Troubleshooting courses and video

This page answers the questions creators ask most often about courses: what a client can and cannot see, certificates, video playback, quizzes, the "Ask the course" tutor and copying a course.

A client says the course is empty or a lesson is missing

Clients see only modules and lessons with the status Published or Locked, and a lesson shows up only when its module is visible too. A published lesson inside a Draft module stays invisible. When every module is a draft, the client opens the course and reads "No lessons have been added to this course yet."

1. Open the course editor (/courses/<productId>/lessons).
2. Click the name of the module and look at the status pill next to its title. Set it to Published. When the editor asks Publish the lessons too?, choose Publish all or Only the module.
3. Open the missing lesson and check its own status pill.
4. Use Preview lesson → View as student to see the course the way the client does.

To publish a whole module at once, open the module's ⋯ menu and choose Publish all lessons. Statuses are explained in Lesson statuses and drip.

A client sees a lock on content they paid for

Three settings put a lock on a module or a lesson: the status Locked, drip (the client then sees a countdown such as "Access in 3 days"), and a quiz that has to be passed first. As the owner you never see these locks in your own course, so check them in the editor.

1. Look at the status pill of the module and of the lesson. Locked lists the item with a lock and never opens it; change it to Published.
2. Open the module and click the clock button next to its title to open Drip & unlock (a lesson has the same controls on its Settings tab). None removes the wait. Unlock by number of days counts from the day each client joined, so every client has their own schedule. Unlock after specific date opens the content for everyone on that date.
3. Check the earlier modules for Completion requirement → Require passing all quizzes, and the earlier quizzes for Require passing to unlock further lessons in Quiz settings. Both keep later content locked until the client passes.

A client finished the course but did not get a certificate

Automatic certificates are off by default, and turning them on does not reach back to clients who finished earlier. A course also does not count as completed while it has Locked content (with the default rule, all lessons) or while a quiz with a passing score has not been passed.

1. Open the course, click Settings and find the Certificate section. Turn on Automatic certificates.
2. Click Past completions → Issue for past completions to cover clients who had already completed the course.
3. If a client still has none, check that no module or lesson is Locked (or set a Completion threshold (%)) and that the client passed every graded quiz.
4. To issue one by hand right away, open Customers → Certificates (/certificates) and click Issue certificate.

If the certificate exists but the client cannot find the email, use Resend email on its row. The rules are in Course certificates.

The certificate shows the wrong issuer name

The issuer printed on a certificate is your Site title. When the site title is empty, the name of your account is used instead. Zanfia's name never appears on issued certificates.

1. Open Your site → Settings and the Name & logo tab (/site/identity).
2. In Name & description fill in Site title with the name that should appear as the issuer, and save. The same title is the name of your site.
3. Certificates issued from now on carry the new name. An already issued certificate keeps the old one: in Customers → Certificates (/certificates) use Revoke on it and then Issue again. The client receives a new certificate by email, with a new credential ID and link.

I changed the certificate template, but issued certificates look the same

An issued certificate is a finished PDF. A change of the template applies to certificates issued after the change, not to the ones clients already hold.

1. Open Customers → Certificates (/certificates) and find the certificate.
2. Choose Revoke. The old verification link then reports the certificate as revoked.
3. On the revoked row choose Issue again. A new certificate is created in the current template, with a new credential ID and link, and emailed to the client.

The revoked certificate stays on the list as revoked; Delete removes it for good. See Certificate templates.

A client sees "Device limit reached"

Your site has Account sharing protection turned on: each client can be logged in on a limited number of devices at the same time. Every browser counts as a separate device, so two browsers on one laptop take two places. What the client can do on that screen depends on the setting When the limit is reached. With Always allow replacement they click Use this device instead. With Adaptive protection the first swap works at once and the next ones require a wait. With Creator approval only they are told to ask you.

1. To help one client: open Customers (/customers), open the client and go to the Devices tab. Remove frees one place, Remove all logs the client out everywhere.
2. To change the rule for everyone: open Your site → Settings and the Customer access tab (/site/access). Raise Active device limit, pick another option under When the limit is reached, or switch the limit off (No device limit).

Clients have no device list of their own; they swap a device on the limit screen itself. The whole setting is described in Limit how many devices a client can use.

A lesson video plays for me but not for one client

When other clients watch the same lesson without trouble, the cause is on that client's device. The player needs a short-lived authorization that the browser passes along, and ad or tracking blockers, strict privacy modes, or a wrong date and time on the device can stop it.

1. Confirm the video itself is fine: in the course editor the Info tab under the player shows the status Ready, and Preview lesson → View as student plays it.
2. Ask the client to open the lesson in another browser, or in a private window with extensions switched off.
3. Ask them to check that the date and time on their device are set automatically.
4. If it still fails for them in every browser, contact support with the address of the lesson and the name of the browser.

A client used all their quiz attempts

The quiz has an Attempt limit. A client who used every attempt sees "No attempts remaining. Ask your instructor to reset your attempts."

1. Open the quiz lesson in the course editor and go to its Statistics tab.
2. Find the student's row in the table of attempts, click Reset attempts and confirm. Their result is cleared, and lessons that the quiz had unlocked lock again until they pass.
3. To stop this from happening again, open Quiz settings, clear Attempt limit (empty means unlimited) and click Save.

More in Quizzes.

"Ask the course" says it cannot find something that is in my course

The tutor answers only from what it can read: the transcripts of videos uploaded to Zanfia and the text in the Content tab of lessons. External video lessons have no transcript, and lesson attachments are not read. When nothing matches, the client sees "I couldn't find this in the course materials. Try asking differently or about a specific lesson."

1. Transcribe the videos: open a video lesson, choose Transcription under the player and click Transcribe. For many videos at once use Media → Transcripts → Transcription planner (/media/transcribe).
2. For lessons with an external video, write the key points in the Content tab.
3. Test it as a student: open a lesson in the course player, go to the Ask the course tab and ask a full question.

See The "Ask the course" AI tutor and Transcripts, chapters and moments.

I cannot find a way to duplicate a course

There is no action that duplicates a whole product. A course is copied by importing its content into a new course.

1. Create the new course: open Products → Courses (/courses) and click Create product.
2. In its course editor choose Add → Upload & import → From another course.
3. In the Import from another course window pick the source course, then Import entire course or Select modules and lessons.

The import brings the modules and lessons with their videos and files. The cover, the description, the checkouts and the prices are not copied; set them up on the new product. Inside one course, Duplicate lesson and Duplicate module in the ⋯ menu copy single items. See Build a course.

If your problem is not listed here, see Get help and contact support.