Login gates
The simplest form of access control: the course opens only for signed-in students.
The setting
Course settings → Configuration → To access this course, users must be logged in.
It checks one thing: that someone is signed in. Not their role, not their purchases, not their subscription.
What it affects
- The course page: a signed-out visitor sees the no-access message.
- Every lesson of the course, including lessons opened directly by URL.
- Preview lessons, only if Preview lessons also require login is also enabled.
It is evaluated first
Being signed out blocks a visitor before any rule or purchase check runs. Nothing later can let them through — which makes the login gate a safe outer layer that can never accidentally widen access.
Always pair it with a way in
A visitor blocked by a login gate has a solvable problem, so give them the solution on the page:
- Enable Add a login form on top, which puts a sign-in form on the course and its lessons.
- Write a Content if no access message that says an account is required and how to get one.
Without both, the student reads that they lack access and has nowhere to click. It is the most common avoidable frustration on a gated course.
The three login texts
Set once for the whole site, under Settings → POM LMS → Account → My account settings:
| Setting | Read by |
|---|---|
| Login form prepend | A signed-out visitor, above the form |
| Login error message | Someone who mistyped a password |
| Content if logged in | A signed-in student, instead of the form |
The third one matters more than it looks: a signed-in student who still cannot open the course needs to know which account they are using. The default text tells them, with links to sign out and to their account.
When a login gate is enough
- A members' area where any account qualifies.
- Internal or staff training.
- A community resource behind registration.
- Content you want to keep out of search results.
When it is not
- As a purchase check. Any account passes, including one created seconds ago.
- As a role check. Use a permission rule.
- On content that should be found. A login wall on introductory material costs you the audience that would have bought.
Combining it
| With | Result |
|---|---|
| A permission rule | Signed in and matching the rule |
| The paid setting | Signed in and having purchased |
| Previews | Previews stay public unless preview-login is enabled |
Purchase and subscription checks already require a signed-in student, so adding the login gate mostly improves the message: the visitor is told to sign in rather than told they have not bought something.
Verify
- Enable it and update the course.
- Open the course in a private window: the no-access message, plus the form if enabled.
- Open a lesson URL directly while signed out: blocked.
- Sign in as any student: the course opens, unless another mechanism also applies.
- Confirm previews behave as you intend in both states.
- Confirm the login form's texts read correctly in both states.