How to Set Course & Chapter Availability for Your Course

Want to roll out course content gradually or align training with specific milestones? With ProProfs’ Availability & Drip settings, you can control exactly when your learners can access the course or each chapter — and automatically notify them when it’s time.

This helps you:

• Deliver content in a structured, step-by-step flow

• Keep learners engaged with timely updates

• Prevent content from being skipped or rushed through

• Accommodate learners across different time zones

What happens when content is restricted?

Until a course or chapter is available, learners will see a lock screen without access. Once unlocked, they’ll receive an email notification (drip) prompting them to start the new content (see below).

Until the chapter becomes available, the learner will see the following screen if they try to access the locked chapter:

To Use Availability and Drip for Courses and Chapters:

Step 1: Open a course setting and go to Drip. The course and chapter availability will be set to Always by default.

Step 2: For course availability,

• You can also set it according to the date and time, as shown in the screenshots below. According to date (you can even change the time zone in case some of your learners are in different time zones and you want to check them out):

• According to time (you can set it according to the year, month, week, and day):

Step 3: To configure chapter availability, click Set Time Period to make them available according to the time and go to Manage Availability.

Step 3.1: In the Set Chapter Availability Dates dialog, you can send the Drip in the following ways:

• Days after Enrollment- Set the number of days after the learner starts the course
• After Specific Date- Set a date after which the chapter will be available for learners

Step 3.2: You can edit the email template for your preferred method by clicking Edit Email. In the Edit Email Template dialog, you can do the following:

1. Turn on/off the notification email for learners

2. Edit the email subject and body. Learners can click Start Chapter to access the latest unlocked content.

3. Send a test email to see what the email looks like

Click Done to implement your changes.

Step 4: Click "X" to close the dialog and save your course setting using the Save button.  

Tips for Using This Feature Strategically

• Create training paths by staggering content over time instead of making everything available upfront.

• Run compliance refreshers by reactivating chapters on specific dates (e.g., annually).

• Match rollout to onboarding — unlock relevant chapters based on hire dates.

• Prevent binge learning by setting minimum pacing expectations between sections.

FAQs

Can I release chapters based on learner progress instead of date?
Not at this time. Chapter availability is based on the date or days after enrollment. For progress-based unlocking, use quiz settings to gate the next chapters after passing.

Will learners get notified each time a chapter unlocks?
Yes, if drip emails are enabled, you can customize each notification and even test how it appears before sending it.

Can I set different availability rules for different learner groups?
While drip settings apply course-wide, you can duplicate the course and assign different schedules to separate groups.

What happens if a learner enrolls after some chapters are already released?
They’ll instantly access any content already past its unlock date and receive drips only for future chapters.

Can I pause or edit availability after setting it?
Yes. You can adjust course and chapter availability anytime by disabling drip emails or changing unlock timelines.