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Modify the Forget Your Password link

Someone emailed me and asked: "How do you change the wording of the 'Forget Your Password' link on the Blackboard login page?" This was something I didn't cover in the break-out session. To modify this link, you need to be familiar with Blackboard's language pack feature. Blackboard provides a very good introduction in their manual Blackboard Learn: Release 9.1 Working with Language Packs. This document is available at their Behind the Blackboard site.

How to do it
To modify the “Forget Your Password?” link on the login page, you will need to log into Blackboard at the administrator level. Navigate to the Admin panel -> Language Packs.

DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP: Before you make any changes, you must first make a copy of the original language pack and then make all modifications to the copy. Finally, make the copy the default language pack or an optional pack among others. Don't make changes to the original (see below). You will find directions for making copies in the manual Blackboard Learn: Release 9.1 Working with Language Packs (available at the Behind the Blackboard site).

Now that you have made a copy of the language pack that you wish to modify, open the copy (using the edit option) and navigate to the tags.properties file.

I found the section wherein you edit the “Forget Your Password?” link by searching for the phrase 'Forget Your Password' in the Search file contents field. View a screenshot of the search page.

Here's a screenshot of the search result.

Make changes to the text and then submit them.

IMPORTANT: The Blackboard language pack documentation strongly advises users to NOT alter the original language pack. This can result in unwanted system issues. Instead, follow these steps:

1. Create a copy of the language pack (you will find directions for this in the manual Blackboard Learn: Release 9.1 Working with Language Packs (available at the Behind the Blackboard site).
2. Modify the copy.
3. Make the modified copy the default language pack or an optional pack among others.