Each course includes customizable Display & Content Options that control how course information, materials, and navigation appear to learners. This article explains each setting and how it affects the course experience, helping you configure the layout and behavior that best fits your content.

Locating Course Display Settings

Navigate to LearnDash LMS > Courses
Click the course you want to edit
Select the Settings tab at the top of the page
Locate the Display & Content Options section

Course Materials

Course materials are supplemental resources that support your course content. These may include PDFs, downloadable files, images, audio files, or links to external websites.

To add course materials:

Toggle Course Materials on
Add your materials in the content box (HTML is supported)

Course materials appear in a separate tab on the course page, alongside the main course content.

Important notes:

Course materials are visible to all users, including those who are not enrolled
Use the [student] shortcode to display materials to enrolled students only
Click here to learn more.

Challenge Exam

The LearnDash Challenge Exam allows learners to bypass a course by completing an assessment before starting. If the learner passes the exam, the course is automatically marked as complete.

This feature is ideal for:

Learners with prior knowledge
Fast-tracking experienced students
Recognizing existing competency

For full setup instructions, see: Creating a Challenge Exam

Course Certificate

A certificate can be awarded when a student completes a course.

Key points to know:

Certificates appear in the list only after at least one certificate has been created
Certificates are available only after all required lessons, topics, and quizzes are completed
Once earned, a Download Certificate button appears on the course page

To assign a certificate, select the certificate you want to associate with the course.

Note: Certificates can also be associated with quizzes. Learn how to create a certificate.

Course Content Visibility

This setting controls who can see the list of lessons, topics, and quizzes associated with the course. This does not affect content added to the WordPress editor. Editor content is always visible to everyone.

Available options:

Always Visible (default)
Displays the course content list to all visitors
Only Visible to Enrollees
Displays the list only to enrolled students

Note: When Always Visible is selected, non-enrolled users can see the content list but cannot access it. They will see the message: “You don’t currently have access to this content.”

Custom Pagination

Pagination controls how many lessons and topics appear at one time. By default, courses use the global pagination settings, but this can be customized per course.

To enable custom pagination:

Toggle Custom Pagination on
Enter the number of lessons per page
Enter the number of topics per page

Note:
This setting affects both:

The course content table on the course page
The course navigation widget for that course

Custom Lesson Order

Custom lesson ordering is available only when the Course Builder is disabled. If the Course Builder is enabled, it always takes precedence.

Enable or Disable Course Builder

The Course Builder is enabled by default
If it does not appear when editing a course, verify it is enabled in the global course settings

Configure Custom Lesson Order

Toggle Custom Lesson Order on
Choose a Sort By option:
- Date (default)
- Title
- Menu Order
Choose an Order Direction:
- Descending (default)
- Ascending

Location: LearnDash LMS > Courses > select a course > Settings

How Lesson Order Affects Topics

When lessons include topics, topics follow the same ordering logic within each lesson.

Example:

If lessons are sorted by Title (Ascending), lessons appear alphabetically
Topics inside each lesson also appear alphabetically, but only relative to that lesson