Every new course starts as a draft. Publishing a course lists it in search and course directories so members can find and join it. This article covers the publish checklist, what blocks publishing, and how to unpublish (take a course offline).
Who can do this: Community owners and admins, and the course's space admins. Moderators can see a course's status but can't publish it. · Where: Web (the course's Course Management panel, or Admin → Courses → All Courses). · Plan: Courses depend on your platform plan.
Course status: draft, published, or archived
- Draft: where every course starts. It isn't listed in search or course directories, and it's the only state where you can apply an AI course outline.
- Published: listed, so members can find it and enroll according to its access settings.
- Archived: read-only. See Archive, restore, or delete a space.
The course's Overview shows its status. In Admin → Courses → All Courses, the Published, Drafts, and Archived tabs filter the list, and an unpublished course shows Ready or how many blockers it has.
Check a course's publish checklist
Open the course's Course Management panel and click Publish. The page shows the Current status and a checklist:
- Basic information, Curriculum structure, and Lessons added
- Required path: only needed when the completion criteria is Required lessons only
- Instructor assignment and Pricing and access
Below it, Resolve these before publishing lists what blocks publishing, and Recommended, but not required lists suggestions.
Fix what blocks publishing a course
The Publish button stays disabled until every blocker is fixed:
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| "This course needs at least one section." | Add a section in Curriculum. |
| "This course needs at least one lesson." | Add a lesson inside a section. |
| "This course needs at least one required lesson." | Turn on Required for a lesson, or change the Completion criteria in Course Settings. |
Lessons created by an AI course outline start empty. A text lesson without its text, or a video lesson without its video, also blocks publishing until you add it. See Add sections and lessons to a course.
These don't block publishing, but they make the course page look unfinished: "No instructor has been assigned.", "This course has no cover image.", and "This course has no description."
Publish a course
- In the course's Course Management panel, click Publish.
- Check that nothing is listed under Resolve these before publishing.
- Click the Publish button.
You can also go to Admin → Courses → All Courses, open a course's ⋯ menu, and click Publish Course. If something is missing, a message tells you what. You'll see Course published when it's done.
What changes for members when a course is published
- The course is listed in search and course directories. Listed in search and directories under Access & pricing follows the publish state and can't be switched by hand.
- Members join the way you set in Access & pricing: for free, by paying, by request, or through an access group. See Control who can access a course.
- Lessons don't have their own publish state. A lesson you add to a published course is part of it right away, subject to drip content and preview settings.
Unpublish a course
Click Unpublish on the Publish page, or Unpublish Course in the course's ⋯ menu in the admin console. There's no confirmation step. The course goes back to draft and is removed from search and course directories. Learners who already have access keep it, along with their progress.
To apply an AI course outline to a published course, unpublish it first ("Unpublish the course to apply an AI outline.").
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