Introduction
With the LMS365 course creator, course catalog admins can create different types of courses following a simple process.
This article describes how to create courses in LMS365, where to start, and how to fill in each field in the course creation process.
Scroll the article or watch the video below (more details are included in the article).
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Where to create courses
To create a course, go to the LMS365 Admin Center > select Course List and choose the + Create Training command.

This will open a panel that will guide you through each step of the course creation process in a flow that intuitively takes you through all settings - Basic details, Sessions, Content, Settings, People.
Setting up courses
When creating a new course or editing an existing, the configuration will be done in the Create/Edit Training panel. The panel consists of the following sections:
- Basic Details
- Sessions - this section is only available for the Classroom & Blended Training and Webinar course types.
- Content
- Settings - this section includes additional fields for the Classroom & Blended Training and Webinar course types.
- People
Besides this, the panel includes the Create/Save and the Publish command.
You can go back and forth between the different steps to edit or fill out information by selecting individual steps in the timeline at the top of the page.
The Create/Save and Publish commands are available across all configuration steps at the bottom of the panel, allowing you to manage the creation and publishing of the course at any stage in the course creation flow.

Basic Details
Under Basic Details, you fill out elemental information about the training. Fields marked with an asterisk * are required.

Select the type of the course
This is done by selecting the relevant icon: e-Learning, Classroom & Blended, or Webinar. Hover over the course type icon to get a short description of the relevant course type.
- e-Learning – is the course type used to build comprehensive online training using all available course tools. Learners enrolled in an e-learning course can conduct it anywhere anytime at their individual pace, retake courses, pass quizzes, and so forth.
- Classroom & Blended – is a session based course type that allows for in-real-time online sessions as well as for sessions that require physical presence on a set location.
- Webinar – is a session based course type that allows for in-real-time online sessions.
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Sessions Configuration
These fields are only available for the Classroom & Blended Training and Webinar course types.
- Enrollment Type - Decide if learners should enroll into only one session or all sessions in this course by selecting an enrollment type from the drop-down list:
- Enroll user into a single course session - Learners will only be able to participate in one of the available sessions in the course. In order to complete the enrollment in the course, the learner will need to select a specific session to join.
- Enroll user into all course sessions - Learners will be enrolled in all sessions of the course.

IMPORTANT: The enrollment type can't be modified after the course is created. The default set up is Enroll user into a single course session. |
If you select Enroll user into all course sessions, additional fields will be available:
- Maximum Attendees - Allows you to set a maximum number of attendees for this course.
- Enrollment Deadline - Allows you to set a time and date for enrollment deadline. Please find more details on the Enrollment Deadline option here.

- Minimum Attendance for Completion - In the drop-down menu, select the minimum attendance percentage in the sessions required to mark the course as completed.
Name and Web address
Name - The name you give the course will be visible throughout the course catalog, on the course home page, and the training plans it is included in.
Web Address - To check or edit the web address, select the Edit Web Address link above the right corner of the Name field.

By default, the web address of your course is automatically generated while you are filling out the Name field. The web address can also be manually modified. When the URL is auto generated or manually modified, all invalid characters, such as " # % & * : < > ? \ / { | } ~ [ ] ` ' ^ and space, are automatically excluded.
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If there are invalid characters in the web address of your course, the creation of the course can't be completed. In this case, you will see the validation notification: "Site address has the following restrictions: You cannot use the characters " # % & * : < > ? \ / { | } ~ [ ] ` ' ^ and space in a site address. You cannot start a site address with an underscore. Periods are not allowed consecutively in the middle of a site address. You cannot start or end a site address with a period."

If you edit the web address of a course after the course has been created, the previous course URL will not be available any more. The course URL can also be edited via API.
You can copy the web address by selecting the copy icon at the end of the web address field. The web address will be saved to clipboard.
IMPORTANT: The web address of the courses created prior to the January 2022 release differs as these courses are SharePoint subsites. From the January 25,2022, all courses will be created as pages in the root of the SharePoint course catalog site. You can find more about this solution in the Announcement: Courses and training plans will no longer be dependent on subsites in SharePoint |
Short Description
Provide a short description of the course in this field. The short description will be displayed in the course catalog list view and in the appropriate training notifications. The field can be extended in the bottom right corner so it's more convenient for you to work with the text.

After you switch to another section or close the creation panel - the Short Description field will automatically revert to its original size.
Long Description
It's optional to give a long description to your course. If you do provide your course with a long description, it will be visible on the course home page and in the course catalog card view. If you leave this field empty, the short description text will be displayed on the course home page and in the course catalog card view instead. A rich-text editor is available for the long description. You can insert a YouTube video, upload a video, an image, or a file from your local computer to enrich the course description.
You can expand the text field by selecting Full screen - the last tool in the rich-text editor. This gives you more space when you're working with the text.

Categories
Select one or more categories for the course or leave the field empty. You can select a category that is already created in the current course catalog or create new categories. Categories are used to filter training in the course catalog and are displayed on the training home page. For the training without any category set, on the course catalog page, filtering by No Category is available.
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NOTE: Categories are created on a course catalog level and will not span course catalogs in a tenant.
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Please find information on how to manage categories in this article.
Tags
Allows you to add keywords to the course and enrich and control the search experience. When learners search for these keywords in the course catalog, the course will appear as a search result.
Please find information about how to manage tags in this article.
ID
An internal ID for your training. If you give this field a value, this will be displayed on the course home page and in the preview of the training details from the course catalog card view. Also, a training ID can make it easier for learners to find this specific course by search.
Duration
Specify a duration of the course. Examples could be: "app. 2 hours" or "three sessions of 90 mins. each". The duration will be displayed on the course home page and on course catalog training card.
Thumbnail Image
This image will be used in the preview of the course in the course catalog, on My Training Dashboard, and on the course home page. On the course home page, the thumbnail image will be displayed at the top-left corner of the banner image.
To insert a thumbnail image, select Choose Image, choose one of the uploaded files, or upload a new image from your computer by selecting Upload. If you upload your own image, we recommend that dimensions are minimum 200x200 pixels.

You can delete selected images by selecting Delete or discard changes selecting Cancel.
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Banner Image
Choose which image that will be used in the banner of the course home page.
IMPORTANT: The option to configure a banner image in the course create/edit panel is only available for courses created after the LMS365 January 25,2022 release. For courses created before the LMS365 January 2022 release, the banner image is managed from the SharePoint site of the course in question. |
A default image can be set by the course catalog admin in LMS Configuration > Training Banner Image and will be automatically applied to all new training within the course catalog. If no image is selected as the default banner image by the course catalog admin, the course will have no default image. The course catalog or course administrator can change the course banner image when creating or editing the course.
To select a banner image for the course, select Choose Image and select one of the uploaded files, or upload a new image from your device by selecting Upload. The selected image will be highlighted with a blue frame. After you Save the changes the image will be marked with a blue checkmark to show that it's in use for this course.
We recommend to use images of a width of 1236 pixels and in the following formats: PDF, SVG, PNG, JPEG.

All uploaded images will become part of the banner image library shared within the whole course catalog and can be used by all course catalog and course admins as banner images of courses and training plans.
All images that are uploaded via the Banner Image setting on the create or edit mode on Course/Training Plan panel also automatically become part of the banner images library - regardless if these images are used in any training or just uploaded.
If you don't want a banner image to be displayed on the training plan home page, you can unselect the image in use. In this case the Banner Image field will become empty and the admin will see the text No image selected.

In this case, only the thumbnail image will be displayed on the course home page.

To delete images from the Banner Image selection, select Delete.
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Sessions
The Sessions section is only available for the Classroom & Blended and Webinar course types.
In this section, you create sessions for the course.
To create a session, select +Create New Course Session. On the Create New Course Session panel, fill out the fields.
Please find the instructions on how to create sessions here.

Content
In the Content section, you add and manage course content.
To add content to a course, select + Add Learning Item.
In the drop-down menu, select the type of learning item you would like to add:
- Content Package.
- Quiz.
- Create Learning Module - the action is disabled during course creation.
- External App.
Please see this guide to find more details about how to add and manage content.

Added content: overview and available actions
All the added learning items are listed in the Content section from where they can be managed.

The Content section has the following columns:
Name - Shows the name of the learning item. This name will be visible to learners on the course home page under the content section.
Visibility - Displays whether the item is visible or hidden for learners in the course. Please find more information on how to manage visibility in this article.
Type - Shows the learning item type: Learning Module, Quiz, Content Package, or External App.
Published - Shows whether the learning item is published or not.
Number of Items - Shows the number of elements the learning item consists of.
Course Completion - Shows whether the learning item is set as required to complete the course. By default, all learning items are set as required to complete. This setting can be changed after the course is created. Please find more information on course completion in this article.
Progress - During course creation, the progress bar is grey. When the course is created, it will reflect learners progress on the particular learning item.
Prerequisites - Admins can set prerequisites by locking learning items for the learners until all preceding learning elements have been completed. This allows the admin to control the order in which learners go through the course content. To set prerequisites, select the lock icon. More information on the prerequisites is in the article Managing Course Content.
By default, the order of learning items corresponds to the order they were added to the course.
To reorder the learning items, drag and drop them. The learning item order and prerequisites will be reflected on the course home page and in the reports.

Settings
Under Settings, general training settings like enrollment flow, certificates, competencies, and regional settings are configured. The fields in this section depend on the course type you are creating.
NOTE: When such options as Due Date Certificate and Competency are enabled, the opened additional fields are required to be filled in. If you leave them empty, the creation process cannot be completed, and the validation pop-up message appears under the notification center. |

Enrollment flow
Enrollment Flow - Allows you to configure the flow of enrollment.

- With Automatic Approval, the system automatically approves the enrollment when a user enrolls in the course. Automatic Approval is set by default.
- With Line Manager Approval, the system will send the user's enrollment request to the user’s line manager who must approve or reject the enrollment request. The line manager for a user is specified in Azure Active Directory.
- Administrator Approval will require the user's enrollment request to be approved or rejected by the course administrator or course catalog administrator.
When an enrollment flow, that requires approval, is selected for a course, the learner will see the status Pending Approval on the course home page after sending the enrollment request.

The user can cancel the enrollment before the request is approved or rejected by selecting Cancel Enrollment in the course Information section. A cancellation message is required.

On the Approve Enrollments page, the line manager or administrator will see cancelled requests with their cancellation messages.

See this article for more information on how learners enroll into courses.
Continuing Education Units
Continuing Education Units - Allows you to grant learners CEUs for completing the course. Enter a positive integer or decimal value (maximum 2 digits after the decimal point or comma) in this field to apply CEU to the course.

Show in Course Catalog
Show in Course Catalog - Allows you to control whether the course is displayed in the course catalog. It is turned on by default.

If this toggle is not enabled, the course will not be visible on the course catalog page and will only be available for learners via direct link, for example, from the enrollment notification.
In the Course List, admins will see a closed eye icon
next to the course.
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Do not allow unenrollment
Do not allow unenrollment - When enabled, this option ensures enrolled learners are not able to unenroll themselves from the training. By default this option is turned off.

Voluntary retake
Voluntary Retake - When this option is enabled, learners, who have completed the course, can take it again, even though their certificate or competency is still valid. So this Voluntary Retake option allows learners to retake training in order to repeat the material of the course, improve their score, and/or update certificates and competencies that are to expire. By default this option is turned on.

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NOTE: When users retake the course, their progress is reset and their course status is set to Not Started. This also means that the progress of all the learning items of each course is reset as well. Users can review the content of courses they are enrolled in at any time, even if this option is not enabled.
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Show as Mandatory
Show as Mandatory - When enabled, this option will mark the course as Mandatory on the training card on My Training Dashboard. Also, learners can find this course by filtering by Mandatory from My Training Dashboard.

In reports, a course set as required will have a corresponding mark in the Course Requirement column.

Training Audience Targeting
Training Audience Targeting - This option allows to add the users who can have access and take this course in the course catalog.
When the toggle is enabled, the Target Audience field appears. Here, you can specify individual users or AD/Office 365 groups to add to the target audience of the course. Only the targeted audience is able to take this course. You can enter max. 50 users or 1,500 symbols at a time as a comma or semicolon separated list.
For courses created before the January 2022 release, the targeted users will be added to the Visitors group of the course.
For courses created after the January 2022 release, there will be no Visitors group created, however only admins, learners, session instructors, and users specified in the target audience will have access to this course and can take this course.

Due Date
When you enable the Due Date option, you can set a date and time for when the course must be completed by the enrolled learners. By default, this option is disabled.
NOTE: When Due Date is enabled, the opened additional fields are required to be filled in. If you leave them empty, the creation process cannot be completed, and the validation pop-up message appears under the notification center. |
When you enable the option, the Set Due Date as field appears. This field offers two options to Set Due Date as:
- number of days after enrollment enables you to base the due date on when the specific learner was enrolled in the course. Here, you enter a specific number of days after enrollment for when the due date for the course is reached.
- a fixed date allows you to specify the exact date and time for the course due date.

Session Options
This subsection is only available for courses of the Classroom & Blended Training and Webinar types.

Waiting List - This option makes it possible for learners to get on a waiting list when there are no available places in the course sessions. Learners will be enrolled automatically from the waiting list, when a place becomes vacant.

This video tutorial will show you how to use waiting lists and sessions requests in LMS365.
Request for sessions - This option enables learners to send requests for new sessions to the administrator of the training via the training home page.

This video tutorial will show you how to use waiting lists and sessions requests in LMS365.
Certificate
Certificate - If you would like to issue one or more certificates to learners who complete the course, you need to enable this option. When enabled, the Certificate Template field appears from where you can find and select the template you want to use for certificates in a drop-down list.
NOTE: When Certificate is enabled, the opened additional fields are required to be filled in. If you leave them empty, the creation process cannot be completed, and the validation pop-up message appears under the notification center. |

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If you want the certificate for the course to expire at a certain point in time, enable the Certificate Expiry option. The Set Expiry Date as field will appear and allow you to specify for how long you want an acquired certificate to be valid. It offers two options:
- number of days after completion enables you to base the expiry date on when the specific learner completed the course. Here, you specify a specific number of days after completion for when the certificate will expire.

- a fixed date allows you to specify the exact date and time for the certificate's expiration.

Competency
Competency - If you would like to grant leaners a competency when they have completed the training, enable the Competency option. When enabled, the Competencies field appears. From here, you can find and select the competency(ies) you want to use for this training in the drop-down list.
NOTE: When Competency is enabled, the opened additional fields are required to be filled in. If you leave them empty, the creation process cannot be completed, and the validation pop-up message appears under the notification center. |

NOTE: You can’t create a new competency during the course creation. This is done from the competency management area. Please see this guide on how to create and edit competencies or watch the video tutorial. |
If you want the competencies for the training to expire at a certain point in time, you can enable the Competency Revocation option. The Set Revocation Date as field will appear and allow you to specify for how long you want an achieved competency to be valid. It offers two options:
- number of days after completion enables you to base the revocation date on when the specific learner completed the course. Here, you specify a specific number of days after completion for when the competency will be revoked.

- a fixed date allows you to specify the exact date and time for the competency will be revoked.

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You will see this notification "The revocation date for a competency achieved for completion of the training will be the same as the certificate expiry date, unless certificate expiry date has been switched off."
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Regional Settings
Under Regional Settings, you can configure the regional settings of the course: Time zone, locale, the first day of the working week, and the start and end hours of the workday.
By default, the course inherits the Regional Settings from the course catalog.
Time Zone - In the Time Zone drop-down list, select the time zone that will be used when creating course sessions and showing time in notifications and reports.
The default time zone is inherited form the current course catalog.

Locale - The Locale settings determine the format of numbers, date, time, and the language the training uses in notifications, certificates, and reports. The default Locale is inherited from the current course catalog's Locale settings.
The selected locale automatically sets the First Day of the Week.

First Day of the Week - In the First Day of the Week drop-down list, select the first day of the working week. By default, the First Day of the Week is automatically adjusted to the set Locale settings of the course, but may be manually changed.
This setting is used by:
- The Leaderboard web part to define the week while sorting the learners by This Week.
- The My Assignments web part to define the week.
Start Hour of the Day - In the Start Hour of the Day drop-down list, select the start hour of the workday. By default, the value is set to 8 AM. This setting uses the 12-hour time format and has an hour step.
This setting is used as the default for the Opening Date field while creating a New Assignment (if the Assignments & Gradebook option is enabled for this course).
End Hour of the Day - In the End Hour of the Day drop-down list, select the end hour of the workday. By default, the value is set to 5 PM. This setting uses the 12-hour time format and has an hour step.
This setting is used as the default for the Due Date field while creating a New Assignment (if the Assignments & Gradebook option is enabled for this course).
People
In the People section, you can enroll new learners into the course and manage enrolled learners and course administrators.
The Learners tab options depend on the type of the course you are creating: e-Learning, Classroom & Blended Training, or Webinar.
The Administrators tab has the same options for all course types.

Learners
In the Learners tab, you can enroll and manage learners. The enrollment flow depends on the course type.
To enroll learners in a course of the e-Learning type and the session based course types with the enrollment type Enroll user into all course sessions.
When you select the People section, by default, the Learners tab will be opened for you to enroll learners.
To enroll learners into the course, select the +Enroll Learners command and enter the name(s), Active Directory group(s), Microsoft 365 group(s), email-enabled security group(s), or Security group(s) of the learner(s) you would like to enroll. You can enter a maximum of 50 internal users or 1500 symbols at a time as a comma or semicolon separated list.
You can’t add the Everyone and Everyone except external users groups.
When ready, select Enroll.

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The added learners will be listed in the Enrolled Learners column.
To enroll learners into a course of the session based course types with the enrollment type Enroll user into a single course session.
When you select the Learners tab, there will be two options to enroll learners in the training:
1. Select the Enroll Learner(s) button to enroll learners in the course without enrolling them in a specific session. The added learners will be able to select the sessions themselves. The added learners will be listed in the Enrolled Learners column.
2. If there are no enrolled learners in the course, you will see the link go to the individual session(s) of this course. This link will redirect you to the Sessions section where you can enroll users directly in the specific session(s).

In the Enrolled Learners tab, you will see columns with the enrolled learners' data.

Name - Show users' names as they are stated in the user accounts in Azure Active Directory. By default, all enrolled learners are presented in alphabetical order by their first name.
Username - Shows the email addresses of users as they are stated in the user accounts in Azure Active Directory.
Department - Shows users' departments taken from the user accounts in Azure Active Directory.
Session - The column is available only for the courses with the single-session enrollment type. The column may contain the information:
- Not Selected - If the enrolled learner were not assigned to a specific session.
- The session date and time - The session date and time of the session this particular learner is enrolled in.
Each column is clickable and can be used for sorting. Also, to find a user among the added learners the search field can be used. By typing a user's full name, email, or department, you can find the relevant learner. If you type a part of user's name, email, or department, you will see a list of learners whose data matches the given search parameters.
For the enrolled learners, you have a selection of managing options available.

1) Send Email Message - While course creation the action is not available. It is greyed out.
To send the email message, select Create at the bottom page, wait until the course is created. Then, from the course edit mode, you may send an email message to learners. For this, select the learner(s) you want to send the message to, fill out the required Subject and Message fields and send the message. You can edit or delete all information in the Message field if needed.
By default, a link to the course home page will be inserted at the bottom of the message.

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2) Unenroll - To unenroll learners, select the learner(s) you want to unenroll from the course. The selected learner(s) will be unenrolled without any confirmation message and this action can’t be undone.
Administrators
In the Administrators tab, you can add and manage course administrators.
To add administrators to the course, select the + Add Administrator(s) command and enter the name(s), Active Directory group(s), Microsoft 365 group(s), email-enabled security group(s), or Security group(s) of the user(s) you want to make and administrator of the course in question.
You can’t add the Everyone and Everyone except external users groups. When ready, select Add.

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NOTE: By default, the user who has created the course will become an administrator of it.
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For added administrators, you will see columns with the administrators' data.

Name - Shows the administrators' names as they are stated in the user accounts in Azure Active Directory. By default, the added administrators are presented in alphabetical order based on their first name.
Username - Will shows the email addresses of the administrators as they are stated in the user accounts in Azure Active Directory.
Department - Shows users' departments taken from the user accounts in Active Directory.
Show On Course Page - Shows whether the administrator is shown as contact on the course home page. The blue eye icon means the administrator is shown on the course home page, the grey crossed eye icon means the administrator is hidden and not displayed on the course home page. By default, all administrators are displayed as contacts on the course home page.
Each column is clickable and can be used for sorting. Also, to find a user among the added administrators, the search field can be used. By typing a user's full name, email, or department, you can find the relevant administrator. If you type a part of user's name, email, or department, you will see a list of administrators whose data matches the given search parameters.
To unassign administrator(s), select the relevant administrator(s) from the list and on the actions panel select Unassign. The selected administrator(s) will be unassigned.

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NOTE: When users unassign themselves from a course administrator's role:
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Configuring the publishing of the course
In the bottom right corner on the creation page, you can configure the publishing of the course.
Per default, the course will be unpublished. Select the collapse/expand button to open the publishing panel and manage the publishing date.

Enable the Publish toggle to configure the publishing settings. After the toggle is enabled, the start date and time are automatically filled out with the current date and time and the expected training status will be changed to published.
You can change the date and time in accordance to when you want the course to be published. The end date and time can be set to a date and time in the future or be left empty.

Depending on the set start and end dates and time, the system automatically updates the Expected Training Status for the course:
- Not Published - for the course with a disabled Publish toggle.
- Scheduled - for the course with a future start date and time.
- Ended - for the course with a past start or past end dates and time.
- Published - for the course with the Publish toggle enabled and appropriate Start Date and End Date and time set.
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At any time, you can change the publish status of the course by either:
- Dragging the Publish toggle to publish or unpublish the course.
- Expand the Publish area and change the start and/or end dates of your course.
Provisioning the course and saving your settings
To create the course and save your configurations, select the Create command.
The Create command will expand once selected and allow you to either create the course or create the course and close the Create Training panel.

Create - Selecting Create will keep the creation panel open and allow you to continue working with the course settings and content while the course is provisioning.
Create & Close - Selecting Create & Close will close the creation panel, but the course will still be provisioned in the background. You will be redirected to the Course List of the LMS365 Admin Center.
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Fill in the required fields, to complete the course creation.
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After the Create or Create & Close command is selected, you will be informed about the creation of the course and its progress. The spinning wheel near the course indicates that the course is still being created. By selecting it, you will see the provisioning status.

You can select Course Provisioning to see the list of courses under creation.

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NOTE:
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After the course is created, the Create command changes name to Save and can now be used to save changes made to the course settings.

For a guide on how to edit, manage, and delete courses, please see this article.
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