You can schedule course sections and modules to unlock automatically on a specific date and time.

In this article, we’ll show you how to schedule module release at a later date.

Overview

Scheduling sections lets you release course modules on specific dates and times.

This is useful when your course follows a fixed schedule, for example, if you want a new section to become available at the same time each week.

Until the scheduled release, customers won’t be able to access the lessons in that section. They’ll be able to see when the section is scheduled to unlock.

Changes to a section’s availability won’t affect existing customers. The updated availability settings will only apply to customers who enroll after the change is made.

Scheduling section release at a specific date

Here's how to unlock course sections at a specific date:

From your home feed, click on your site name and select Admin from the dropdown menu.
From the Admin dashboard, click Products in the sidebar menu.
Click the Edit icon next to the course you want to lock sections for.
Add a new section or edit an existing one to access section locking options.
- To add a new section, click New section from the course editor page.
- To edit an existing section, click directly on the section name.
Under Availability, select the Available on a specific date option.
Using the date picker, select the date and time you'd like to release the section.
Check Send email notification when available if you'd like to also send an email notification to customers when the section becomes available.

Use the Subject and Body fields to customize the content of the email.
Click Save at the top-right of the page to save your changes.

FAQs

What happens if I change the scheduled release date/time?

Any changes will only impact new customers. Existing members remain on the release schedule based on the time of their enrollment.

What happens if someone enrolls after a section's release date has passed?

They will gain access to that section immediately upon enrolling. Any sections scheduled for a future date/time will remain locked until their scheduled release.

If I change a release date on an existing section, will it impact current customers?

No. Adding or updating section release dates only affects new customers who enroll after the changes are saved. Existing customers retain the access settings active when they signed up.

What happens if I select a date that has passed?

Section scheduling is designed to release course content on a future date.

If you select a date or time that has already passed, the section will become available immediately.

Can I manually unlock sections for customers?

You can unlock specific sections for customers if you'd like to. Simply follow the steps described here.

Note: Changing the availability of a section in an effort to unlock sections for existing customers won't work. Doing this will simply affect future enrollees and not existing ones.

Unlocking sections on a specific date and time