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Frequently Asked Questions

Setting Up the Dashboard

Section titled “Setting Up the Dashboard”

How do I add the dashboard to my site?

Section titled “How do I add the dashboard to my site?”
  1. Create a new WordPress page (for example, “My Dashboard”).
  2. Add [ld_dashboard] to the page content.
  3. Publish the page.
  4. Go to WordPress Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > General Settings and set the Dashboard Page to the page you just created.

Your dashboard is now live at that page’s URL.

How do I add the dashboard to my site navigation?

Section titled “How do I add the dashboard to my site navigation?”
  1. Go to Appearance > Menus.
  2. Select the menu you want to edit.
  3. Find your dashboard page in the Pages list and add it to the menu.
  4. Save the menu.

Can I change the dashboard URL?

Section titled “Can I change the dashboard URL?”

Yes. The dashboard URL is simply the URL of the WordPress page that contains the dashboard shortcode. To change it, edit that page and change the page slug under Permalink settings in the editor. After changing it, go to LearnDash Dashboard > General Settings and confirm the Dashboard Page mapping still points to the correct page.

How many tabs can I show in the sidebar?

Section titled “How many tabs can I show in the sidebar?”

You can show as many tabs as you need. Go to Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > Menu Options to control which tabs are visible for each user role. The dashboard supports up to 28 different tabs across all user roles.

Instructors and Students

Section titled “Instructors and Students”

Can students create courses?

Section titled “Can students create courses?”

No. Only users with the instructor or administrator role can create and edit courses. Students see a read-only view of their enrolled courses, quiz attempts, assignments, and certificates.

How do I make a user an instructor?

Section titled “How do I make a user an instructor?”

You have two options:

  1. Manually: Go to WordPress Admin > Users > All Users, edit the user, and change their role to LD Instructor.

  2. Self-service: Go to Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > General Settings and enable the Apply Instructor Button. This adds a “Become an Instructor” button to the student dashboard. Students submit an application, you review it, and approve or reject it. Approved applicants receive an email and are upgraded to the instructor role automatically.

Can an instructor manage a course they did not create?

Section titled “Can an instructor manage a course they did not create?”

Yes, through course sharing. The course owner can share their course with another instructor directly from the course edit form on the dashboard. The co-instructor can then view and edit the course. They cannot delete it.

Shared courses are clearly labelled in the co-instructor’s dashboard so they know at a glance which courses they own and which are shared with them.

What is the difference between a Group and a Course?

Section titled “What is the difference between a Group and a Course?”

A Course is a single LearnDash learning unit — it contains lessons, topics, quizzes, and assignments.

A Group is a container that bundles multiple courses together and assigns them to a set of students. When a student joins a group, they get access to all courses in that group automatically. Group leaders are responsible for managing their groups — adding or removing students, viewing progress, and generating enrollment codes.

Enrollment Codes

Section titled “Enrollment Codes”

How do enrollment codes work?

Section titled “How do enrollment codes work?”

Enrollment codes let students enroll themselves in a course or group without an admin doing it manually. You generate a batch of codes from Dashboard > Bulk Management > Enrollment Codes. Students enter a code on the dashboard to gain instant access.

Can I limit how many times a code can be used?

Section titled “Can I limit how many times a code can be used?”

Yes. When generating a code batch, set the Maximum Redemptions value. Use 1 for single-use codes (useful for individual invitations). A higher number lets multiple students use the same code — useful for a class or cohort.

Can codes expire?

Section titled “Can codes expire?”

Yes. When generating codes you can set an expiry date. Codes entered after that date will not work.

Reports and Analytics

Section titled “Reports and Analytics”

How do I view student progress?

Section titled “How do I view student progress?”

Instructors can see student progress from several places:

  • The Insights tab shows course-level completion rates, top courses by enrollment, and time spent learning.
  • The Quiz Report tab shows individual student quiz scores and attempts.
  • The Assignment Report tab shows submitted assignments and their approval status.
  • The Essay Report tab shows open-ended quiz question submissions.
  • Click into any course from the Courses tab to see per-student progress for that course.

Why is my statistics data out of date?

Section titled “Why is my statistics data out of date?”

Dashboard statistics are cached and refresh automatically several times a day. If you need fresh data right now — for example, after a bulk enrollment — go to Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > General Settings and use the Refresh Statistics option.

Can I export reports?

Section titled “Can I export reports?”

Yes. The admin report pages for quiz results, assignment status, essay submissions, and course progress each have an Export button. You can export in CSV or Excel format. Apply your filters first, then export — the export matches what is currently displayed.

How many students can the dashboard handle?

Section titled “How many students can the dashboard handle?”

The dashboard is designed to scale. Reports load data one page at a time, so even sites with tens of thousands of student records can browse them smoothly. For best performance on large sites, use a hosting plan with Redis caching enabled. See the Performance Tips page for detailed guidance.

Communication

Section titled “Communication”

Can instructors email their students from the dashboard?

Section titled “Can instructors email their students from the dashboard?”

Yes. The Email tab (when enabled in settings) lets instructors compose and send emails to any or all of their students. Instructors can address a whole course, a specific group, or individual students. There are seven ready-made email templates available — welcome messages, quiz retry prompts, inactivity reminders, and more — to save time.

Do private messages work without BuddyPress?

Section titled “Do private messages work without BuddyPress?”

Yes. The dashboard has its own built-in private messaging system. Students and instructors can exchange private messages from the Private Messages tab without BuddyPress. If BuddyPress is active on your site, you can optionally route messages through BuddyPress messaging instead.

Customisation

Section titled “Customisation”

Can I change the dashboard colors and design?

Section titled “Can I change the dashboard colors and design?”

Yes. Go to WordPress Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > Design Settings to customize colors, fonts, and layout options to match your brand.

Can I override email templates?

Section titled “Can I override email templates?”

Yes. Copy the email template files from the plugin’s templates folder into a folder called ld-dashboard/emails/ inside your active theme. The dashboard will use your theme copies instead of the built-in templates. Plugin updates will not overwrite your customisations.

Can I add custom fields to courses and lessons?

Section titled “Can I add custom fields to courses and lessons?”

Yes. You can create custom ACF field groups and configure them to appear on the dashboard’s course or lesson edit forms. This lets you collect any additional information from instructors when they create or edit content. Contact the Wbcom Designs support team if you need guidance on setting this up.

Licensing and Updates

Section titled “Licensing and Updates”

How do I receive automatic updates?

Section titled “How do I receive automatic updates?”

Enter your license key at WordPress Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > Welcome. With an active license, plugin updates appear in the standard WordPress update notifications. Click Update Now to apply them.

What happens if my license expires?

Section titled “What happens if my license expires?”

The plugin keeps working. You lose access to automatic updates and priority support until you renew. Renew your license at wbcomdesigns.com to restore both.

Support

Section titled “Support”

How do I report a bug or get help?

Section titled “How do I report a bug or get help?”

Visit wbcomdesigns.com/support/ and open a support ticket. Include:

  • Your WordPress, PHP, LearnDash, and LearnDash Dashboard version numbers
  • A description of what you see and what you expected
  • Steps to reproduce the problem
  • Any error messages you have noticed

Where is the full documentation?

Section titled “Where is the full documentation?”