How to Create a Course in LifterLMS: From Blank Page to Published

A LifterLMS course is three things stacked together: a WordPress post that acts as the course page, an outline of sections and lessons, and at least one access plan that lets people enroll. Leave one out and the course looks empty, cannot be taken, or cannot be joined.

This tutorial takes a single course from a blank screen to published and tested, in the order that causes the least rework. It assumes LifterLMS is installed and its core pages exist. If they are not, start with our guide on how to set up LifterLMS step by step.

Before you open WordPress, write the outline down: a course title, the section names, and a title for every lesson. Building is fast when the thinking is already done.

Step 1: Create the course post

1. Go to Courses > Add Course and enter the title.
2. Look at what the editor has already placed on the page. A new course starts with a set of LifterLMS blocks: course information, instructors, a pricing table, course progress, a continue button, and the syllabus.
3. Write your course description in the paragraph above those blocks. Say who the course is for and what they will be able to do at the end.
4. Set a featured image. It becomes the picture on the course tile in your Course Catalog.
5. Assign a course category, and a course track if this course belongs to a longer program.
6. Save the draft. Do not publish yet.

Treat the default blocks as working parts, not decoration. The pricing table is where the enroll button lives, and the syllabus block is the lesson list. You can move them around your layout, but if you delete one, that element is gone from the course page.

Step 2: Set the course options

Below the editor is a box called Course Options. Its main tabs hold the settings that apply to the course as a whole.

Tab	What it controls	For a first course
Sales Page	What visitors who are not enrolled see: the normal course content, separate sales content, or a redirect to a page or URL of your choice	Leave on the default until you have a dedicated landing page
General	Course Length, the difficulty level, Focus Mode for this course, Featured Video and Featured Audio, a short line of pricing information for the catalog, and the Course Completion Page	Fill in length and difficulty. They set expectations before anyone enrolls
Restrictions	The Content Restricted Message, an enrollment period, a course time period, a prerequisite course or track, course-wide lesson drip, and a capacity limit	Edit the restricted message. Leave the switches off for now
Instructors	Who is listed as teaching the course, with a label and a visibility setting for each person	Confirm the right person is shown

Two settings in the Restrictions tab deserve care. An enrollment period only controls when people can join. A course time period is stricter: content can only be viewed and completed between the start and end dates. Switch on the wrong one and you either lock out paying students or leave enrollment open after a cohort has started.

The official course creation documentation describes each field if you want the full reference.

Step 3: Build the outline in the Course Builder

The outline is built on a separate screen. Click Launch Course Builder in the course editor.

1. Click Add New Section and type the section name over the placeholder title.
2. With that section expanded, click Add New Lesson. Open the lesson's settings and replace the title.
3. Repeat until every section and lesson from your written outline exists. Do not add content yet.
4. Drag items into order, or use the Shift up and Shift down arrows.
5. Click Save changes and wait for the button to read Saved.

Depending on your version, an empty course may open with a starter section and a few placeholder lessons already in place. Rename them or delete them.

Save often. Autosave in the builder is a per-user preference that is off unless you have switched it on in your WordPress profile. Our Course Builder guide explains every control on this screen, and the article on how to structure an online course covers how many sections and lessons you should have in the first place.

Step 4: Add lesson content

You have two places to write a lesson, and it helps to choose one per lesson and stick with it.

• In the builder. Click a lesson's Settings and use the Content editor in the panel. This is the quick route for text-led lessons. It is offered for new lessons and for lessons that have no content yet.
• In the WordPress editor. Click Edit on the lesson to open it in a new tab. Use this when you want columns, downloads, embeds, or any other block layout. Once a lesson has content written here, the builder shows a link back to the WordPress editor instead of its own content field.

Then work through each lesson's settings:

1. For a video lesson, paste the link into Video Embed URL. The player is placed above the lesson content. Hosting choices are covered in our guide to adding video lessons in LifterLMS.
2. Switch on Free Lesson for any lesson that visitors should be able to open without enrolling.
3. Check that the Published toggle at the top of the panel is on. A draft lesson is not available to students.
4. Save your changes.

If you open a lesson in the WordPress editor, you will find a lesson progression block and a lesson navigation block below your content. The first is the Mark Complete button and the second is the previous and next links. Keep both.

Step 5: Add a quiz where it matters

A quiz in LifterLMS always belongs to a lesson. Pick the lesson where a check makes sense, usually the last lesson of a section.

1. On that lesson's row in the builder, click Add quiz, then Create New Quiz.
2. Give the quiz a title and set a Passing Percentage.
3. Click Add Question and choose a type. The core plugin offers Multiple Choice, Picture Choice, and True or False. The other types in the list need the Advanced Quizzes add-on.
4. Write the question, add the choices, and mark the correct one. Adjust the points if some questions should count for more.
5. Make sure the quiz's own Published toggle is on.
6. Go back to the Lesson tab and decide on Require Passing Grade on Quiz. With it on, the lesson cannot be completed until the student passes. With it off, the quiz is practice.
7. Save, then leave the builder with Exit. You are taken back to the course edit screen.

Attempt limits, time limits, question order, and feedback are covered in our tutorial on creating quizzes in LifterLMS.

Step 6: Add an access plan

A course with no access plan has no enroll button. On the course edit screen, find the Access Plans box under the editor and click Add New Plan.

• Selling the course? Start from the One Time, Lifetime, Monthly, or Annual template, enter the Plan Title and Price, and review Access Expiration. Card payments need a paid gateway add-on such as Stripe or PayPal. The free core plugin includes only the Manual gateway for offline payments.
• Giving it away, or training your own team? Use the Free template. Students enroll without a checkout payment.
• Still testing? Add a temporary Free plan next to your paid one so you can enroll a test student before any gateway is connected. Remove it before launch.

Save the plans, then update the course. A course can hold up to six plans by default. Pricing models, trials, and members-only plans are explained in memberships and access plans explained.

Step 7: Publish and test as a student

Publish the course post. Then check its catalog visibility, which has four options: Catalog & Search, Catalog only, Search only, and Hidden. A course meant for one client or one team is usually better hidden from the public catalog.

Now test. Your administrator account bypasses enrollment, drip, and prerequisite restrictions by default, so what you see while logged in proves very little.

1. Open the course page and use View as in the admin bar to switch to Visitor. You should see the description, the syllabus, and the pricing table, and you should not be able to open a paid lesson.
2. Open a private browser window and enroll as a brand new person through one of your access plans. The preview documentation recommends a real test user for exactly this reason.
3. Complete the first lesson with the Mark Complete button and confirm that the progress shown on the course page goes up.
4. Take the quiz. Fail it once on purpose, then pass it.
5. Open the Student Dashboard and confirm the course appears with the right progress.
6. Back in the admin, find the test student under LifterLMS > Reporting and, for a paid plan, the order under Orders.

Fix what you find, then run the fuller course launch checklist before you announce anything.

What to do next

With one course working end to end, the useful additions are a certificate on completion, an enrollment email that tells students where to begin, and a second course built to the same pattern. Resist adding drip schedules and prerequisites until a few real students have been through the course and you know where they slow down.

None of the steps above needs a developer. Help becomes worth paying for when the course has to do something the settings do not offer: a course page layout your theme cannot produce, enrollment driven by another system, content brought across from a different platform, or a checkout that behaves differently for different buyers. That is the work covered by our LifterLMS development and LifterLMS support services. If you are stuck at a specific step, tell us where and we will point you in the right direction.