# Publish, clone, archive or delete > Preview, publish or unpublish a course, start a new one from it, retire it, or remove it. Source: https://paatya.net/docs/courses/publish-archive-delete When your course is ready, you publish it so enrolled students can start learning. Before you do, you can preview it as a student. Later you can unpublish it to rework it, archive it to retire it, or delete it if nobody has been enrolled. You can also clone a course to start a new one from it. This page explains them all. The buttons for all of these are at the top of the course, on both its **Details** and **Curriculum** tabs: **Preview**, **Publish** (or **Unpublish**), and a **⋮** menu with **Clone**, **Archive** and **Delete**. You'll find the same actions in the course card's **⋮** menu on the Courses page. ## Preview a course as a student Preview shows the course the way an enrolled student sees it: only its published sections and topics. You can play the videos, open the documents and try the quizzes. Nothing you do in the preview is saved. 1. Open the course. Click **Courses**, then the course's card. 2. Click **Preview** at the top of the course. On the Courses page, you can also click the eye icon on the course's card. 3. Look through the course as a student would. 4. Click **Close preview** in the bar at the top. You go back to the page you opened the preview from. > **Note:** A draft topic, or any topic in an unpublished section, doesn't appear in the preview. Publish it first if you want to see it there. ## Publish a course ### Before you start At least one topic must be published. Open each finished topic and click **Publish topic**, or use **Publish** in the topic's **⋮** menu on the Curriculum page. See [Build the curriculum](https://paatya.net/docs/courses/curriculum). ### Steps 1. Open the course. Click **Courses**, then the course's card. 2. Click **Publish** at the top right of the course. You can also use **Publish** in the course card's **⋮** menu on the Courses page. 3. Read the message and click **Publish course** to confirm. ![The Visibility box on a course's Details tab](https://paatya.net/docs/img/courses-publish-archive-delete-1.png) ### What you'll see - The course's badge turns green: **Published**. - On the **Details** tab, under the course's name, it says "Live for the students enrolled on it." - Students already enrolled on the course can open it straight away. - The course can appear on your academy's public page. See [What visitors see](https://paatya.net/docs/public-website/what-visitors-see). > **Note:** Publishing doesn't put anyone on the course. You still [enroll students](https://paatya.net/docs/enrollments/enroll-students) yourself. ## Add to a published course You can keep working on a published course. New topics start as **Draft**, and students only see them once you publish them. To hide a topic again, click **Unpublish** in its editor. Students keep any progress they had on it. To hide a whole section, click **Unpublish** on the section's row on the Curriculum page. Its topics are hidden from students until you publish the section again. See [Build the curriculum](https://paatya.net/docs/courses/curriculum). ## Unpublish a course Unpublish a course to take it back to **Draft** while you rework it. You can only do this while nobody is enrolled on it. 1. Open the course and click **Unpublish** at the top right. Or choose **Unpublish** from the course card's **⋮** menu. 2. Click **Unpublish course** to confirm. The badge changes to **Draft**. Each section and topic keeps its own status, so when you publish the course again, students see exactly what was there before. > **Note:** If students are enrolled, **Unpublish** is greyed out and Paatya shows "… enrolled — archive it instead". Archive the course instead. ## Archive a course Archive a course you no longer teach. It disappears from your students' screens, but every enrollment and everything students did is kept. 1. Open the course, click the **⋮** menu at the top right, and choose **Archive**. Or choose **Archive** from the course card's **⋮** menu. 2. Click **Archive course** to confirm. The badge changes to **Archived**. To bring the course back, publish it again. ## Delete a course Deleting removes the course, with all its sections, topics, videos, quizzes and documents. 1. Open the course, click the **⋮** menu at the top right, and choose **Delete**. Or choose **Delete** from the course card's **⋮** menu. 2. Click **Delete course** to confirm. > **Warning:** Deleting can't be undone. You can only delete a course that has no students enrolled. If anyone is enrolled, Paatya shows "… enrolled — archive it instead". Archive the course instead. ## Clone a course Clone a course to start a new one from it, such as next year's batch. The clone is an exact copy: its details, price, cover, sections, topics, videos, documents, links and quizzes. 1. Choose **Clone** from the course card's **⋮** menu on the Courses page, or from the **⋮** menu at the top right of the course. 2. Type a name for the clone. Paatya suggests the course's name with "(copy)" after it. 3. Click **Clone**. The clone opens on its **Details** tab. ### What you'll see - The clone is a **Draft**, whatever the original was. Students see nothing until you publish it. - Inside the clone, each section and topic keeps the status it had, so publishing the clone makes the same topics visible as in the original. - Students, enrollments, progress and quiz results stay with the original. Nobody is enrolled on the clone. > **Tip:** You can rename the clone later: click **Edit** on the **Basic information** card of its **Details** tab. ## Which one should I choose? | You want to… | Do this | | --- | --- | | Check what students will see | **Preview** | | Let enrolled students start the course | **Publish** | | Take a course nobody is enrolled on back to a draft | **Unpublish** | | Stop teaching a course but keep the records | **Archive** | | Remove a test course nobody is enrolled on | **Delete** | | Start a new course from this one | **Clone** | ## If something goes wrong - **"Publish at least one topic first".** Open a topic that's ready and click **Publish topic**, then publish the course. - **Students can't see the course.** Check the course is **Published**, and that each student is enrolled on it. Students only see published topics in published sections, too. - **The Delete or Unpublish option is greyed out.** Students are enrolled. Archive the course instead. ## Next step [Enroll students](https://paatya.net/docs/enrollments/enroll-students) on your published course.