Microsoft Courses Downloader

"Because clicking through 47 tiny units isn't learning—it's a workout for your mouse finger."

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Why this tool exists

It’s 2 AM. Your Azure AI-103 exam is in three days. You’re on Microsoft Learn, clicking through 12 modules full of tiny units—each a separate page. Tabs pile up, progress vanishes, and that paragraph you read yesterday? Lost somewhere between Computer Vision and NLP.

Microsoft Learn is great for bite-sized, month-long strolls. For actual studying, searching, or offline reading it’s a click-maze designed by a button enthusiast.

So I built a tool that stitches all those scattered micro-units into a single, searchable HTML or PDF file per module—all the content, zero clicking, fully offline.

Now go pass that exam.

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What It Does

Microsoft Courses Downloader is a Python tool that extracts content from each module’s mini‑site in Microsoft Learn courses and turns it into clearly organized documents—one document per module.

• Course Extraction: Fetches learning paths and modules from any Microsoft Learn course URL
• Learning Path Extraction: Process any Microsoft Learn learning path URL directly
• Module Extraction: Process any Microsoft Learn module URL directly
• Catalog API Integration: Uses the official Microsoft Learn Catalog API for accurate course structure
• Content Processing: Extracts and cleans main content from course pages
• HTML Generation: Creates beautifully formatted, combined HTML files for each module
• PDF Conversion: Converts HTML files to PDF using Playwright
• Organized Output: Generates structured output with numbered directories and files

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Sample Output

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Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher - Download Python

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Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/MidnightFlux/microsoft-courses-downloader.git
cd microsoft-courses-downloader

2. Set Up Virtual Environment (Recommended)

Creating a virtual environment keeps dependencies isolated from your system Python.

Windows (PowerShell)

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv

# Activate virtual environment
.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Note: If you get an execution policy error, run: Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Windows (Command Prompt)

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv

# Activate virtual environment
.venv\Scripts\activate.bat

macOS / Linux

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv

# Activate virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install Dependencies

With the virtual environment activated (you should see (.venv) in your prompt):

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Install Playwright Browsers

Playwright requires browser binaries for PDF generation:

Linux users: Run this command first to install system dependencies:

playwright install-deps

playwright install chromium

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Usage

Running the Script

1. Activate your virtual environment (if not already active):

   • Windows: .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 (or activate.bat)
   • macOS/Linux: source .venv/bin/activate

2. Run the script:

   python main.py

3. Enter a URL when prompted. The tool accepts three types of Microsoft Learn URLs:

   URL Type	Example	Behavior
   Course	.../courses/ai-103t00	Extracts all learning paths and their modules
   Learning Path	.../training/paths/develop-generative-ai-apps/	Extracts all modules in that learning path
   Module	.../training/modules/prepare-azure-ai-development/	Extracts all units in that single module

   Press Enter to use the default course URL (AI-103T00):

   Enter a Microsoft Learn course, learning path, or module URL
    Course URL example: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/courses/ai-103t00
    Learning path URL example: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/develop-generative-ai-apps/
    Module URL example: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/prepare-azure-ai-development/
     (press Enter to use default course URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/courses/ai-103t00):
   > 
   

Finding URLs

Browse all available Microsoft Learn courses at:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/browse/?resource_type=course

Copy any course, learning path, or module URL and paste it when prompted.

Output Structure by URL Type

• Course URL → output/course-name/01-learning-path-name/01-module-name.pdf
• Learning Path URL → output/learning-path-name/01-module-name.pdf
• Module URL → output/module-name/01-module-name.pdf

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Example Output Structure

output/
├── course-title/
│   ├── 01-learning-path-name/
│   │   ├── 01-module-name.html
│   │   ├── 01-module-name.pdf
│   │   ├── 02-module-name.html
│   │   └── 02-module-name.pdf
│   ├── 02-learning-path-name/
│   │   ├── 01-module-name.html
│   │   ├── 01-module-name.pdf
│   │   └── ...
│   └── ...
└── ...

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🎓 Study Tips

Want to supercharge your learning? Upload the generated PDFs to Google NotebookLM!

NotebookLM is an AI-powered research assistant that can:

• 🎙️ Generate Podcasts - Create AI-generated audio summaries you can listen to on the go
• ❓ Create Quizzes - Generate practice questions to test your understanding
• 🃏 Build Flashcards - Make study cards for quick review sessions
• 💬 Answer Questions - Ask questions about the course content and get instant answers
• 🔗 Connect Ideas - Discover relationships between different concepts in the material

Simply upload the PDF files generated by this tool to NotebookLM, and start exploring your course content in new, interactive ways!

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How It Works

1. URL Detection: The script detects whether you provided a course, learning path, or module URL
2. Catalog Fetching: Fetches data from the Microsoft Learn Catalog API
3. Learning Path Discovery (course URLs only): Extracts all learning paths associated with the course
4. Module Discovery (course/learning path URLs): Resolves all modules for each learning path
5. Unit Extraction: Fetches all unit links within each module
6. HTML Generation: Combines all units into a single, styled HTML file per module
7. PDF Conversion: Uses Playwright to convert HTML files to PDF format

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Configuration

Default constants can be modified in main.py:

DEFAULT_COURSE_URL = "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/courses/ai-103t00"
DEFAULT_LEARNING_PATH_URL = "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/develop-generative-ai-apps/"
DEFAULT_MODULE_URL = "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/prepare-azure-ai-development/"
OUTPUT_BASE_DIR = "output"
PAGE_TITLE_IGNORE = ("Knowledge check", "Module assessment", "Exercise - ")

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Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• requests
• beautifulsoup4
• playwright

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License

MIT License