How to preview, publish, and update a course

Before you start

• You are the owner or an admin, and your authenticator is set up. Publishing a price, or a change to who can take the course, needs the owner.
• The course is open in Course studio. In the Classroom, select Edit course on its card.
• The top bar says Saved. If it says Couldn't save, select Retry before you publish.

• Set up an authenticator

Preview the course as a member

Select Preview in the top bar to see your latest draft as a member will see it after you publish, including edits members cannot see yet. On a phone, use the Preview tab beside Outline and Details. Select Edit to go back to editing.

The strip above the preview says who you are previewing as, for example a member who joins today, or someone who buys it today when the course has a price. In a community that charges to join, it reads a member whose paid membership starts today. The course page shows first. Select any lesson in the outline to open it in the lesson player.

Preview records nothing. Complete and continue marks a lesson done inside the preview only, so you can check lessons that wait for earlier ones. Quizzes show their questions without taking answers, and videos play without saving a watch position.

• Day tabs: Day 0 is the day a member joins, buys the course, or starts a paid membership, whichever the course counts from. Each module set to open a number of days later adds a tab for that day, so you can see what is open then.
• From a module: the module's settings have a Check it button such as See the course on day 7. It switches to Preview on the day in the button, which is the module's number of days or Day 0.

Run the publish check

Select Publish in the top bar. The studio saves any waiting edits and opens a short check titled Ready to publish, or A few things to finish when something is missing. Each row has an Edit, Review, or Change link that closes the check and takes you to that part of the course.

• Course title: a missing title blocks publishing. A title still set to Untitled course shows as a note, because members see that name in the Classroom.
• Cover: shows the style or image members will see.
• Every lesson has content: a course with no lessons blocks publishing, and so does a lesson with no video, text, file, quiz, or written response. The check names up to five empty lessons, each with an Edit link.
• A module with no lessons: a note, because members see it as an empty module.
• Access chosen: blocks until you confirm who can take the course. A price must be between $1 and $10,000, and a new price needs payouts set up.
• A lesson set to complete when members pass its quiz: blocks until that lesson has a quiz with questions.
• A lesson whose quiz is switched off: a note that reads This lesson's quiz is off, so members complete it themselves. It never blocks publishing, even on a lesson set to complete on a pass.
• Release timing: a note that says when each module opens.
• Unsaved edits: blocks until the studio saves them. Select Retry at the top, then publish.

• Set course access, price, and release timing

Publish and offer a feed post

The offer appears once per course. After Post in the feed or Not now it does not come back, and later publishes never show it.

1. 1

   Select Publish in the check

   The button reads Publishing… while the course is prepared for members, and editing pauses until it finishes. The status next to the course title then changes from Draft to Published.

2. 2

   Read the feed post offer

   After a course's first publish, a dialog opens with the heading Tell members it's out? and a post that starts with New course: and the course title. A course card with the cover, lesson count, and access appears under the text. You can edit the text, up to 5,000 characters.

3. 3

   Post it or skip it

   Select Post in the feed to post it as you. It goes in your Announcements category when the community has one, and in the feed when it does not. The post does not send email. Select Not now, or close the dialog, to post nothing.

Update a published course

Edits to a published course save as you work and stay out of members' view. The status next to the course title changes to Changes not published, and the top bar button reads Publish changes. Members keep seeing the last published version until you publish, while Preview shows your edits.

This covers every edit in the studio: lessons, modules, their order, course details such as the title and cover, and access or price. Only the owner can publish a change to access or price.

1. 1

   Select Publish changes

   The check opens under the heading Publish changes with a What changed line, for example 2 lessons changed, 1 new lesson, order changed. The same rows as a first publish appear below it.

2. 2

   Publish them

   Select Publish changes in the check. Members keep the current version while it publishes, and see the new one when it finishes. The status returns to Published, and no feed post is offered for an update.

Unpublish a course

Open the "..." menu at the right end of the top bar and select Unpublish. The dialog explains that the course leaves the Classroom and its links stop opening for members. Nothing is deleted. Members who started keep their progress, notes, and certificates, and pick up where they stopped if you publish it again.

Select Unpublish to confirm, or Keep it published to cancel. The status changes to Draft, and Publish brings the course back after the check. The feed post offer does not appear again.

When the dialog says It can't be unpublished yet, it gives one of these reasons.

• People bought this course. They keep their access, so refund their purchases first if you need to take it down.
• Someone is checking out right now. Try again once that checkout finishes or expires.
• Paid members have access to every course in a paid-membership community, so the course stays published until their paid periods end.

• Course sales, paid memberships, and fees

Duplicate a course

Select Duplicate course in the "..." menu. The studio shows Making a copy and pauses editing while it copies the course as it is in the studio, including edits you have not published. When the copy is ready, it opens in the studio.

The copy is a new draft with the same title and its own address. Its modules, lessons, blocks, files, and quizzes are copied. Nothing about members comes across: their progress and lesson discussions stay with the original course. Choose access again before you publish the copy, because the publish check asks for it.

Delete a course

Deleting cannot be undone, so the studio allows it only for an unpublished course with no learner or payment history. Learner history includes progress, notes, discussion, certificates, and course access you granted by hand.

• Unpublish it first. The course is still published. The dialog offers Unpublish, or Keep it to leave the course as it is.
• Members have progress in this course. Deleting would erase their progress, notes, and certificates. Keep it unpublished: members can't open it, and their progress stays.
• People paid for this course. Payment records keep it from being deleted, so keep it unpublished.

1. 1

   Open Delete course

   Select Delete course in the "..." menu. On an unpublished course, you can also use Delete draft at the bottom of the course settings.

2. 2

   Confirm

   The dialog lists what is deleted: the course, its lessons, and their files and quizzes. Select Delete draft to confirm. The studio returns to the Classroom while the deletion finishes, and you cannot undo it.

If it does not work

• Publish stays off in the check. A row is marked in red. Select its link, fix it, and select Publish again.
• Some edits haven't saved yet. Use Retry at the top, then publish.
• The course changed since the check. Look it over, then publish. An edit saved after the check opened, so the check ran again.
• Wait for this video to finish processing before publishing. A lesson video is still processing, and publishing works once it is ready.
• Only the community owner can change course access or pricing. An admin tried to publish a price or an access change, so the owner needs to publish it.
• Connect a Stripe account that is ready to accept payments before selling a course. The course has a new price and payouts are not ready yet.
• Publish changes is grayed out. Members already see every change.
• This course has an operation in progress. Wait for it to finish. A publish or a copy is still running.
• Couldn't follow the publish. Reload the page to see whether it finished.
• Quizzes needs the Pro plan, or the same message for another tool. The course uses a Pro tool and the community is on Free. Publishing or copying a course that uses that tool needs Pro.
• This course is too large to duplicate. Split it into smaller courses first.