Getting Started with Exercise Files: : UITS IT Training Content Library: Indiana University

Each of IT Training's courses contains exercise files that you will use as you work through the course's content. If exercise files are used for a section of course content, they'll be linked at the top right corner of a page, under the heading Available Files. These files will be contained in a zip file, and you'll need to extract the files before working with them.

This page will help you with extracting exercise files, as well as provide additional assistance for working with exercise files as you work through a course.

NOTE: If you are working through a course that makes use of the Google Workspace apps (such as Google Docs or Google Sheets), the following instructions do not apply to you. Please view the instructions located on the page Getting started with exercise files for Google Apps courses.

About the exercise files included in each course

Each section of content in an IT Training course is set up so that it can function as a stand-alone set of instructions, with the exercise files available for download on each page. This makes it easy for you to work through individual sections of a course and only get the instructions you need — simply download the exercise files for the individual section(s) of content you want to work through.

If you're working through an entire course, however, you only need to download the exercise files from the first page they appear on. As you work through each section of content, you can keep using the same set of exercise files all throughout the course without needing to download new copies as you move from section to section.

NOTE: If you're working through multiple sections of content from the same course, downloading and extracting the exercise files to the same location each time you start a new section will overwrite any existing files. To prevent this from happening, save the exercise files from previous sections with a new name before downloading the files for a new section, or extract the new exercise files to a different location than used previously.

Downloading and extracting exercise files

Before working through a page's content, you'll want to download the exercise files and extract them to your computer. The process for this may vary, depending on your operating system and web browser. Following are instructions for downloading and extracting exercise files for common web browsers on Windows and macOS.

Instructions for downloading and extracting exercise files on Windows

The following instructions will walk you through the process of downloading and extracting exercise files if you are using Google Chrome as your web browser on Windows.

To begin downloading the exercise files, in the upper right corner of the page under the Available Files heading,
Click Download Exercise files

The exercise files will start downloading to your Downloads folder, and the download bar will display at the bottom of the Chrome window. Once the file is done downloading, you can open it and start the process of extracting the file.

To open the downloaded .zip file, in the download bar at the bottom of the Chrome window,
Click the downloaded file

Your computer's file browser will open. The folder containing the exercise files is visible, but the folder still needs to be extracted before using the files inside of it.

To view the contents of the Compressed Folder Tools tab, at the top of the File Explorer window,
Click
To extract the files, on the Compressed Folder Tools tab,
Click

By default, the files will be extracted to the folder that contains the exercise file zip. You can change where the files are extracted to, if desired. Many of IT Training's courses assume that the exercise files have been extracted to your computer's desktop.

To change where the files are extracted to, in the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog box,
Click
To choose a new location for the extracted files, in the Select a Destination dialog box,
navigate to the desired folder, Click
To finish extracting the exercise files,
Click

The contents of the zip file are now extracted and can be edited as part of the course you are working through.

The following instructions will walk you through the process of downloading and extracting exercise files if you are using Mozilla Firefox as your web browser on Windows.

To begin downloading the exercise files, in the upper right corner of the page under the Available Files heading,
Click Download Exercise files

A dialog box will appear, asking if you want to open or save the file. You'll need to save the file to your computer at this point.

To save the file, in the dialog box that appears,
Click the Save File radio button, Click

Depending on your settings, Firefox may ask you to indicate where to save the downloaded .zip file. If Firefox doesn't ask you where to save the file, it will automatically be saved to your Downloads folder.

To indicate where to save the file, if necessary, in the Enter name of file to save to... dialog box,
navigate to the desired folder, Click

The exercise file zip will download to the desired location. After the file is finished downloading, you'll need to navigate to where the file was saved in order to extract the files. Then, you'll open the zip file and extract the contents.

Navigate to the location where the exercise file zip was downloaded to.
To open the zip file,
Double-Click the zip file

Your computer's file browser will open. The folder containing the exercise files is visible, but the folder still needs to be extracted before using the files inside of it.

To view the contents of the Compressed Folder Tools tab, at the top of the File Explorer window,
Click
To extract the files, on the Compressed Folder Tools tab,
Click

By default, the files will be extracted to the folder that contains the exercise file zip. You can change where the files are extracted to, if desired. Many of IT Training's courses assume that the exercise files have been extracted to your computer's desktop.

To change where the files are extracted to, in the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog box,
Click
To choose a new location for the extracted files, in the Select a Destination dialog box,
navigate to the desired folder, Click
To finish extracting the exercise files,
Click

The contents of the zip file are now extracted and can be edited as part of the course you are working through.

The following instructions will walk you through the process of downloading and extracting exercise files if you are using Mozilla Firefox as your web browser on Windows.

To begin downloading the exercise files, in the upper right corner of the page under the Available Files heading,
Click Download Exercise files

The file will begin to download, and the Downloads pop-up will appear near the top right corner of the Edge window. Once the file is done downloading, you can open it and start the process of extracting the file.

NOTE: Clicking away from the Downloads pop-up will cause it to disappear. To make it reappear, in the upper right corner of the Edge window, Click Settings and more , Click .

To open the downloaded zip file, in the Downloads pop-up near the top of the screen,
Click the downloaded file

Your computer's file browser will open. The folder containing the exercise files is visible, but the folder still needs to be extracted before using the files inside of it.

To view the contents of the Compressed Folder Tools tab, at the top of the File Explorer window,
Click
To extract the files, on the Compressed Folder Tools tab,
Click

By default, the files will be extracted to the folder that contains the exercise file zip. You can change where the files are extracted to, if desired. Many of IT Training's courses assume that the exercise files have been extracted to your computer's desktop.

To change where the files are extracted to, in the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog box,
Click
To choose a new location for the extracted files, in the Select a Destination dialog box,
navigate to the desired folder, Click
To finish extracting the exercise files,
Click

The contents of the zip file are now extracted and can be edited as part of the course you are working through.

Instructions for downloading and extracting exercise files on macOS

The following instructions will walk you through the process of downloading and extracting exercise files if you are using Google Chrome as your web browser on macOS.

To begin downloading the exercise files, in the upper right corner of the page under the Available Files heading,
Click Download Exercise files

The exercise files will start downloading to your Downloads folder, and the download bar will display at the bottom of the Chrome window. Once the file is done downloading, you can extract the contents to your Downloads folder.

To extract the files to your download folder, in the downloads bar,
Click the file

The contents of the zip file will automatically be extracted to your Downloads folder, and the Finder window will open and display the newly extracted folder inside of your Downloads folder.

The following instructions will walk you through the process of downloading and extracting exercise files if you are using Mozilla Firefox as your web browser on macOS.

To begin downloading the exercise files, in the upper right corner of the page under the Available Files heading,
Click Download Exercise files

A dialog box will appear, asking if you want to open or save the file. You'll need to save the file to your computer at this point.

To save the file, in the dialog box that appears,
Click the Save File radio button, Click

Depending on your settings, Firefox may ask you to indicate where to save the downloaded .zip file. If Firefox doesn't ask you where to save the file, it will automatically be saved to your Downloads folder.

To indicate where to save the file, if necessary, in the Enter name of file to save to... dialog box,
navigate to the desired folder, Click

The exercise file zip will download to the desired location. After the file is finished downloading, you'll need to navigate to where the file was saved in order to extract the files. Then, you'll open the zip file and extract the contents.

In Finder, navigate to the location where the exercise file zip was downloaded to.
To extract the files,
Double-Click the zip file

The contents of the zip file will automatically be extracted to the same folder that contains the zip file.

The following instructions will walk you through the process of downloading and extracting exercise files if you are using Safari as your web browser on macOS.

To begin downloading the exercise files, in the upper right corner of the page under the Available Files heading,
Click Download Exercise files
If asked to allow downloads on "ittrainingcontent.iu.edu", in the pop-up that appears,
Click Allow

The zip file will download, and its contents will be automatically extracted to the Downloads folder.

Checking your progress

You can use the exercise files available for each section of a course to check your progress, if desired. The exercise files linked at the beginning of each section pick up where the previous one left off, making it possible to use the files for the following section to check your progress at the end of the one you're working on.

For example, if you're working through the course Illustrator: The Basics and want to check your work on the section Using the Pen tool, you can download the exercise files for the following section, Adding effects to a shape, and compare your results to the files for that section.

Additionally, the Course Summary page for each course contains a link to the finished project for each course that you can use to check your finished files against. The format of the finished project may vary, depending on the course you're working on — the final project may be a zip file you can download, a video, or a completed web page.

NOTE: Downloading and extracting the exercise files for the next section to the same location you extracted the original set of exercise files will overwrite those files with the ones you just downloaded. To prevent this from happening, save the exercise files from previous sections with a new name before downloading the files for a new section, or extract the new exercise files to a different location than used previously.

Getting Started with Exercise Files

About the exercise files included in each course

Downloading and extracting exercise files

Instructions for downloading and extracting exercise files on Windows

Google Chrome on Windows

Mozilla Firefox on Windows

Microsoft Edge on Windows

Instructions for downloading and extracting exercise files on macOS

Google Chrome on macOS

Mozilla Firefox on macOS

Safari on macOS

Checking your progress