Great for content that have relationships between columns and rows.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Record Audio and Video Clips
Where applicable, you may use the text editor to efficiently record and embed short 2min audio or video clips in your Moodle course.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Hyperlinks
You can incorporate hyperlinks to make it easier to direct students to both internal and external resources. You will be given the option regarding what happens when clicking the link. I.e. Whether the link opens on the same page or a new window.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Special Characters/ Equations
The text editor provides options to add special characters and equations, this is commonly used in mathematics or scientific settings.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Content and Accessibility
Aside from direct text editor features, Atto offers improved accessibility functionality such as:
- Easier image upload
- Autosave
- Accessibility checker
- Screenreader helper
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Embed Quiz, Lecture Recordings+, and H5P
There are 3rd party plugins enabled which will allow you to embed such content easily anywhere where text is displayed in your course. Commonly used options are Embed Quiz, LR+, and H5P.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
How to see word count in Atto editor?
To view your word count in the Atto text editor, click the icon on the left to 'show more buttons', then select the hashtag (#) icon in the second row. A popup will appear displaying the word and character count.
I want to add HTML code using text editor
The 'Edit HTML source' button within the Moodle text editor is used to add or edit HTML.
1. Click the top left expand icon to view all the tools
2. Click HTML icon (</>)
3. Edit the existing HTML code or add additional HTML to modify the displayed content
How to add a video as a link without automatic display as an embedded video?
If you are adding multiple videos in a text editor and want them to display as links instead of the embedded videos, there are Filters that should be turned off for this view to be available.
Filters are available in the top of the activity, in the More dropdown:
There are specific filters that should be turned off for the videos to work as links instead. Key filters are "Multimedia plugins" and "Poodll Filter" which both convert URL links into embedded video players. Both of these should be set on Off.