Generate Unit from File - File format?

Question

When creating a new unit in a course, the option to "Generate Unit from File" is available. It is also in "Create New" when you want to add something to that unit. There is a video that shows an example of how to do this by uploading a Word file to create a new unit with two sub-items. However, I can't find any information on how that DOCX file should be formatted to create those items. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Mike.E.2111 · Answer

Thank you for your comments, but I have found that the responses I have been getting are incorrect. The correct way to set up the Word file:

The filename becomes the unit name.

Heading 1 entries become page names.

I haven't found that any additional heading formats have any meaning in this context. As a result, the tool is only useful if you are adding relatively long documents as content pages. I would guess the reason there's no mention of it in the documentation is that it has so little functionality. A more detailed format that would allow instructors to create more complex unit and content structures offline would be much more useful (at least to me).

Yama.N.503 · Answer

Hello @Mike.E.2111,

Thank you for reaching out in the Brightspace Community.

As Chris mentioned, when using the “Import pre-written unit” option, Brightspace relies on Word Heading styles to determine how your document is structured into a unit and pages for Word Documents. No special markup (like Markdown or XML) is required, just standard Word formatting.

https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/32390-use-artificial-intelligence-ai-to-generate-learning-materials-from-external-files-using-d2l-lumi-content

In the tutorial example (“Exploration of Venus and Why Study Venus.docx”), the document appears to be structured using these heading styles, which is why it creates one unit with two pages.

How to structure your .docx

• Heading 1 → becomes the unit (module) title
(e.g., “Exploration of Venus and Why Study Venus”)

• Heading 2 → each one creates a new page (topic) within that unit
(e.g., “Exploration of Venus” and “Why Study Venus?”)

• Content under each heading → becomes the body of that page

You can use the built-in Word heading styles from the Styles pane. A quick way to check is to open the Navigation Pane (View → Navigation Pane); if your headings appear there, Brightspace will recognize them correctly. If proper heading styles aren’t used, the system may still try to guess the structure, but the results can be inconsistent.

Kind Regards,

Mike.E.2111 · Answer

Thanks, Chris. I do not want to use Lumi. I want to use the first option, and "Import pre-written unit" without AI input. The video tutorial example loads a document titled "Exploration of Venus and Why study Venus.docx." That document creates a unit and two pages. There is something in that docx file that specifies what should be on those pages. Does it use Word Headings to specify? Markdown? XML? The documentation does not mention how to construct that file. Do your bullet points apply in this case when Lumi is not used?