Preview and Publish
Before you make a course visible to learners, preview it to catch any issues. When you are satisfied, publish the course to open it for enrollment.
Previewing a course
Preview mode lets you experience your course exactly as a learner would — without being enrolled and without the course needing to be published.
How to open preview
- Open the course from the Courses list.
- Click Preview (button in the top-right area of the course detail page).
The course opens in a separate view showing the learner-facing course player.
What preview shows you
- The course title, description, thumbnail, and instructor information as they will appear to learners
- The full section and lesson list in the sidebar
- Every content item: videos play, articles render, documents open, quizzes are interactive, and external URLs load
- The navigation controls learners use to move between lessons
What preview does NOT show
- Enrollment status or access restrictions (you see everything regardless of pricing)
- Progress tracking (your preview activity does not count as progress)
- Ratings and reviews (those come from real learner activity)
- Catalog visibility — the course may still be unlisted even after preview
Use preview to check that your content is correct, your section order makes sense, and all media loads properly.
Open preview on a mobile browser or resize your browser window to verify that your content is readable on smaller screens.
Publishing a course
Publishing makes the course live — it becomes enrollable by learners (subject to your visibility and pricing settings).
Pre-publish checklist
Before you publish, confirm:
- The course has at least one section with at least one content item
- All video lessons have finished processing (no "Processing" indicators)
- Quiz lessons have at least one question
- The course title, description, and thumbnail are filled in
- Pricing and enrollment type are configured correctly
- You have previewed the course and it looks right
How to publish
- Open the course.
- Click Publish (or the status toggle next to the course title).
- Confirm the action in the dialog that appears.
The course status changes from Draft to Published. If your catalog is enabled for public access, the course immediately appears in the learner catalog. Enrolled or invited learners can now access their lessons.
What publish does
- Changes the course status to Published
- Makes the course accessible to enrolled learners via the learner portal
- Makes the course appear in the catalog (if public access is enabled on your workspace and the course is set to open enrollment)
- Does NOT automatically enroll anyone — learners still need to enroll or be enrolled by an admin
Unpublishing a course
You can return a published course to Draft at any time.
- Open the course.
- Click Unpublish (or toggle the status back to Draft).
Effect on learners: Learners who are already enrolled retain their progress, but they will lose access to the course content while it is in Draft. When you re-publish, they regain access automatically.
Unpublishing is useful when you need to revise content, update pricing, or temporarily remove the course from the catalog.
Archiving vs. deleting
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Unpublish | Returns to Draft; enrolled learners lose access temporarily |
| Archive | Removes from the catalog but preserves enrollment records and progress |
| Delete | Permanent removal; not available if the course has active enrollments |
If you need to retire a course permanently while preserving learner records, archive it rather than delete it.