Lesson statuses and drip
What Draft, Published and Locked mean for modules and lessons, how to publish a whole module at once, and how to release content by date, by days since joining, or after a passed quiz.
Every module and every lesson has its own status, and on top of that you can release content over time (drip) or only after a quiz is passed. This page explains what each setting does and what the client sees.
Statuses
| Status | What the client sees |
|---|---|
| Draft | Nothing. New modules and lessons start here, including everything created by AI or by duplicating. |
| Published | The module or lesson is in the course and can be opened (unless drip or a quiz gate still holds it). |
| Locked | The item is listed in the course with a lock, but it cannot be opened and its content is not sent to the client. Use it for "coming soon". |
A lesson is visible only when both the lesson and its module are Published or Locked. A Published lesson inside a Draft module stays invisible, and every lesson of a Locked module is locked. Content created in an older version of the editor can carry the status Hidden; clients do not see it, just like a draft.
Change a status
Use the status pill
In the course editor (/courses/<productId>/lessons) open a lesson or click a module name. The
pill next to the title shows the current status; click it and choose Draft, Published or
Locked. The same three statuses are in the menu that appears when you hover a lesson or a
module in the outline.
Publish a module together with its lessons
When you set a module with draft lessons to Published, the editor asks Publish the lessons too? Choose Publish all to publish the drafts in the same move, or Only the module to keep the lessons as drafts.
Flip all lessons of a module
In the module's ⋯ menu, Publish all lessons publishes the module and every draft lesson in it; Unpublish all lessons turns its published lessons back into drafts. Locked lessons are left as they are in both cases.
A quiz with no questions cannot be published; the editor answers "Add at least one question before publishing this quiz."
Drip: release content over time
Open a module and click the clock button next to its title to open Drip & unlock. A lesson has the same controls on its Settings tab. Changes save as soon as you make them.
| Option | How it works |
|---|---|
| None | Available as soon as the client has access to the course. |
| Unlock by number of days | Enter Number of days to unlock. The content opens that many days after each client joined, so every client has their own schedule. |
| Unlock after specific date | Set Unlock date and the content opens for everyone at that date and time. The optional Access date exempts earlier buyers: clients who joined before it get the content right away, clients who joined later wait for the unlock date. |
A module with drip shows a tag next to its title, for example "Unlocks after 7 days". Until the content opens, the client sees the module or lesson with a lock and a countdown such as "Access in 3 days". Drip on a module covers all of its lessons; drip on a single lesson holds back only that lesson.
Require a passed quiz
There are two gates, and they can be combined with drip:
- On a quiz: in Quiz settings, Require passing to unlock further lessons locks every lesson and module that comes after the quiz until the client passes it. The quiz itself stays open. It needs a passing score, so it is unavailable for a practice quiz.
- On a module: in the Drip & unlock panel, Completion requirement → Require passing all quizzes keeps all later modules locked until every quiz in this module has been passed. The module then shows the tag Quiz pass required.
When the client passes, the quiz result announces what opened: "You've unlocked the module [title]!".
Good to know
You are never held back by drip in your own course: opening it as the owner shows every module, with the badges In preparation on drafts and Locked for members on locked modules. Use Preview lesson → View as student in the editor to check what a client sees. Remember that a course with Locked content cannot be completed by anyone while the default completion rule (all lessons) applies, so no automatic certificate is issued until you publish that content; see Course certificates.
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