Updates, support, and safe maintenance

POM LMS updates arrive through the private POM update channel, gated by the license. This page covers updating safely, the maintenance rhythm, and how to ask for help.

Before an update

1. Read the release notes for changes to access rules, templates, progress or the account area.
2. Confirm the License section reports a valid state.
3. Note the current version.
4. Note anything customized: template overrides, code using the plugin's helpers, custom permission rules.
5. Schedule it outside a teaching peak.

On multisite, update detection needs POM LMS network-active or active on the main site, with the network license configured there.

Apply and verify

After updating, check in this order:

1. WordPress reports the expected version.
2. Settings → POM LMS opens with all four sections.
3. Courses and Lessons are in the sidebar.
4. A published course renders, with its sidebar outline.
5. A lesson opens, with its video and content.
6. The progress percentage still changes.
7. My courses lists the right courses for a test student.
8. Access is still correct for all three student states.

Step 8 is not optional. An update that changes access is the one failure students notice immediately.

If course or lesson URLs return not-found errors, re-save the permalink settings.

Routine maintenance

When adding content

• Give every lesson a course and a section.
• Set the order value deliberately.
• Re-check the outline after adding several lessons.

Periodically

• Open a course as a student and read it end to end.
• Check that videos still play — external videos are removed or made private by their owners.
• Review preview lessons; a preview left on by accident gives content away.
• Review permission rules that reference products or subscriptions that have changed.

After changing a permission rule

A rule is shared by every course and lesson that selects it. After editing one, test every course that uses it, with a student who should pass and one who should not.

After changing the theme

Course and lesson pages depend on the POM theme. After any theme change:

1. Confirm Courses is still in the sidebar.
2. Open a course and a lesson signed out and signed in.
3. Confirm the sidebar outline, the progress bar and the video render.
4. Re-check the subheader settings, which the templates read.

Before asking for help

1. Reproduce it in a private window, signed out.
2. Reproduce it as a student without access.
3. Reproduce it as a student with access.
4. Note which of the three states is wrong.
5. Note what changed just before — an update, a rule change, a slug change, a new plugin.

Those five steps answer most questions on their own.

What to include in a support request

• The exact course and lesson URLs.
• The active theme.
• Which student state is wrong: signed out, signed in without access, signed in with access.
• The course's access configuration: login required, permission rule, paid course, previews.
• Whether the lesson has its own rule or preview setting.
• Whether WooCommerce and subscriptions are involved.
• The exact wording of any message on screen.
• The steps that reproduce it.

What never to send

• The license key.
• WordPress, hosting or database credentials.
• Student names, email addresses or account details.
• Order or customer data.
• Screenshots showing a student list or personal data.

Student progress and access are personal data. See Safe information to send with a support request.

Recovering from a mistake

• A course opened to everyone by accident — correct the setting and verify with all three accounts immediately.
• A lesson detached from its course — reattach it; the content is intact.
• A slug changed by accident — change it back and re-save permalinks; links shared with students depend on it.
• A course deleted — restore it from the trash before it is emptied. Student progress is stored per course, so a deleted course orphans it.

Return to the start-here chapter for the rest of the documentation.