Preview access
Previews are the deliberate hole in a course's gate. They are also the setting most likely to give content away by accident.
How a preview behaves
A lesson marked This lesson is a preview is readable by people who do not have access to its course. In the course outline it stays selectable while the other lessons show as unavailable.
The only thing that constrains it is the course's Preview lessons also require login:
| Preview | Requires login | Signed out | Signed in, no access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Off | Readable | Readable |
| Yes | On | Blocked | Readable |
Previews sit outside the access chain
A preview is not evaluated against the course's permission rule or its paid setting. It is an exception, not a weaker rule.
That is why nothing in the course's access configuration tells you which lessons are open — and why previews have to be audited visually.
The audit
The only reliable way to see your previews is to look as a visitor:
- Open the course in a private browser window.
- Read the outline: every selectable lesson is public.
- Confirm the list is exactly what you intended.
Run it before launch, after any change to preview flags, and periodically on courses that several people edit.
A preview left on by mistake is invisible in the administration and completely visible to the internet.
Choosing previews
Two or three per course:
- The first lesson — the format, the pace, the presenter.
- One from the middle — proof the course does not tail off.
- A self-contained practical lesson — useful alone, better in context.
Avoid: the lesson with the core technique, anything meaningless out of sequence, and any lesson carrying downloads the course sells.
Previews on a members' site
Turning on Preview lessons also require login changes previews from marketing to onboarding: registering becomes the first step, and the preview is what registration buys.
Both configurations are legitimate. What matters is choosing deliberately rather than inheriting the default.
Previews and progress
A preview counts towards the course's completion percentage like any other lesson.
Progress is recorded for signed-in students, so anonymous readers do not accumulate any — a preview read by a stranger does not create partial progress for anyone.
Removing a preview
Clear the toggle and update. The lesson immediately follows the course's normal rules.
If it has been public for a while, links to it exist. Anyone following one now reads the "Lesson not available" text, so make sure that text is written and points somewhere useful.
Verify
- Mark a lesson as a preview.
- Open the course signed out: the preview is selectable, the rest are not.
- Open the preview itself and confirm it is readable.
- Sign in as a student without access: the same.
- Turn on Preview lessons also require login and confirm the signed-out case is blocked.
- Confirm no other lesson became readable.