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Metadata

Last modified by Anna Paul-Hasenfuss on 06.05.2026

Metadata is structured additional information about files and documents. It helps to describe content in OPAL unambiguously, make it easier to find, and classify it correctly. Typical metadata include the title, description, author and year of publication for example.

In OPAL, you can assign and edit metadata for files in various places. For example, you can do this when editing files in courses, groups, resource folders or personal folders.

The metadata assignment feature is available both in the course view and – with a customised layout – in the editor view.

Information

Careful maintenance of metadata improves orientation for learners, simplifies the search for materials, and supports accessible use.

Content

Enter or edit metadata

When editing files, metadata can be maintained in the following places, amongst others:

  • for files in course or group modules (e.g., folders, assignments, forums, wikis),
  • in the course storage folder,
  • in the resource folder
  • in the personal folder

You can open the file for editing by clicking the pen icon. The metadatand a section will then appear below the file form and is organised into individually expandable and collapsible metadata categories.

Kursrun - Datei im Ordner bearbeiten_de.png  Kursrun - Metadaten zu einer Datei einsehen_de.png

The available metadata categories depend on the file you are editing.

  • General metadata: This section is always available. Use it to enter the title, description and author of the content. For PDF documents, you can also use the function to extract data from a PDF document.
  • Extended metadata: The maintenance of a comprehensive metadata set depends on the specific learning platform. In OPAL, the system used by Saxon universities, for example, the following metadata fields can be filled: publisher, source, location, month of publication, year of publication, pages, language, URL, work, project, category, chapter, duration, media type, Nav1, Nav2, Nav3, series, and release.
  • Technical metadata: This section displays metadata about the file that cannot be edited. This includes the creator, the dates of creation and modification, as well as the file size and file type.
Information

Metadata entered into the platform is retained when files are copied within the platform. However, it is not exported when the files are downloaded.

Confirm your metadata changes by clicking the Save button.

Extracting metadata from PDF files

For PDF documents, an additional function is available that allows specific metadata to be automatically extracted from the file. This function is only available for PDF files and is only visible to registered users. The following general metadata can be extracted from the PDF file: title, description, and author.

It is only available when editing PDFs that have already been uploaded: 

Kursrun - Metadaten einer PDF-Datei extrahieren_de.png

Clicking the ‘Import metadata from file’ button extracts the data from the PDF file and fills in the corresponding fields. If metadata has already been stored for a file, a confirmation dialogue box will appear before the data is imported.

Warning
Important:

If individual metadata fields in the PDF file are empty, those empty entries will be imported, which may result in metadata that has already been entered in the learning platform being overwritten. No separate notification will be provided if only individual fields in the PDF file are left blank.

If all metadata fields in the PDF file are empty, you will be notified, and the extraction will be cancelled.

Confirm your metadata changes by clicking the Save button.