# How do I activate, share or archive a Practice bank? > **Option**: This feature is part of the Practice option. It only appears if your school has chosen it. **In short**: In the editor of a Practice bank, “Activate” makes it assignable once it has 10 questions, and “Share” offers a copy of it to your colleagues in the school. “Switch back to draft” takes it out of service without deleting anything, and only a school administrator can archive it. **Who this is for**: Teachers who prepare Practice banks, and school administrators who keep them in order. **What you need first**: - The Practice option, chosen by your school. Without it, the “Practice” entry does not appear in the sidebar. - A bank from your “Practice” list, with at least 10 questions to activate it. - To archive a bank, school administrator status. ## Activate a bank 1. In the sidebar, click “Practice”, then the draft bank. 2. Look at the counter under the title, for example “8 of 30 questions”. As long as questions are missing, the screen says “10 are needed to activate (2 to go).” and the “Activate” button is greyed out. 3. Add the missing questions, then click “Activate”. 4. Check the “Active” badge in the list of banks. Activation alone shows nothing to students, except for a bank linked to a library material (the “Linked material” setting in the “Bank details” window): as soon as it is activated, the students who have access to that material can take it once, without any assignment. For other banks, activation makes them assignable: students see them when you assign them, as explained in [How do I assign a Practice bank and follow students’ attempts?](https://www.testfle.com/en/help/teachers/assign-a-practice-bank-and-follow-attempts) ![Draft bank with eight questions, Activate button greyed out and reminder of the number of questions still missing](https://www.testfle.com/medias/aide/en/professeurs/activer-et-partager-une-banque-d-entrainement-brouillon-1440.webp?v=342e1da1f5) ## Take a bank out of service 1. Open the active bank. 2. Click “Switch back to draft”. 3. Read the “Switch this bank back to draft?” window, then click “Switch back to draft”. Students no longer have access to it and the bank can no longer be assigned. Nothing is deleted. The assignments already made stay in place, dormant: they come back unchanged if you activate the bank again. If assignments are under way, the window says so, for example: “2 assignments on this bank will disappear from your students’ screen.” ## Share a bank with your colleagues 1. Open an active bank that has at least one question. 2. Click “Share”. 3. Check the line under the counter: “Shared with the school since”, a date, then “last updated on” and another date. Sharing gives a frozen copy. Your later changes are visible to your colleagues only after a new share: click “Share” again, which then replaces the shared version with the current state of the bank. To stop the sharing, click “Stop sharing”, then confirm in the “Stop sharing this bank?” window. The copies your colleagues have already added to their banks stay with them. ![Active and shared bank with its Assign, Switch back to draft, Share and Stop sharing buttons](https://www.testfle.com/medias/aide/en/professeurs/activer-et-partager-une-banque-d-entrainement-partage-1440.webp?v=78dbd28ef5) ## Take a bank shared by a colleague 1. In “Practice”, click “Shared banks”. 2. In the table, click the title of the bank. The table shows its category, its description, its author, the date it was put online and its last update. 3. Browse the questions: this version can be read, not edited. 4. Click “Add to my banks”. The copy opens: it is yours. The copy starts in the same state as the shared version, which is usually active: the copy can then be assigned straight away. You can edit it freely: this changes nothing in the shared version, and a new share by the author will not change it. ![Table of shared banks with the bank Écouter et comprendre by Claire Delorme](https://www.testfle.com/medias/aide/en/professeurs/activer-et-partager-une-banque-d-entrainement-partagees-1440.webp?v=7ec2c70b70) --- ## Understanding the settings and special cases ### What happens when an active bank is edited? An active bank can still be edited, and the screen reminds you of it: “Active bank, still editable; attempts already taken keep their original questions.” A student who has already started an attempt therefore keeps the questions they received at the start. Only the following attempts see the changes. One limit protects the students: an active bank must keep at least 10 questions. If you delete a question from an active bank that has 10, the screen refuses: “An active bank must keep at least 10 questions. Switch it back to draft to delete some.” In that case, use “Switch back to draft”, delete what you want, then activate the bank again. A draft, for its part, is invisible to students, even if assignments have already been given on it: “Draft: students have no access to it, even if assignments were already given.” ### Who can share, and what exactly is shared? Only an active bank can be shared, and it must have at least one question. Otherwise the “Share” button is greyed out, with the explanation “Only an active bank can be shared: activate it first.” or “Add at least one question before sharing.” On a bank that is not shared yet, the tooltip says: “Shares a copy of the bank as it is now with the colleagues of your school.” The line under the counter says “Not shared.” as long as no share has taken place. The shared version is a standalone copy: questions, media, title, description and category. It contains no assignment, no attempt and no result. If you switch the bank back to draft after sharing it, the shared version stays in place and lives its own life; “Stop sharing” remains available. After you stop sharing, a new share starts from scratch, with a new online date. All the staff of the school see the shared banks, including the administrator. In the “Author” column, your own banks appear under “You”. A green badge indicates an update less than a month old, a grey badge an older update. ### Why “Add to my banks” and not “Use”? Because you are not using your colleague’s bank: you take a copy of it, which becomes yours. The copy does not carry over the author’s assignments, attempts or results. The screen avoids any word that might suggest synchronisation: “You will get your own copy: editing it does not change the shared version, and a new share by the author will not change your copy.” A shared version cannot be assigned directly. If you try, the server answers: “A shared bank can be viewed, not assigned: add it to your banks to use it.” ### What does “Newer version shared” mean? On a copy, this badge signals that the author has shared a newer version since you added it. It goes out by itself fifteen days after that new share. On the screen of the copy, a notice explains what happens next: “Adding it to your banks gives you a SECOND copy, next to this one: compare them, keep the one you want, delete the other. Nothing is merged, and this bank does not change.” The “View the shared version” link leads to the new version. ### How do I delete a bank? The “Delete the bank” button only appears for a bank that has never been used, that is, never assigned, even if the assignment has since been removed, and never taken by a student. The “Delete this bank?” window warns that the bank and its questions will be deleted permanently, and that the operation cannot be undone. If the bank is shared, the same window adds that the shared version disappears too: “your colleagues will no longer be able to copy it. Copies already taken are not affected.” A bank that has been used can no longer be deleted: the screen does not offer the button, and the server answers “This bank has already been used and can no longer be deleted.” Only the author of the bank and an administrator can delete it (“Only the bank author or an administrator can delete this bank.”). To put away a bank that has been used, the administrator archives it. ### How does an administrator archive a bank? The “Archive” button only appears for a school administrator. It sits with the other buttons of the bank. Its confirmation does not use a TestFLE window: a browser confirmation window opens, and its look depends on the browser. It shows: “Archive this bank? It becomes invisible and its active assignments are removed. Attempts and marks are kept; unarchiving will not restore assignments.” > **Important**: Archiving removes the assignments of the bank that are still active, and unarchiving does not restore them: you will have to make them again. If the bank is shared, its shared version is removed too. An archived bank disappears from the list. To find it again, the administrator ticks “Also show archived banks”: it appears in the “Archived banks” section, with its date (“Archived on” followed by the date). The “Unarchive” button brings it back as a draft, never as active: the administrator rereads it, then activates it. A teacher who is not an administrator sees neither the “Archive” button nor the archived banks. ### If an action is refused - “The bank is already active.” and “The bank is already a draft.” appear when the state of the bank has already changed, for example from another tab. Reload the page. - “A bank needs at least 10 questions to be activated (currently” followed by the number of questions, then a closing bracket, is the server’s refusal below 10 questions. The screen already greys out the “Activate” button before it comes to that. - “Only an administrator can archive a bank.” is the server’s refusal to a teacher who is not an administrator. The screen does not offer them the button. ## Related articles - [How do I create or import a Practice question bank?](https://www.testfle.com/en/help/teachers/create-or-import-a-practice-bank): A Practice bank is your own set of questions, created by hand with “Create a bank” or imported from a spreadsheet with “Import a bank”. It starts as a draft, holds 30 questions at most and needs 10 to be activated. - [How do I assign a Practice bank and follow students’ attempts?](https://www.testfle.com/en/help/teachers/assign-a-practice-bank-and-follow-attempts): To assign an active bank, open it in “Practice”, click “Assign”, choose a class or a student, then set the attempts, the mode and the feedback. The “Assignments” page then shows who has finished, the marks out of 20 and the attempts to unblock. - [What is the Practice area and how does it work?](https://www.testfle.com/en/help/families-students/understand-practice): Practice gathers the tests and writing tasks assigned by teachers, or opened by a library document. It opens from “Practice” in the menu and marks each test out of 20, without ever giving a level. --- Written by the TestFLE team. Updated 13 November 2026. https://www.testfle.com/en/help/teachers/activate-and-share-a-practice-bank