How to Handle Large File Submissions

If you have to have students submit files more than 1 GB in size, or if you have to have students submit more than 2 GB or so for all of the assignments in a quarter, the normal Bb Learn assignment or test or other graded activities are no longer able to properly handle the file submissions.

Unfortunately, Microsoft OneDrive *alone* is not a good option for files of such size. Microsoft OneDrive has a maximum safe file upload size of 2 GB. You could arguably put in 10-15 GB uploads depending on your web browser, but if someone has OneDrive installed on their computer, they would need to make sure the files bigger than 2 GB do not try to sync or they will get an error notification (but nothing else bad). Still, 2 GB is the max file size for individual files. Also, web browsers can have a 2 GB or 10 GB or 15 GB file upload limit depending on the browser and who you ask, and uploading such files can take a long time without much if any visual indication anything is happening in Bb Learn.

However, there are a number of programs or methods for splitting large files into smaller files and then rejoining them.

So splitting files, uploading them to OneDrive, having the students submit the link to you seems best, and then having you or TA’s use same methods to join files again.

For Windows 7 and 10, use FFSJ-Lite from this website.

http://www.fastfilejoiner.com/

The downloaded .exe application, once installed, has a tab to split a file and a tab to join files.

For Mac, open a Terminal window and run the following commands mentioned at this superuser.com questions forum webpage.

https://superuser.com/questions/362177/how-to-split-big-files-on-mac

Have students split any files larger than 2 GB into as many smaller files as needed, upload them to OneDrive at https://portal.office.com, log in, click “OneDrive,” click “+New,” click “Folder,” name the folder (no punctuation -- use letters and numbers only in file names), click “Upload,” and upload the files.

Once the files are uploaded, navigate up one level, select the folder containing just these uploaded files, click “Share”, make sure it says “People you can specify can edit,” type in the instructor’s (your) email address, and click *Copy Link* and *not* Send, click “Copy”, and paste the link into a new email outside of OneDrive or to an assignment submission page in Bb Learn, and submit the link or send the email to you. Students can then click the “X” to close the “Copy Link” or “Link copied” window, and logout of OneDrive.

Note that OneDrive for Business is supposed to be rolling out a "Request Files" option sometime in December 2019, but we have not tested it yet as of 11/25/2019. Here’s more info on that, though:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-a-file-request-f54aa7f8-2589-4421-b351-d415fc3b83af