To add a new category, click on the Add new category option, and enter the new and unique name in the Category name field. The Parent category drop-down indicates where in the hierarchy the course is located. To begin with, we select Top and come back to it shortly. It is a good practice to provide the optional description.

Once saved, the category will be added at the bottom of the list of the existing categories:

As mentioned earlier, to improve the organization of the courses, Moodle allows the creation of sub-categories. You can create a sub-category by choosing an existing category or a new category (as shown in the screenshot), and then moving it into a Parent Category using the drop-down menus on the Course categories page.

For example, to create sub-categories called Computing Year 1, Computing Year 2, and Computing Year 3 in Computing, first create the sub-categories and then, one by one, move them into Computing using the drop-down menu:

When deleting a course category, or using the cross symbol, any courses belonging to the category will be moved to the parent category if one exists, or in the next top-level category. If neither is the case, the courses will be moved to the Miscellaneous category.

The Miscellaneous category can be deleted as soon as the other categories start to exist. If the last category is deleted from the system, Moodle automatically re-creates this category as it cannot operate without categories.

Use the up and down arrows to change the position of a course category. When you move a parent category, all the child categories will move with it. Unfortunately, there is no option to automatically arrange categories alphabetically.

You can hide categories using the eye icon. This is usually done when the courses within a category are undergoing development, or if you want to create an experimental area (sandpit), which it not seen by anybody but yourself.

On clicking a course category, you are re-directed to the screen that shows all sub-categories and courses belonging to that category. When selecting a sub-category, the same screen is shown with the content of that sub-category. When choosing a course, you are re-redirected to the actual course content.

You also have the option to carry out a number of actions. When you choose the option Edit this category, you can rename its title and change its description. Furthermore, the option Add a sub-category lets you add a new category, which Moodle automatically positions in the current category:

There are a number of icons beside each course, which trigger the following actions:

To move a course or a number of courses to another category, first select the course(s), and then the target course location in the Move selected courses to… pull-down menu.

In sites with a large number of courses, it is sometimes quicker to search the courses by their names or parts thereof. After clicking Go, the found courses, their respective categories, and the same course actions are shown in the previous screenshot.

When you press the Turn editing off button, you are directed to a non-editable view of the courses and course categories, which is the one the non-administrators see.

Lastly, you add a new course to the current category by pressing the respective button, which is dealt with in the next section.