Launch a video course
Create a course with the classic wizard, upload a video, add a linked video, a text lesson and a quiz, publish everything and watch the course as a student.
At the end of this guide you have a published course with modules, an uploaded video, a lesson that plays a video hosted elsewhere, a text lesson and a quiz, and you have watched it the way a student does. The guide builds a free course, so no payment setup is needed; the last phase shows where to switch to selling.
Before you start, have these ready:
- A Zanfia account. If you do not have one yet, follow phase 1 of From signup to a live product and click Skip for now on the welcome screen.
- A short video file on your disk. Any video format works.
- Optionally, the address of a video you host elsewhere, for example on YouTube or Vimeo.
Processing an uploaded video takes several minutes, so plan to keep working on other lessons in the meantime.
1. Create the course
In the sidebar open Products → Courses (/courses), click Create product and choose Create (classic). The wizard opens with the course type already selected. You can also open https://app.zanfia.com/products/new?wizard=1 and pick Course.
The wizard is one card headed You are creating:
- Name: the course title your students will see.
- What is it about? (optional): one sentence about the course. The AI uses it to draft your offer copy and the outline.
- Base price: choose Free for this guide. The hint Add paid offers, subscriptions and bundles anytime in the editor. confirms you can start selling later without starting over.
- Leave Generate a draft offer and sample content with AI ticked and click Create and open the editor →.
Drafting can take up to a minute. You then land in the course's product editor on the Course tab, with the status Draft, a Get ready to launch checklist and a free checkout already waiting on the Checkouts tab.
Prefer an empty course? Untick the AI option, or use the link Skip this step and start from a blank template → under the card.
In depth: Product types and The product hub.
2. Open the course editor and review the outline
On the Course tab click the Course content tile. The editor opens full screen at /courses/<productId>/lessons: the outline of modules and lessons on the left, the selected lesson on the right, and the course name in the top-left corner to go back.
With the AI option on you should see:
- Several modules, each with lessons, every one of them a Draft. Nothing was published for you.
- The first lesson with draft text in its Content tab. The other lessons are empty video lessons waiting for your recordings.
Rename, reorder or delete freely: drag lessons and modules in the outline, and use the ⋯ menu on a lesson or module to duplicate or delete it. A course with no lessons shows Upload videos instead, with Add a text lesson, Paste video links and Generate with AI under Other ways to start:.
In depth: Build a course and AI tools in the course editor.
3. Upload your first video
Open one of the drafted video lessons, or add a new one with + Lesson → Video lesson inside a module. On the lesson's Video tab, click or drop your file on Click or drop a video file here.
You should see, in this order:
- Uploading with a percentage. Keep the browser tab open during this stage.
- Upload complete - encoding starting…
- Encoding video… with the note This can take several minutes. You can keep editing - the player will appear when encoding finishes.
- The player, with the status Ready.
Nothing blocks you while the video is processed. Leave the lesson, work on the next phase and come back later. If the file was the wrong one, Replace with a different file is available during encoding.
In depth: Video lessons and Transcripts, chapters and moments.
4. Add a linked video, a text lesson and a quiz
Use + Lesson in a module three more times. Each lesson is created as Untitled lesson and opens right away, so type a title first.
| Lesson type | What to do | What you should see |
|---|---|---|
| External video lesson | Paste the address into Video link and click outside the field. | The player appears under the field at once. There is no encoding wait. |
| Text lesson | Write in the Content tab. | The top bar shows Saving… and then Saved. There is no Save button. |
| Quiz | On the Questions tab click Add question, choose the Question type, mark the correct answer and click Save question. | The question appears in the list. Add as many as you need. |
Set the rules of the quiz (passing score, attempts, time limit) in Quiz settings.
In depth: Quizzes and Generate a quiz with AI.
5. Publish the modules and lessons
Students only see a lesson when both the lesson and its module are published. Everything you created so far is a draft, including the modules drafted by the AI.
- Click a module name in the outline, then click the status pill next to its title and choose Published.
- The editor asks Publish the lessons too? Choose Publish all to publish every draft lesson of the module in one move, or Only the module to decide lesson by lesson.
- For single lessons, open the lesson and set its status pill to Published. Lessons you are not ready to show stay Draft.
A quiz with no questions refuses to go live: Add at least one question before publishing this quiz. A third status, Locked, lists the lesson with a lock without opening it, which is useful for announcing what is coming.
Good to know
Publish all also publishes drafted lessons that have no video yet. Delete the outline lessons you will not use, or keep them as drafts, before you publish a whole module.
In depth: Lesson statuses and drip.
6. Publish the course
Click the course name in the top-left corner to return to the product editor, then click Publish in the header. The Publish [name]? window lists the course's checkouts with the default one ticked. A free checkout needs nothing else; click Publish.
You should see the status tag change to Published and a window titled [name] is live 🎉 with your checkout link, Copy link and Open. A paid checkout would first ask for a payment gateway: Paid checkouts need a connected payment gateway before they can go live.
7. Watch the course as a student
In the header click View as student (on an unpublished course the same button reads Preview as student). A new tab opens on your own site address with the course player, and you are signed in automatically.
Check that:
- The published lessons are listed and open.
- Your uploaded video plays, and so does the linked one.
- The quiz shows its rules and the Start quiz button.
As the owner you see every module, including drafts, which carry the badge In preparation. A student only gets what you published. To see exactly that, open your checkout link in a private window and sign up with a second email address.
In depth: What your clients see.
8. Share the course and start selling
The link from the [name] is live 🎉 window is what you share. You can copy it again from the product's left column: Share & preview → Copy checkout link.
When you are ready to charge for the course, add a paid checkout on the Checkouts tab and connect a payment gateway. Until a gateway is connected, the dashboard (/dashboard) reminds you with Great work on that product! 🚀 and a Connect payment gateway button.
Where to go next
- Take your first sale: connect Stripe or Przelewy24 and run a test purchase.
- Create a checkout: add a paid price next to the free one.
- Course certificates: give students a certificate when they finish.
- Course analytics: follow progress, drop-off and quiz results.
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