Drip Scheduling is only available in the Classic Course Builder. This feature is not yet supported in the New Course Builder.
A Drip Schedule lets you control when learners can access content in your course. You can release lessons on a rolling basis, hold all content until a specific date, or pace learners through chapters over time. Drip Schedules are created per course and apply to all learners enrolled in that course.
There are three scheduling options: by learner enrollment date, by course start date, or by a specific calendar date.
This feature is available on all paid plans (Basic and above).
Drip Schedule Options
Before setting up a Drip Schedule, you will need to enable the Drip Schedule tab in your course:
- Go to your course Settings tab.
- Scroll to the Drip schedule section.
- Toggle on Enable drip schedule.
- Click Save settings.
The Drip Schedule tab will then appear in your Course Builder navigation.
Student Enrollment Date
Drip content is released based on when each learner first enrolls in the course. Each learner has their own unique schedule starting from their enrollment date, which is counted as day 0.
For example: learners could access Chapter 1 immediately (day 0), Chapter 2 seven days after enrolling, and Chapter 3 fourteen days after enrolling.
This option works well when learners enroll at different times and you want each person to progress at their own pace from the moment they join.
See: Set a Drip Schedule by Student Enrollment Date.
Student Course Start Date
Drip content is released based on when each learner first accesses the Course Player for that course — not when they enrolled. The course start date is counted as day 0.
For example: a learner purchases a bundle on January 15 but doesn't open a specific course until February 1. Their Drip Schedule for that course starts on February 1.
This option works well when learners are enrolled in a bundle or manually enrolled in advance, since they may not start all courses at the same time.
See: Set a Drip Schedule by Course Start Date.
On a Specific Date
Drip content is released based on specific calendar dates and times. All learners follow the same schedule regardless of when they enrolled.
This option works well for cohorts where all learners need to progress through content together.
See: Set a Drip Schedule by Calendar Date.
Learner Perspective
Learners can only access lessons that have been released according to the Drip Schedule. If they attempt to access a lesson that isn't available yet, they will see a prompt in the Course Player showing the date and time it will become available. Locked lessons also display a blocked icon in the Course Player sidebar.
To customize the message learners see when content is not yet released, see: Customize Drip Schedule Messaging.
Testing Your Drip Schedule
Previewing your course as an enrolled learner will ignore Drip Schedules entirely — this is intentional so you can view all lessons regardless of release dates.
The best way to test your Drip Schedule is to create a test learner account and enroll it in the course. You can then check the course from that learner's perspective to confirm lessons are releasing on the correct days. Even if a lesson isn't accessible yet, you will see a notification showing when it will be available.
If you have a large group of learners starting a course on a new Drip Schedule, consider enrolling a test learner at the same time in case you need to troubleshoot any schedule-based issues.
See: How to Create a Test Student Account.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time will drip content be released to the learner?
For enrollment date and course start date drip schedules, content is released exactly 24 hours after the learner's enrollment or first course access. For example, if a learner enrolls at 5pm their local time, day 1 content becomes available at 5pm their local time the following day.
For calendar date drip schedules, content releases at the date and time specified in the Drip Schedule settings. If individual lessons have their own release dates set, they will still release at the same time of day as the main Drip Schedule setting. For example, if the schedule starts at 4:00pm PST on January 1, a lesson set to release on January 2 will become available at 4:00pm PST on that day.
What happens when a learner is re-enrolled into a course with a Drip Schedule?
This depends on the drip type selected:
- Student enrollment date — the original enrollment date applies. A learner who originally enrolled on January 1, cancelled, and re-enrolled on March 1 will have their drip schedule calculated from January 1.
- Student course start date — if the learner had already opened the Course Player during their first enrollment, the original course start date applies. If they had never opened the course, the start date will be set when they first access it after re-enrollment.
- On a specific date — the schedule continues based on the calendar dates set. Any content that has already been released will be accessible to the re-enrolled learner.
What happens if I change the Drip Schedule while learners are already taking my course?
Any change to the Drip Schedule takes effect immediately and applies to all currently enrolled learners. If the new schedule is more restrictive than the original, learners may lose access to lessons they have already completed.
Important Considerations
- Drip Schedule is available on all paid plans (Basic and above).
- Drip Schedule applies to all learners enrolled in a course. It is not possible to set a per-learner drip schedule.
- Editing a Drip Schedule that is already active will immediately affect all enrolled learners.
- Lessons set to draft will not appear in the Drip Schedule tab. Publish a lesson before adding it to your schedule.
- Drip Schedules do not prevent access to previously released lessons. Learners can return to earlier lessons at any time.
- No emails are sent when a lesson is released via Drip Schedule. However, learners using the Thinkific Mobile App or a Branded Mobile App will receive a push notification when new content is released. See: How are students notified when new Drip Content is released?
Related Articles
- Related: Set a Drip Schedule by Student Enrollment Date
- Related: Set a Drip Schedule by Course Start Date
- Related: Set a Drip Schedule by Calendar Date
- Related: Customize Drip Schedule Messaging