Pre-testing It's probably easiest for this test if you set the auto save frequency to something lower than the default 1 minute. I've used 10 seconds in my testing. Can set it here: site administration > plugins > text editors > atto html editor > atto toolbar settings The setting is right at the bottom Online text auto save Log in as admin Create a course Create an assignment activity and enable online text (under "Submission types" section) Enrol a few students in the course Log in a one of the students Navigate to the assignment activity and click "Add submission" Enter some text into the "Online text" section and wait a few seconds (what ever timeout you set) for the auto save to occur (it'll popup with "Draft saved" once it's happened) Click on the assignment resource in the nav tree to navigate away from this page without saving . Click yes when you're prompted about leaving with unsaved changes. Click the "Add submission" button again Confirm that the text you entered above was automatically restored in the "Online text" section