How to Create a Course in LifterLMS: From Blank Page to Published
Build one LifterLMS course from start to finish: the course post, Course Options, the outline, lesson content, a quiz, an access plan, publishing…
Read articleThe Course Builder is the screen where a LifterLMS course gets its shape. It does three jobs: it arranges sections and lessons, it edits lesson settings, and it builds quizzes. Everything else about a course, including its price, lives somewhere else.
This is a reference, not a walkthrough. It goes through the builder panel by panel and says what each control does, when a field appears or hides, and where the traps are. If you want the start-to-finish steps instead, read how to create a course in LifterLMS.
Labels below follow the plugin as of October 2026. Add-ons such as Assignments and Advanced Quizzes add their own fields to the same panels.
Three ways to open the builder
- In Courses, hover a course and click the Builder link under its title.
- While editing a course, click Launch Course Builder.
- While viewing a course on the front end as an administrator, use the Launch Course Builder item in the admin bar.
The builder shares WordPress's edit lock with the course editor. If a colleague has the course open, expect the usual takeover warning, and do not have two people work on one course at the same time.
The screen at a glance
| Area | What is there |
|---|---|
| Header | The course title, with Edit Course Page and View Course links. The title itself is changed in the course editor, not here |
| Outline | Your sections, each holding its lessons, with an Add New Section button underneath |
| Sidebar: Build Your Course | Three element buttons: Add New Section, Add New Lesson, and Add Existing Lesson. Click them, or drag a new section or lesson into position |
| Sidebar: utilities | Expand Sections and Collapse Sections, which open or close every section at once |
| Sidebar: editor panel | Opens when you click a lesson's settings. It has three tabs: Lesson, Assignment, and Quiz |
| Footer | The Save changes button and Exit |
A new lesson lands in the section that is currently expanded and selected, which is the last one by default. If a lesson appears in the wrong place, that is why.
Section controls
A section is deliberately simple. It has a title and a position, and no settings of its own.
- Title. Click the title and type. It is edited in place.
- Drag handle. Drag the section to a new position in the outline.
- Shift up and Shift down. Move the section one place at a time, which is easier than dragging in a long course.
- Expand section and Collapse section. Show or hide the lessons inside.
- Delete section. Only an empty section can be deleted. Move or remove its lessons first.
- Add New Lesson. Shown at the bottom of an expanded section. Recent versions also place an Add Existing Lesson button here.
Lesson controls
Each lesson row carries two sets of controls and a line of status indicators.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| ID | The lesson's post ID, useful for shortcodes, support requests, and custom code |
| Edit | Opens the lesson in the WordPress editor in a new tab |
| View | Opens the lesson on the front end |
| Detach | Removes the lesson from this course without deleting it |
| Trash | Moves the lesson to the WordPress trash |
| Move to previous or next section | Sends the lesson to the neighboring section |
| Shift up, Shift down | Reorders the lesson inside its section |
| Settings | Opens the lesson settings panel |
| Add quiz or Edit quiz | Opens the Quiz tab for this lesson. Once a quiz exists, its ID is shown here too |
| Add assignment | Opens the Assignment tab, which needs the Assignments add-on |
The indicators light up only when they apply: Video, Audio, Free lesson, Prerequisite enabled, and Drip enabled. Scanning down that column is the quickest way to audit a course before launch.
Detach is not delete
A detached lesson becomes an orphan. It still exists under Courses > Lessons, and according to the Course Builder documentation it can still be reached at its own URL. If the content should not be public, trash the lesson or set it to draft.
Add Existing Lesson: attach or clone
The search box labels each result. Attach appears for an orphaned lesson and moves that exact lesson into your course. Clone appears for a lesson that already belongs to a course and makes a copy, leaving the original where it was. Cloning is how you reuse a lesson across two courses, and an attached quiz is copied with it. After that the two copies are separate, so later edits have to be made in both.
The lesson settings panel
The top of the Lesson tab holds the editable Title, a Published toggle, a shortcut to the WordPress lesson editor, and Detach Lesson and Delete Lesson. Under that is General Settings.
| Field | What it does | When you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Permalink | The lesson's URL slug | Always |
| Content | A text editor for the lesson body | New lessons and lessons with no content. Otherwise you get an Edit in WordPress link |
| Video Embed URL, Audio Embed URL | A media URL shown above the lesson content | Always |
| Free Lesson | Lets anyone open the lesson without enrolling | Always |
| Require Passing Grade on Quiz | Blocks lesson completion until the quiz is passed | Only when the lesson has a quiz |
| Lesson Weight | Points from 0 to 99 that set how much this lesson counts toward the overall course grade | Only when the lesson has a quiz or assignment |
| Minimum Time on Lesson | Hours, minutes, and seconds a student must spend before Mark Complete works | Not offered on free lessons |
| Prerequisite | A lesson that must be completed first | Not offered on the first lesson of the course |
| Drip Method | Delays when the lesson becomes available | Hidden when drip is set for the whole course |
The Drip Method list changes with context. None, On a specific date, and a number of days after course enrollment are always there. Days after the course start date appears only when the course has a start date, and days after prerequisite completion appears only once a prerequisite is switched on. If the whole field is missing, lesson drip has been enabled under Course Options > Restrictions, and the panel says so. Our guide to drip content and prerequisites covers how to choose between these.
If the Advanced Videos add-on is not installed, recent versions show two disabled options, Require Video Completion and Auto-Advance Videos, once a video URL is entered. They are a preview of the add-on, not a broken setting.
The quiz editor
An empty Quiz tab offers Create New Quiz and Add Existing Quiz. Once a quiz exists, the header shows its title, the running Total Points, its own Published toggle, and Detach Quiz and Delete Quiz.
- Description. Introductory text shown before the quiz starts.
- Passing Percentage. The share of total points needed to pass.
- Limit Attempts. A switch plus a number.
- Time Limit. Minutes allowed per attempt.
- Can be resumed. Lets a student pick up an unfinished attempt. It disappears when a time limit is on.
- Show Correct Answers. Reveals the right answer for questions the student got wrong.
- Randomize Question Order. Shuffles questions on each attempt.
- Disable Retake. Stops further attempts once the student has passed.
Add Question opens the list of types. Multiple Choice, Picture Choice, and True or False are available in the core plugin, along with a Content item for instructions between questions and Add Existing Question. The advanced types are listed but need the Advanced Quizzes add-on, as does the question bank.
Each question has a points field, optional Description, Image, and Video switches, a Multiple Correct Choices switch on choice-based questions, and Result Clarifications, which is the explanation shown with the results. Questions can be cloned, detached, or deleted, and Collapse All keeps a long quiz manageable. Assessment design is covered in how to create quizzes in LifterLMS.
Saving, autosave, and exiting
The save button tells you the state of your work: Saved, Save changes, Saving changes, or an error message. Nothing is stored until it reads Saved.
Autosave exists, but it is a personal preference and it is off by default. To turn it on, open your WordPress profile under Users, check Course Builder Autosave, and update the profile. Each person who builds courses sets it for themselves.
The browser warns you if you try to leave with unsaved changes. Take the warning seriously and save. Exit then takes you back to the course edit screen.
What the builder does not do
- Pricing and enrollment. Access plans are added in the Access Plans box on the course edit screen.
- Course-level settings. The description, sales page, enrollment dates, capacity, course prerequisites, and instructors are in the course editor and its Course Options box.
- Section settings. There are none to find.
- Rich lesson layouts. The builder's content editor handles text. Block layouts need the WordPress editor.
- Bulk deletion. Lessons are removed one at a time here. For a large clean-up, use the Lessons list in WordPress.
- Certificates, achievements, and emails. Those are engagements, managed under the Engagements menu.
- Anything about students. Progress and grades are under LifterLMS > Reporting.
When clicking is the wrong tool
The builder is comfortable for one course at a time. It becomes slow when you have dozens of courses to create, an outline that already exists in a spreadsheet, or content coming from another platform. Sections and lessons can also be created through the REST API and the WP-CLI commands that ship with the core plugin, which is how bulk builds and migrations are normally scripted.
Developers can add their own fields to the lesson and quiz panels too, so a custom setting sits next to the standard ones instead of in a separate screen. If your team needs either of those, our LifterLMS plugin development and LifterLMS migration services cover them. For a second opinion on how your courses are organized before you build many more, get in touch.
