Filters allows you to specify behaviours of the system within courses and activities. These might be options around specific content or treatments to text added to the site.
A Site Administrator can enable filters across the site via the quick-access menu within Plugins > Filters > Manage filters.
- Enabling/disabling filter using the Active? column
- Rearranging filters using the arrows in the Order column
- Setting an application destination for the filter with the Apply to column
- Configuring the filter with the Settings column
- Removing the filter from the site with the Uninstall column
- On: The filter is turned on across the site
- Off, but available: The filter is not enabled across the site but can be enabled within a course or activity by a Site Administrator or Editing Trainer
- Disabled: The filter is turned off across the site
Applying filters
Alongside each filter there is a dropdown menu in the Apply to column that has two options:
- Content: Will apply the filter to content within a page only (activities, resources, descriptions, etc.)
- Content and headings: Will apply the filter to all content and headings
Filter settings
| Setting | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Filter uploaded files | Decide whether to apply enabled filters to uploaded files. You can choose from:
| - |
| Filter match once per page | Within a page any enabled automatic linking filters will only generate a single link for the first matching text instance found on the complete page. All others are ignored. | - |
| Filter match once per text | Automatic linking filters will only generate a single link for the first matching text instance found in each item of text (e.g., resource, block) on the page. All others are ignored. | This setting is ignored if the Filter match once per page setting is enabled. |
Available filters
There are a number of filters available in Totara as standard. These include:
| Filter | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| MathJax | This filter parses Totara texts and will fully render TeX expressions that it finds appearing within specific tokens. The Mathjax filter also improves the look of buttons and preview within the equation editor that is part of the Atto text editor. | You can also see more on TeX notation. |
| Activity names auto-linking | This filter scans text for activity titles that exist in the same course and creates a link. | To use this filter effectively you should use descriptive activity names. For example; an activity name of 'Test' would cause the word 'Test' to be linked to the activity every time it appears on the course page. |
| Multimedia plugins | This filter associates multimedia files uploaded with the correct media players. | See also Media embedding. |
| Word censorship | This filter blacks out words that are including in the list in the Word censorship settings. | See Word censorship below for more. Totara Learn only. |
| Algebra notation | This filter converts algebra code into GIF images. It requires the TeX notation filter to be enabled. | - |
| Database auto-linking | This filter will create links to a database entry where the name/title (word or phrase) of the database entry is used within the same course in which the database is located. This includes forum postings, pages, labels, etc. | If entries are required before viewing, the database auto-linking filter should be disabled. This is because the database auto-linking filter can't determine whether a user has submitted the required number of entries. |
| Email protection | This filter scrambles email addresses in user profiles so that outside search engines and guests can’t see user's email addresses. This protects your users from spammers and other attackers. While the email protection filter scrambles emails for other parts of the Totara system, it will be ignored when displaying emails in reports. | The filter_emailprotection plugin for email protection has been deprecated in Totara 13. |
| Display emoticons as images | This filter converts emoticon characters into images. | For example |
| Glossary auto-linking | This filter scans text for glossary entry titles and works in the same way as the Activity Names Auto-linking filter. In addition to this filter, individual glossary entries should have the This entry should be automatically linked box checked. | - |
| Multi-Language Content | This filter enables resources to be created in multiple languages. When turned on, it looks for <span lang="xx" class="multilang"> tags, which indicates that a text contains multiple languages. Then it selects and outputs the best language for the current user. The language of the resource changes when the user changes their selected language in Totara. If your site uses a child language pack then the first span tag must be the parent language. For example, if your site uses en_us then the en span tag (as parent language) must be first i.e. <span lang="en" class="multilang">your_content_in English</span> <span lang="de" class="multilang">your_content_in_German_here</span> | If the course setting for Force language is set to a particular language this filter won't be able to change the displayed language. Only spaces, tabs and enters can be used between the individual languages in the multi-language block. Please review the HTML in source view. If you are adding multi-language content to Custom Main menu select Headings and Content in the multi-language filter settings. The multi-language filter does not work with the course short name. The course's short name is a unique course identifier, so the multi-language filter can't be used. You may experience issues if trying to use multilang tags alongside another tag, such as those required for the select missing words question type. A limit of 255 characters may apply in some areas when inputting content using multilang tags. |
| TeX notation | Allows you to represent mathematical symbols in Totara. | You can also see more on TeX notation. |
| HTML Tidy | This filter checks whether HTML code is XHTML-compliant, tidying where necessary. | The filter_tidy plugin for HTML Tidy has been deprecated in Totara 13. |
| Convert URLs into links and images | This filter will convert valid web addresses into hyperlinks or an associated image. | - |
Word censorship
By using the Word censorship filter you can create a list of 'bad words' that will be censored in a number of Totara Learn features. When applied, instead of the censored word users will see two asterisks (**). If there is a partial match, e.g. the censored word has been used in an extended form, then only the part included on the list will be covered by the asterisk. If there is a partial match where the user hasn't quite typed the full word, or has misspelled it, this will not be censored unless you have included this variation in the list of bad words.
The Site Administrator will not see asterisks and will always see the censored words.
This filter does not work with Totara Perform or Totara Engage content, only with content from Totara Learn. Additionally it will not censor tags, course topic names or forum subjects. It will censor other content including using the chat feature or content in forums. It will also censor content included in course and forum descriptions.
There is no case sensitivity and so the filter will pick up on censored words within Totara Learn regardless of the capitalisation used.
To set the list of censored words click the Settings link to the right of the Word censorship filter on the Manage filters page.
Totara Academy
The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using Plugins and Advanced Features in Totara. Here you can learn more on how to use Plugins and Advanced Features, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.
