Can LearnPress schedule lesson releases without an add-on?

No, LearnPress core does not provide full time- or progress-based release rules for individual course items. You can publish a course, use its overall duration settings, or manage access manually, but those options do not create a separate automatic schedule for each student. A content-drip extension is needed for enrolment intervals, dates, sequences, or prerequisite-based access.

Should I use a date or an interval for drip content?

Use an interval when each student should receive lessons a set number of days after their own enrolment. Use a specific date when everyone in a cohort should receive the material at the same time. Mixing both approaches can cause confusion, especially when a student enrols after a calendar date has already passed, so document the rule shown on the course page.

Can content drip depend on completing a previous lesson?

Yes, a suitable LearnPress content-drip extension can use sequence or prerequisite rules to restrict later lessons and quizzes. Check that the required item is actually part of the same course and that students must mark it complete under your course settings. A time delay alone will not confirm that the student understood or completed the earlier material.

Why can an administrator see lessons that a student cannot?

Administrators may bypass LearnPress access restrictions, so an administrator view is not a reliable test of drip rules. Use a separate student account with an active enrolment and no existing completion record. If the result is still wrong, check the account’s course status, the item’s curriculum assignment, the release date, the WordPress timezone, and caching.

How to schedule course content releases in LearnPress

Membership & LMS Time About 30 minutes 6 steps Updated 27 Oct 2026

The short answer

LearnPress core can publish a course and control course duration, but it does not provide full per-lesson drip scheduling. For timed or progress-based releases, add a content-drip extension, configure each lesson or quiz, then test access with a student account.

The route

01Plan the release schedule
02Build the course curriculum
03Know the manual route
04Install a drip extension
05Set each release rule
06Test access as a student

What you need

A WordPress site with LearnPress installed
Administrator access to WordPress
A completed course with lessons or quizzes
A separate student account for testing

Plan the release schedule

Decide how students should receive the course before changing settings. A simple schedule might release the first lesson immediately, the second lesson three days after enrolment, and later lessons after a fixed interval or a prerequisite is completed.

Choose between time-based releases, a fixed calendar date, sequential access, or progress-based access. Do not mix methods casually: a lesson with a date restriction can remain unavailable even when a student has completed the previous item.

Build the course curriculum

Go to LearnPress > Courses and edit the course. In the curriculum area, add your sections, lessons, and quizzes in the order students should follow.

Open each lesson and quiz and check its content, completion rules, and preview settings. Keep the curriculum order clear, because sequential and prerequisite releases depend on the items being assigned to the correct course.

Know the manual route

LearnPress core does not provide a complete per-student content-drip system. Without an add-on, you can publish the course normally and manually change what is included or accessible, or split the programme into separate courses that you publish on different dates.

Those workarounds are suitable for a small cohort, but they do not automatically calculate release dates from each enrolment. Changing a course curriculum also affects everyone using that course, so it is a poor fit when students join at different times.

Install a drip extension

For automatic releases, install and activate a LearnPress content-drip add-on from a trusted source. After activation, edit the course and look in its course settings for the content-drip controls.

If the controls are missing, confirm that the add-on is active and compatible with your LearnPress version. Also check that you are editing a LearnPress course rather than a normal WordPress page or lesson outside the course curriculum.

Set each release rule

Enable content drip for the course, then configure the release method offered by the add-on. Depending on the available options, set an item to open immediately, after a time interval from enrolment, on a specific date, after earlier items in sequence, or after selected prerequisite lessons or quizzes are completed.

Use an interval when each student should receive content relative to their own enrolment date.
Use a specific date for a cohort that should receive the same material on the same day.
Use sequence or prerequisites when completion must control access.

Save or update the course after setting the rules. Check the site timezone before using dates, because WordPress schedules can differ from your local time.

Test access as a student

Open the course with a separate student account, or use an account that has not already completed the relevant lessons. Confirm that the first item is available, later items show the expected restriction, and the student sees useful instructions about when or why access will open.

Do not test only while logged in as an administrator. Administrators may bypass restrictions. If a lesson remains locked after changing its rule, check enrolment status, completion records, the course curriculum, the site timezone, and any page or object cache before changing the schedule again.

The fast route

Let LearnPress do it

Time- or progress-based lesson releases for LearnPress, ideal for structured courses that unlock content gradually.

Get LearnPress

Questions

Can LearnPress schedule lesson releases without an add-on?: No, LearnPress core does not provide full time- or progress-based release rules for individual course items. You can publish a course, use its overall duration settings, or manage access manually, but those options do not create a separate automatic schedule for each student. A content-drip extension is needed for enrolment intervals, dates, sequences, or prerequisite-based access.
Should I use a date or an interval for drip content?: Use an interval when each student should receive lessons a set number of days after their own enrolment. Use a specific date when everyone in a cohort should receive the material at the same time. Mixing both approaches can cause confusion, especially when a student enrols after a calendar date has already passed, so document the rule shown on the course page.
Can content drip depend on completing a previous lesson?: Yes, a suitable LearnPress content-drip extension can use sequence or prerequisite rules to restrict later lessons and quizzes. Check that the required item is actually part of the same course and that students must mark it complete under your course settings. A time delay alone will not confirm that the student understood or completed the earlier material.
Why can an administrator see lessons that a student cannot?: Administrators may bypass LearnPress access restrictions, so an administrator view is not a reliable test of drip rules. Use a separate student account with an active enrolment and no existing completion record. If the result is still wrong, check the account’s course status, the item’s curriculum assignment, the release date, the WordPress timezone, and caching.