---
title: "Course settings"
slug: "course-settings"
tags: ["Totara Learn", "Content Creator", "Reference"]
updated: 2026-08-13T16:01:14Z
published: 2026-08-13T16:01:14Z
canonical: "totara.help/course-settings"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Course settings

Course page settings control how a course behaves in terms of, for example, enrolments, availability, file upload restrictions, course name. It is the first page viewed after creating a course.

Course page settings can be edited through the **Edit settings** option on the **Course administration** menu or directly from the course categories page by clicking on the editing icon next to the course name.

On the settings page, mandatory fields are indicated by a red asterisk.

## General

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Course full name | This is the name that is displayed on the top header of every page in your course and also on the course listings page. The name should be descriptive enough so learners can easily identify the course in which they are working. | The course full name does not have to be unique across your Totara site, allowing you to reuse course names/titles if required. |
| Course short name | Enter the institutional shorthand for your course. The short name also appears in the navigation bar at the top of the page. | This can be the same as your course full name, however must be unique across your site. |
| Course category | Your Totara administrator may have set up several course categories. For example; 'IT', 'Managing People', 'Health and Safety', etc. | A course can only belong to one category. |
| Course visibility | Controls whether a course is visible in the **catalogue**, **Record of Learning**, and **Required Learning**. - **Hidden**: The course is hidden from all users except Site Administrators and Course Creators. - Behaviour for a user: - Enrolled users can still access the course directly i.e. from a URL link. - The course does not appear in Record of Learning. - **Show**: The course is visible to all users and can be found when browsing or searching the catalogue. | When a course is set to **Hidden**, it is removed from the catalogue for all learners. However, learners who are enrolled in that course may still see the course as greyed out in their [Record of Learning](/totara-20/docs/what-is-the-record-of-learning), and can still access it through Required Learning or direct links. |
| Exclude from catalogue | The course is excluded from the catalogue and catalogue searches for all users, but can still be accessed by users through enrolments such as via programs/certifications or direct links. | **Available from Totara 19.1** |
| Course type | Select from; **E-learning**, **Blended** or **Seminar**. | This is used to help search the [catalogue](/totara-20/docs/what-is-the-catalogue%20) but does not control what activities are available in the course page. |
| Course start date | This setting determines the start of the first week for a course in weekly format. It also determines the earliest date that logs of course activities are available. | If the course is reset and the course start date changed, all dates in the course will be moved in relation to the new start date. |
| Course end date | Optionally set an end date for the course. | This field can be disabled by default in the [course default settings](/totara-20/docs/course-default-settings%20) page. This will not remove users from the course but the course will not be listed in their current learning list after this date. |
| Course ID number | The course ID number is used to provide a link between Totara and your organisation's backend data systems. Most HR or training management systems have a unique identifier for each course. Totara has its own unique identifier, which will be different from the external/ HR system. | This field is used by Totara to store the external system's unique ID so Totara will know which course the external system is talking about when synchronising courses and enrolments. |
| Mobile-friendly course | Set this setting to **Yes** to indicate that the course is suitable to be accessed and completed via the [Totara Mobile](/totara-20/docs/what-is-totara-mobile) app. | The Mobile friendly flag in course settings does not automatically make a course mobile-compatible. This setting is an indicator that the course has been tested and confirmed by a Site administrator, or Course creator to work correctly in the mobile app. It is the course administrator’s responsibility to validate mobile compatibility before enabling this flag. |

## Description

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Course summary | The summary appears in the course listings page. Use the dropdown field to select your formatting option: - Totara auto-format - HTML format - Plain text format - Markdown format Only users with the **moodle/course:changesummary** capability are able to edit the course summary. | A concise one-paragraph summary will help communicate the essence of your course to your learners. A longer description can provide detail on what a learner will learn over the course of the training and what will be expected from them to successfully complete the course. |
| Course summary files | Course summary files are the supplementary files or images required to describe or detail the course. Only users with the **moodle/course:changesummary** capability are able to upload or change course summary files. If course summary files are disabled by a Site Administrator then this box will not appear. | Course summary files are not displayed in the [catalogue](/totara-20/docs/what-is-the-catalogue%20). By default only .jpg, .gif and .png files are allowed, but Site Administrators can change the allowed file types by navigating to *Quick-access menu > Courses and categories > Course settings* and changing the **Course summary files extensions** setting. |

## Course format

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Format | Totara Learn provides several options for the general format of a course. Select from the following [course formats](/totara-20/docs/course-formats): - **Single activity format**: A course comprising a single activity. Select the **Type of activity** from the dropdown list. - **Topics format**: Organise your course materials conceptually by topic. You will need to set the number of sections, how hidden sections are displayed, and whether you want each section to have its own page or have all sections displayed on one page. You can optionally enable collapsible sections and select a header colour. - **Weekly format**: Order your course materials chronologically by week. Check the course start date, and set the number of sections (i.e. the number of weeks the course will run).[](/cloud/docs/pathway-course-format) - [**Pathway format**](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format): Learners are presented with one activity or resource at a time, and are encouraged to progress through the course sequentially. Learners can see their progress at a glance in the side navigation panel. | Course managers can change the [course format](/totara-20/docs/course-formats%20%20%20%20) at any time. |
| Number of sections | Use this to set the number of sections your course will have. If you need to change this later, you can. | Increasing the number results in sections being added to the bottom of your course page; reducing the number results in sections being removed from the bottom of your course page, and any content in them hidden. |
| Hidden sections | When you hide an upcoming topic section to prevent your Learners from jumping ahead, you can choose to display the title as a collapsed section or simply hide the topic altogether. Displaying the collapsed sections gives your Learners a road map of the upcoming topics or weeks, so it’s probably a good idea to leave this on the default setting. | This setting is not available when using the [**Pathway** course format](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format). |
| Course layout | Determines whether the whole course is displayed on one page or split over several pages. | This setting is not available when using the [**Pathway** course format](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format). |
| Collapsible sections | Check this box to allow users to collapse and expand sections of the course. | This can be useful if you have a long course with a large number of sections, making it easier for users to navigate. This setting is not available when using the [**Pathway** course format](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format). |
| Include an expand/collapse all link | Check this box to include an **Expand all** or **Collapse all** link at the top of the course. This allows users to expand or collapse all sections in a course with a single click. | This setting requires **Collapsible sections** to be enabled. This setting is not available when using the [**Pathway** course format](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format). |
| Header colour | Check this box to select a **Header background colour** and **Header text colour** for the course sections. | If this box is not checked the course section headers will use your site's default theme colours. This setting is not available when using the [**Pathway** course format](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format). |
| Header background colour | Use the colour picker or enter a hex code to select the background colour of all section headers in the course. | This setting is not available when using the [**Pathway** course format](/totara-20/docs/pathway-course-format). |
| Header text colour | Use the colour picker or enter a hex code to select the text colour for all section headers in the course. | - |

## Appearance

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Current icon | Choose an icon to represent your course from the dropdown menu. A course icon will display in a list of courses within a block, when added to a custom report or when added as a display option within the Course catalogue. | Add new icons via *Courses > Custom icons* in the quick-access menu. Graphic files will be resized to 35 x 35 pixels automatically. |
| Image | Choose an image to associate with the course. Consider the following when selecting images: - Course images will be automatically resized so use a square image and be aware that it's likely to be cropped vertically or horizontally on different pages. - Use web-optimised files such as .svg .png or .jpg. This will help ensure better page loading times and efficient mobile data usage for any mobile user. - Avoid adding text or use no more than three words and consider how readable it will be when scaled down. - Avoid heavy files and instead look for the right balance between image quality and file size, e.g. 400 x 400 pixel image, under 50kb in size. | This image will become the background image if you set up this course as a course tile in a [Featured link block](/totara-20/docs/add-a-featured-links-block-to-a-dashboard%20%20%20) and the course image used within the [catalogue](/totara-20/docs/what-is-the-catalogue%20%20%20). |
| Force language | Select the language for the course. | This ignores any user language preferences and changes all standard navigation and in-built text. |
| Number of announcements | Use this setting to determine the number of course news items displayed on the course page. | Announcements are created within the **News** forum. If this setting is set to zero, the announcements forum will not be created (new course) or will be removed (existing course). |
| Show gradebook to learners | This setting allows you to select whether learners can see the gradebook. If set to **No**, it doesn’t stop instructors from recording grades, but simply prevents the learners from seeing them. | - |
| Show activity reports | Activity reports are available for each participant that shows their activity in the course. As well as listings of their contributions, such as forum posts or assignment submissions, these reports also include access logs. This setting determines whether a learner can view their activity reports via their profile page. | - |

## Audience-based visibility

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Visibility | Defines the default visibility of courses when the site-wide Audience-based visibility feature is enabled. This controls who can see the course in course listings and search results before they are enrolled: - **No users** – The course is hidden from everyone unless they are explicitly enrolled. - **Enrolled users only** – Only users already enrolled in the course can see it. - **Enrolled users and members of the selected audiences** – The course is visible to enrolled users and to users who belong to any audiences associated with the course. - **All users** (default) – The course is visible to all site users, regardless of enrolment or audience membership. | When Audience-based visibility is set to **No users**, Totara skips enrolment and visibility checks for performance reasons. This means the course is fully hidden from the catalogue, Record of Learning, and Required Learning, and is not accessible to any learners. This setting is only available if the site-wide Audience-based visibility feature is enabled via *Quick-access menu > Configure features > Shared service settings*. |

> [!WARNING]
> Note: Dependant on your settings between **Course visibility** and **Audience-based visibility**, the behaviour which the learner experiences with visibility of courses will differ.
> 
> | **Audience-based visibility Setting** | **Course visibility setting** | **Learner course visibility: Catalogue** | **Learner course visibility: Record of Learning** | **Learner course visibility: Required Learning** | **Learner course accessibility (if enrolled)** |
> | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
> | **Off (**[**Not enabled at site level**](/totara-20/docs/course-default-settings)**)** | **Hidden** | Hidden | Appears greyed out | Shown if assigned | Direct link or Required Learning |
> | **Show** | Visible to everyone | Visible to everyone | Visible | Accessible |
> | **Exclude from catalogue** | Hidden in catalogue | Visible if enrolled | Visible if assigned | Accessible |
> | **No users** | N/A | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Not accessible |
> | **Enrolled users only** | **Show** | Hidden | Visible if enrolled | Visible if assigned | Accessible |
> | **Enrolled users + audiences** |  | Visible to the audience members | Visible to the enrolled + audience members | Visible if assigned | Accessible |
> | **All users** | **Show** | Visible to everyone | Visible to everyone | Visible | Visible to everyone |

## Files and uploads

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Maximum upload size | This setting limits the size of files you or your learners upload to the course. Your Site Administrator sets the maximum size for the system, but you can choose to make the limit smaller than the system maximum. You can also further limit the size of files that your learners upload as assignment submissions and for other activities. | - |

## Completion tracking

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Enable completion tracking | If enabled, activity completion conditions may be set in the activity settings and/or course completion conditions may be set. | - |
| Mark as in progress on first view | The course completion record for the user marked as in progress when the user views the course rather than when the first course completion criterion is met. | - |
| Due date | Set the date by which each learner is expected to complete the course. They will then be sent notifications to help keep them engaged and remind them to complete the course by this date. The following options are available: - **None:** Default state where no date is set. - **Relative date:** An individual date for each learner based on course completion tracking. For example, if the relative due date is set to 7 days and a user is enrolled at 10:20am on 05/09/2022, the due date will be exactly 7 days from the enrolment date (10:20am on 12/09/2022). - **Fixed date:** A single due date for all learners, e.g. 1 December. See [Course due dates](/totara-20/docs/course-due-dates) for more information on when notifications relating to due dates will be sent. | Due date notifications are handled with the [centralised notifications](/totara-20/docs/using-centralised-notifications) system. You can configure notifications for the **Course due date** trigger at the site level (*Quick-access menu > Notifications*) or for an individual course (*Course administration > Notifications*)*.* |

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