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A Better Moodle — Chrome Extensions and Firefox Add-ons for Moodle LMS

Make Moodle coursework faster — bulk course downloads, new-content notifications, and study workflow improvements.

Feature Comparison Extension Details Guides & Tips FAQ
3
Extensions Curated
2
Browsers Supported
2025
Last Verified
Free
All Listings

📋 Quick Picks by Use Case

📥 For Bulk Downloads
Moodle Downloader

Chrome — download all course files, videos, and assignments in one click

🔔 For Course Notifications
Moodle Buddy

5K users, 4.9★ — new-content alerts and one-click course downloads

🦊 For Firefox Users
Moodle Buddy (Firefox)

4.9★ — same features as the Chrome version, maintained in parallel

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side comparison of curated Moodle extensions for Chrome and Firefox

Name
Moodle Buddy logo Moodle Buddy
Chrome
Moodle Downloader logo Moodle Downloader
Chrome
Moodle Buddy logo Moodle Buddy
Firefox
📊 Store Info
Rating 4.9 ★★★★★ 4.8 ★★★★★ 4.9 ★★★★★
Active Users 5,000 10,000 ~800
Last Updated Oct 2025 Jan 2024 Oct 2025
Primary Focus Downloads + notifications Bulk file download Downloads + notifications
📥 Download Features
Bulk Course Download ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Selective File Picking ✅ By type ✅ Drag-select ✅ By type
All Enrolled Courses ✅ Yes ❌ Per course ✅ Yes
🔔 Notifications & Updates
New Content Alerts ✅ Yes ❌ No ✅ Yes
Course Update Highlights ✅ Yes ❌ No ✅ Yes
🔒 Privacy & Source
Open Source ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Data Collection Opt-in stats None Opt-in stats
Details View Details ↓ View Details ↓ View Details ↓

Extension Details

A closer look at each Moodle extension and what it covers

C

Chrome Extensions

2 listings
Moodle Buddy logo

Moodle Buddy

DOWNLOADS + NOTIFICATIONS ★★★★★ 4.9 · 5K users · Free
View on Chrome Web Store →

An all-in-one Moodle helper that adds bulk file download and new-content notifications. One click downloads every resource in a course; another crawls all your enrolled courses and flags new files since your last visit. Open source and maintained by an independent developer, with optional and fully anonymous usage statistics.

Key Features

  • • One-click download of all course resources
  • • Scans every enrolled course for new content
  • • Notifications for newly added files and activities
  • • Filter downloads by file type or date
  • • Open source — github.com/marcelreppi/moodle-buddy
Moodle Buddy dashboard preview
Moodle Downloader logo

Moodle Downloader

BULK DOWNLOAD ★★★★★ 4.8 · 10K users · Free
View on Chrome Web Store →

A focused, single-purpose extension that downloads selected Moodle resources from any course's Resources page. Click-and-drag or hold Ctrl/Cmd to select multiple files, then grab them as a batch. No account, no tracking, no data collection — under 60 KB and open source.

Key Features

  • • Click-and-drag multi-select for resource batches
  • • Works on any standard Moodle Resources page
  • • No data collection, no tracking
  • • Lightweight — under 60 KB
  • • Open source — github.com/harsilspatel/MoodleDownloader
Moodle Downloader selection view
F

Firefox Add-ons

1 listing
Moodle Buddy logo

Moodle Buddy (Firefox)

FIREFOX ADD-ON ★★★★★ 4.9 · ~800 users · Free
View on Firefox Add-ons →

The Firefox version of Moodle Buddy, built from the same codebase as the Chrome extension. Bulk downloads, new-content notifications, and course tracking — delivered as a Mozilla-verified add-on for students who prefer Firefox. Maintained in parallel with the Chrome release by the same developer.

Key Features

  • • Feature parity with the Chrome version
  • • Distributed through Mozilla's add-ons store
  • • Same open-source codebase
  • • Maintained in parallel with the Chrome release
  • • Works on any standard Moodle site
Moodle Buddy Firefox add-on
ℹ️
Why only one Firefox add-on? The Firefox Add-ons store has far fewer Moodle-specific listings than the Chrome Web Store, and most of the remaining ones are either maintained by a single university (with domain-locked functionality) or have not been updated in several years. We only list add-ons that work broadly across Moodle sites and have been updated recently.

Before You Install

🔍

Check the store page

Review permissions, screenshots, update date, and recent reviews before installing any extension or add-on.

🏫

Check your school's policy

Some universities restrict third-party tools that download course materials. Check your institution's acceptable-use policy before doing bulk downloads.

⚠️

Not official Moodle tools

These are independent browser-store listings, not maintained by Moodle HQ or your school. Moodle HQ and your institution are not responsible for their behavior.

Guides & Tips for Moodle Students

Workflow improvements that don't require any extension at all.

📥 How to Download All Files from a Moodle Course

Many students want a full offline copy of course materials — for revision, for unreliable internet, or simply as a backup. Moodle does not have a built-in "download entire course" button, but there are three reliable approaches:

  1. Use a dedicated extension (Moodle Buddy or Moodle Downloader, listed above). This is the fastest method for most students and works across any standard Moodle site.
  2. Manual browser download. Open each resource, right-click, and save. Slow but requires no extension and works with any school setup, including heavily restricted ones.
  3. Admin-enabled zip download. Some Moodle administrators enable a "Download folder as ZIP" option in the Folder resource. If you see a ZIP icon next to a folder, this is the simplest option.

🌙 Dark Mode for Moodle: Browser-Level Solutions

Unlike Canvas or Blackboard, Moodle has very limited third-party dark-mode extensions, largely because every institution can customize Moodle's theme and CSS. The most reliable solutions work at the browser level rather than Moodle-specific:

  • • Dark Reader (Chrome & Firefox) — applies a dark theme to any site, including Moodle. Works consistently across institutional themes.
  • • Browser-native forced colors — both Chrome and Firefox support system-wide dark mode through developer flags or accessibility settings.
  • • Your school's Moodle settings — some universities ship a built-in dark theme selectable from your profile preferences. Check your user preferences first.

🗂 Staying Organized Across Multiple Moodle Courses

Moodle's default dashboard often shows all courses in a flat list, which becomes unreadable past 4–5 enrolments. A few lightweight habits make a larger difference than any extension:

  • • Star your active courses. The star icon in the course header adds it to "Starred courses" on your dashboard.
  • • Hide completed courses. Past courses can be hidden from the dashboard without unenrolling — they stay accessible under "Site home → My courses."
  • • Customize the Timeline block to show only the next 7 days. This makes the deadline view actually scannable.
  • • Pin one tab per course. If you work in the same courses every week, pinning them in your browser keeps navigation predictable.

🔔 Keeping Up With New Content Without Obsessively Refreshing

Most Moodle sites send email notifications for forum posts and assignment updates, but the default cadence is often too coarse or too noisy. A few adjustments:

  • • Tune your notification preferences at Profile → Preferences → Notification preferences. You can turn individual channels on or off per event type.
  • • Subscribe to forum digests to get one daily email instead of one message per post.
  • • Use the Moodle mobile app if your school supports it — push notifications are usually faster than email.
  • • Use Moodle Buddy (listed above) if you want in-browser alerts for newly uploaded files without any email noise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Using a Different LMS?

We also review browser extensions for other learning management systems.

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