Tutorial: List LifterLMS courses & lessons in a searchable table

Tutorial: List LifterLMS courses & lessons in a searchable table

LifterLMS is the best LMS plugin out there. Read on to find out how to list LifterLMS courses and lessons in a searchable directory on your site. I'll also show you how to create a searchable, downloadable resource library to share learning materials with students.

If you run an e-learning site and are looking for a way to improve how your courses, lessons, quizzes, and other content is shared with students, this tutorial has your back. Here I'll walk you through the following:

  • How to list LifterLMS courses and lessons in a searchable table with filters using the powerful Posts Table Pro plugin. This is perfect for learning management websites that have lots of courses and/or lessons as it makes it easier for students to find what they're looking for.
    List LearnDash courses table
  • How to add a searchable, downloadable resource library to your LifterLMS courses using the versatile Document Library Pro plugin. This is the perfect way to augment your students' learning experience by providing them with course materials and other resources.
    List LearnDash course materials in a tiled grid

A quick note: These instructions will work regardless of the LMS you use, whether it be LearnDash, SenseiLMS, TutorLMS, Masteriyo, etc., so feel free to follow along even if you don't use LifterLMS. We even have a separate guide on how to do the same with LearnDash.

Ready? Let's get started.

What is LifterLMS?

LifterLMS is the best WordPress LMS plugin. It lets you create and manage e-learning websites. Thousands of educational institutions, teachers, trainers, and companies, use it to build engaging online courses, offer memberships, conduct training sessions, and more.

It's packed with all the features you'd expect in a top-tier LMS plugin, including support for multimedia lessons, quizzes, assignments, certifications, payment gateways, and others.

How does LifterLMS normally display courses and lessons?

By default, LifterLMS displays courses in a simple grid layout that looks like this:

List LifterLMS courses lessons quizzes content 1

The default layout looks good if you plan to offer a handful of courses. But if you offer a lot of courses, the standard course archive pages and lesson lists can look cluttered and overwhelming.

Not to mention, the default layout doesn't include built-in filters or other navigation options. This can make it difficult for users to find specific courses or lessons if you offer many options.

And that's where Posts Table Pro comes in.

Posts Table Pro is a powerful plugin that upgrades the default LifterLMS layout. We'll explore the plugin in more detail in the next section.

How to list LifterLMS courses and lessons in a searchable directory

Posts Table Pro presents courses, lessons, and other content in a beautiful, user-friendly table layout and enhances the navigation options to help students quickly locate the content they are interested in.

You can customize the table however you like. Here's an example of how it looks on the front end:

LearnDash lessons list in a table

And another example (with more columns and content):

List LearnDash courses table

An added benefit of using Posts Table Pro is that it has advanced navigation features built-in, including a search box, filters, and sorting options. Combined, these features go a long way to help students narrow down their choices quickly based on their interests or requirements.

  • Search boxes: Users can enter course names and other keywords to search for specific content.
  • Dynamic filter dropdowns: You can add custom filters based on the content in the table to enable users to filter based on categories, tags, and custom taxonomies.
  • Sorting options: Users can sort based on various criteria, including course names, course instructors, date published, etc.

Keep in mind that you don't have to list all courses or lessons in one table. Posts Table Pro lets you create an unlimited number of tables, so you can list courses thematically. For example, if you want to list courses for a university, you can create standalone pages for each major and list relevant courses there.

Setup tutorial: How to list LifterLMS courses and lessons using Posts Table Pro

Follow these steps to add the Posts Table Pro plugin to your site and configure it to display LifterLMS courses, lessons, and other relevant content in a searchable directory on the front end.

Step one: Create a searchable directory to list LifterLMS content

The first step is to create the table, define its columns, and select the courses or lessons to display in the table. Follow these instructions:

  1. Get the Posts Table Pro plugin and set it up on your website.
  2. Then head to Posts Table Pro  Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
  3. Add a name for the table (only visible to site admins).
    List LifterLMS courses lessons quizzes content 2
  4. When you install the LifterLMS plugin on your site, it automatically creates custom post types for courses, lessons, quizzes, etc. Choose the post type you want to display in the table. So, if you wish to display courses, select it here and hit "Next".
    List LifterLMS courses lessons quizzes content 3
  5. Press "All courses" if you plan to list all courses in the same table. To handpick the courses to display in the table, press Select specific courses Individual courses. Then, choose the specific courses to be shown on this specific table from the dropdown list.
  6. Choose the columns to display in the table (including custom fields and taxonomies) and rearrange them as you wish. To add columns to the tables, select the preferred column type from the dropdown list and hit "Add".
  7. Check out the full list of available columns. Drag and drop columns to reorder them as you wish.
  8. Next, select your preferred filters to add to the page that displays the table. The filters will be shown as dropdown lists above the table and you can tailor them to suit your preferences. Feel free to add as many filter options as you think are necessary.
  9. Allow lazy loading to make sure the table loads on time, even if it lists hundreds or thousands of courses or lessons.
  10. Finally, enable your preferred sorting criteria and sort direction and hit "Next".

Step two: Add the searchable directory to a page

Once you've created the directory, it's time to add it to a page on the front end. Follow these instructions:

  1. From your WordPress dashboard, go to "Pages". Then add a new one or edit an existing page, as you prefer.
  2. Once on the page, click on the "+" sign and select the "Posts table" block to add a new posts table block.
    List LifterLMS courses lessons quizzes content 4
  3. Select the table you created earlier from the Posts table dropdown.
  4. Hit "Publish or "Update".

And that's it. Head to your site's front end to view your courses in a beautiful, searchable, sortable, and filterable directory.

Bonus: Add a searchable resource list to your LifterLMS courses

Learning materials make the learning process more engaging and they allow students to review and reinforce what they've learned. For instance, if you offer online business courses, you might need to provide resources like:

  • PDF summaries of each lecture.
  • Excel templates for financial modeling exercises.
  • Slide decks from presentations.
  • Additional reading materials like articles and eBooks.
  • Practice quizzes and tests with answer keys.

LifterLMS lets you provide learning materials for each course, however, it doesn't provide special options to showcase them. This works fine if your courses just have a few resources. But it isn't ideal if you have a lot of materials to share or if you wish to add these resources within individual lessons.

Enter: Document Library Pro.

The Document Library Pro plugin lets you easily create searchable, sortable, and filterable resource libraries for course materials, downloadable resources, and other content.

WordPress LMS course resource library

There are lots of ways you can use Document Library Pro to add the resource library to your site. Here are a few ideas:

LMS course document downloads
  • A central document library to showcase all the learning materials on a standalone page.
  • A resource library for each course. This can be displayed on the home screen for students enrolled in that course.
  • A resource library for each lesson. This can be displayed directly on the lesson page.
  • A resource library for each membership. Enrolled members can see it on the membership home screen.

Setup tutorial: Adding a searchable resource list to your LifterLMS courses

Here's an overview of the steps to use Document Library Pro and LifterLMS to add a searchable resource list to your website.

  1. Get the Document Library Pro plugin and set it up on your site.
  2. Add a category of documents for your online course.
  3. Create an online course in WordPress.
  4. Build the structure of your course.
  5. Select the lesson you wish to add the document resource library to.
  6. Add content to the library: this can be documents, files, PDFs, Excel files, and other kinds of resources.
  7. Display the resources inside the course or lesson.

If you'd rather watch a video, here's a detailed walkthrough of the steps listed above:

That's how to list LifterLMS courses, lessons, and content

To recap, in this tutorial, I've shown you how to make it quicker and easier for to students find the content they need and provide learning materials in a more accessible format.

As mentioned, these steps will work regardless of the LMS you use, whether it's LearnDash, TutorLMS, MasterStudy LMs, or others.

Get the plugins mentioned in this post:

  • Posts Table Pro - To list LifterLMS courses, lessons, quizzes, etc., in a searchable directory with search, sort, and filter options. This makes it super easy for students to find exactly what they want.
  • Document Library Pro - To list learning materials like PDF summaries, downloadable handbooks, printable worksheets, etc., in a searchable, sortable, filterable table. This is the perfect way to provide learning materials to boost students' experience.

Please share your thoughts...

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *