General Settings
General Settings is the central configuration page for LearnDash Dashboard. Use it to control instructor workflows, connect your dashboard pages, choose which features are active, configure chart widgets, and set your welcome screen image.
How to access: Go to WordPress Admin > LearnDash Dashboard > General Settings.
Instructor Options
These settings control how instructors are onboarded and what they can do on your platform.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Instructor Course Status | Choose whether courses created by instructors publish immediately (Auto-Approval) or save as drafts for your review first |
| Instructors Can Create Categories & Tags | When on, instructors can create new course categories and tags from their dashboard. When off, they can only use existing ones. |
| Apply Instructor Button | Shows a “Become an Instructor” button on the student dashboard so students can apply for instructor access |
| Instructor Role Status | When on, new instructor applicants are placed in a pending state until you approve them manually |
| Set BuddyPress Avatar | Uses the BuddyPress profile photo as the dashboard avatar (only visible when BuddyPress is active) |
| Profile Override | Redirects the profile link in the dashboard to the BuddyPress or BuddyBoss member profile page (only visible when BuddyPress is active) |
| Gravatar | Uses Gravatar as the default avatar when no custom photo is set |
Page Mapping
Connect your WordPress pages to the dashboard features. Each dropdown shows your published pages.
| Setting | Which page to select |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | The page containing the main dashboard shortcode |
| Instructor Registration | The page with the instructor registration form |
| Instructors | The public instructor directory page |
After selecting a page, click View to confirm it loads correctly.
Dashboard Features
Turn these features on or off for your entire site.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Announcements | Enables the Announcements tab so instructors can post updates and students can view them |
| Email Integration | Enables an Email tab for instructors to send messages directly to their enrolled students |
| Private Messaging | Enables course-aware private messaging between students and instructors |
| Earning Logs | Shows the Earnings tab on the instructor dashboard (also requires Monetization to be enabled) |
| Disable Live Course Activity | Hides the live activity feed for all users across the entire site |
| Disable Role-wise Live Activity | Select specific roles to hide the live activity feed from, while keeping it visible for others |
Dashboard Widgets
Control which charts and data panels appear on the dashboard and Insights tab. Each widget can be shown to all roles or restricted to specific ones.
| Widget | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Hide Dashboard Page Title | Removes the WordPress page title above the dashboard area |
| Summary of LearnDash Statistics | Stat tiles showing totals like enrolled students and completions |
| Course Completion Chart | A chart showing the overall course completion rate |
| Top Courses Chart | A chart showing which courses have the most completions |
| Student Details | A student progress panel with per-course detail |
| Student Course Progress | A progress bar students see on their dashboard home |
| Instructor Statistics | Totals for the instructor’s students, courses, and earnings |
| Enrollment Trends Chart | A chart of enrollment activity over time on the Insights tab |
| Time Spent Chart | A chart of how much time students spend on courses |
| Course Drop-off Chart | A chart showing where students stop progressing in a course |
For widgets with a role selector, leave the selector empty to show the widget to all eligible users.
Featured Course
This section appears only when Course Tags are enabled in LearnDash and at least one tag exists.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Featured Course | Displays a featured course section on the dashboard |
| Featured Course Tag | Choose which course tag determines which courses appear in the featured section |
Welcome Screen
Upload a cover image that appears in the welcome bar at the top of the dashboard.
- Click Upload Cover Image to choose an image from your media library
For welcome bar text and background color, see Design & Appearance.
Instructor Profile Page
Controls how courses appear on an instructor’s public profile page.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Grid Columns | Number of columns in the course grid on the instructor’s profile page (default: 4) |
| Progress Bar | Shows a course completion progress bar on each course card |
| Course Content | Shows the course title, short description, and call-to-action button on each course card |
Assignment Deadlines
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Grace Period (days) | Extra days after an assignment deadline before uploads are blocked. Set to 0 to enforce deadlines immediately. |
Saving Your Settings
Click Save Changes to apply your settings. Click Reset Settings to restore all General Settings to their default values. Resetting cannot be undone.