Do you want to hide a few courses from your website, yet let a few users access it with a private link? You can hide or archive courses you don’t want to display publicly.
In this document, we’ll show you how to update a course’s status, the different kinds of states, and what they mean.
- Updating a Course Status
- Publishing a Course
- Unpublishing a Course
- Scheduling a Course
- Marking a Course as Hidden
- Archiving a Course
- Switching Between Course States
Updating a Course Status
If you’ve just created a course, you’ll see the Status dropdown on the top right of the Course page.
If you’ve designed the course earlier and want to update the status, you should start by opening the course page.
To open the course page, open your WordPress admin area, navigate to Thrive Dashboard >> Thrive Apprentice, and click the arrow beside the specific course name on the Thrive Apprentice home page.
On the course page, you can set the course status by clicking the dropdown on the top right of the screen.
Publishing a Course
When you publish a course, it is made available to all the registered members on your website.
To publish a course, open your WordPress admin area, navigate to Thrive Dashboard >> Thrive Apprentice, and click the arrow beside the course you want to open.
On the course page, click Publish in the status dropdown on the top right of the screen.
Unpublishing a Course
You will need to unpublish a course when you no longer want users to access it and specifically when you want to change it.
To unpublish a course, open your WordPress admin area, navigate to Thrive Dashboard >> Thrive Apprentice, and click on the arrow beside the course you want to open.
On the course page, click Unpublish in the status dropdown on the top right of the screen.
Scheduling a Course
Sometimes, you’d want to schedule a course to set a launch date and time.
Note: You can only schedule an unpublished course. The Schedule a course option is available only under an Unpublished course.
To schedule a course, open your WordPress admin area, navigate to Thrive Dashboard >> Thrive Apprentice, and click the arrow beside the course you want to open.
On the course page, click Schedule in the status dropdown on the top right of the screen.
After clicking Schedule, set a time and date for launching the course in the popup.
After selecting the date and time, scroll down the popup and click the Save button to schedule the course.
Marking a Course as Hidden
Hiding a course means removing it from the course list and hiding it from all your users except those granted access.
To mark a course as hidden, open your WordPress admin area, navigate to Thrive Dashboard >> Thrive Apprentice, and click the arrow beside the course name you want to edit.
On the Course page, click the dropdown on the top right and click Hide.
After clicking Hide, confirm by clicking “Yes, hide this course” on the confirmation popup.
Here’s what happens when you hide a course:
- The course remains hidden from course lists or anywhere on the website to all users, except those you’ve granted access.
- Users can still be granted access to hidden courses via user roles, using the Automator or managing it with payments, etc.
Archiving a Course
Archiving a course means removing it from the course list and hiding it from all your users except those granted access.
Note: The main difference between a Hidden and an Archived course is that a Hidden course can be granted access even when it remains hidden. However, an Archived course cannot be granted access after it is Archived.
To archive a course, open your WordPress admin area, navigate to Thrive Dashboard >> Thrive Apprentice, and click the arrow beside the course name you want to edit.
On the Course page, click the dropdown on the top right and click Archive.
After clicking Archive, confirm by clicking “Yes, archive this course” on the confirmation popup.
Here’s what happens when you archive a course:
- The course is removed from course lists or anywhere on the website and remains accessible to only those previously granted access.
- You won’t be able to grant access based on user roles or through the Automator.
- No access can be granted once the course is archived.
Switching Between Course States
Sometimes, you’d want to switch between course states for some time or business-related reasons.
Thrive Apprentice has a specific pattern to allow you to switch between states. It works as follows:
- Published courses can be switched to unpublished, archived, or hidden states.
- Unpublished courses can be switched to published, archived, or hidden states. You can also choose to schedule an unpublished course.
- Archived courses can be switched to published or hidden states.
- Hidden courses can be switched to published, unpublished, archived, or hidden states.
- Scheduled courses can be published, unpublished, or re-scheduled.
We’ve just seen how you can update course states, the role each status plays in the lifetime of a course, and the possibility of switching between course states.
Next, have you tried enabling assessments for a course? Here’s a document to help you enable assessments for your courses using Thrive Apprentice.