Students don’t understand why the next lesson is locked.
You wanted to release one lesson a week. Now people are asking why they can’t get to the rest.
Danica LouweUpdated 5 min readLearnDash gives each lesson three release options: immediately, a number of days after each student enrols, or on a specific date for everyone. Use enrolment-based timing when students start on their own day, and a date when they move together. Tell students about the schedule in your welcome email, then test with a student account, because admins don’t see what students see.
A locked lesson needs an explanation.
Releasing one lesson a week is easy to set up. The confusion comes from choosing the wrong timing, or from students finding a locked lesson they weren’t expecting.
The wrong kind of schedule
Enrolment-based timing gives each student their own calendar. A specific date opens the lesson for everyone at once. Using one when you meant the other is the most common mix-up.
Nobody said it was coming
LearnDash shows the date a lesson becomes available. If your welcome email promised everything straight away, that date can still look like a fault.
Testing as an admin
Your own account doesn’t behave like a student’s, so a schedule can look broken, or look fine when it isn’t.
Expecting more than lessons
The lesson schedule controls lessons and topics. Releasing whole courses over time, or different dates for each group, takes something extra.
Decide what the release should feel like.
Answer these before changing any settings, because they decide which option you need.
- Does each student start on the day they join, or does everyone move together?
- How often should new lessons open: daily, weekly, or after onboarding?
- Does your welcome email tell students lessons will open over time?
- Do students get a reminder when a new lesson is ready?
- Is this a set of lessons, or do whole courses need to open in order?
- Will students need a replay or a catch-up option if they fall behind?
Pick one of three options for each lesson, then test as a student.
These are built into LearnDash, so you don’t need another plugin to get started. Each lesson has its own setting.
- 1
Immediately
The lesson opens as soon as someone enrols. This is the default, and it’s usually right for lesson one.
- 2
Enrolment-based
The lesson opens a number of days after each student enrols. Lesson two at 1 day, lesson three at 2 days gives you a daily release, and it suits something like a seven-day free series.
- 3
Specific date
The lesson opens on a date and time you pick, for everyone. Use this for live programmes. The time uses a 24-hour clock, so check you’ve set it to the afternoon if you meant to.
- 4
Tell students what to expect
Say so in your welcome email and on the course page. If you can, send a reminder when each lesson opens.
- 5
Test with a real student
Enrol a test account and view the course as that student. You should see the first lesson open and an “available on” date on the next ones.
The technical version, for your developer
Our test was in 2022. We’ve checked the options against current documentation, but not re-run the test on the latest version.
- Where it is. Lessons > edit lesson > Settings > Lesson Access Settings > Lesson Release Schedule. Timing is in 24-hour units from each student’s enrolment date.
- Topics. A topic linked to a scheduled lesson opens with that lesson. A topic that isn’t linked has its own Topic Release Schedule.
- Testing. User Switching lets you view the site as a test member. Memberium and Uncanny’s toolkit have similar options, so you may not need it.
- Emails. The Notifications add-on has the trigger “A scheduled lesson is available to user”. It relies on WordPress’s scheduled tasks, so a real server cron job makes the timing more reliable.
- Tag-based release. Memberium with ActiveCampaign or Keap lets a CRM campaign control access to courses, lessons and topics by tag. It’s more work, and worth it when timing depends on more than the enrolment date.
- Per-group dates. Uncanny Toolkit Pro, the paid version, has a Drip Lessons by Group module for calendar dates per group. Its docs warn that mixing it with the native schedule can affect notifications.
Watch it done
All three release options tested with a real student account. Recorded in 2022: topics have their own release schedule now, which the video says they don’t.
Questions owners ask
Can I drip a whole course?
When we tested it, the course settings could expire access but had no option to release a course on a schedule. For that we use CRM tags with Memberium, and a campaign in your CRM grants the course on the right day. Check the settings on your version, since LearnDash changes over time.
Does “1 day” mean tomorrow morning?
No. It means 24 hours after that student enrolled, not the next midnight. Someone who joins at 9pm gets the lesson at 9pm the next day.
Can students be told when a lesson opens?
Yes. LearnDash’s Notifications add-on has a trigger for a scheduled lesson becoming available. Those emails can arrive late, depending on your hosting and WordPress’s scheduled tasks, so test it.
Why can I still see every lesson?
You’re probably logged in as an admin, and admins don’t see the schedule the same way. Test with a student account. The free User Switching plugin lets you view the site as that student.
Will a schedule affect students who joined long ago?
If it’s enrolment-based, it counts from each student’s own enrolment date, so someone who joined months ago may see a newly scheduled lesson immediately. For a release everyone gets together, use a specific date.
