Courses as a product

You build the course first—modules, lessons, and who may enroll—under Portal Manager. You add a product when you want people to pay on your website and automatically get course access. Free courses and invite-only students do not need a product listing.

Curriculum help: Courses overview. Invites without checkout: Set course access rules.

How course and product fit together

Stage	Where	Product listing?
Build curriculum	Portal Manager / course editor	No—content only
Free or invite-only	Course Access + Invite Client	No
Sell on storefront	Products → Digital Products → Course template	Yes—published product
After payment	Portal Access (typical)—students sign in to lessons	Checkout → client portal

Flow

[Create course + modules/lessons]
        |
        v
[Digital Products → Course template → Portal Access → link your course]
        |
        v
[Course Access: purchase required → select that product]
        |
        v
[Storefront checkout → welcome email → student opens lessons in portal]

Invite-only students skip the product steps—see Set course access rules.

Prerequisites

Create a course and add modules and lessons

Products → Digital Products (included on plans that sell digital goods)

Digital product templates and delivery — use Portal Access for paid courses, not email file delivery

Sell your course on the storefront

1. Finish the course content while it stays in draft if you are still building lessons.
2. Go to Products → Digital Products → Create from Template → Course.
3. Under delivery, choose Portal Access (Client Portal) so students sign in to take lessons—not Email Delivery for a zip file.
4. In the product form, connect this product to your course (and any extra portal areas you want, such as downloads).
5. Set price, write customer-facing description, and publish the product.
6. Open the course → Access → purchase required and select the product you published.
7. Add the product to a Pages shop block or link it from your site menu.
8. Buy once with a personal email (not your admin login) and confirm you can open lessons in the client portal.

What you'll see

Paying customers get a welcome email and sign in to the client portal to watch lessons. Invited students who did not pay never use the product checkout. Everyone else sees buy or sign-in prompts—not lesson content.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Email Delivery on a course product	Use Portal Access instead
Course is live but nothing to buy	Publish a Course digital product and link it under Access
Product exists but course is still “open” to everyone	Set purchase required and pick your product

Verifying your setup

• Published Course product uses Portal Access and points at the right course.
• Course Access requires purchase and names that product.
• A test purchase opens lessons in the client portal.