This guide is for course providers who want to check a course before customers book it.
Test records are real: New Registration, New Order and completed public bookings create real records. Applications and requests create records too. Depending on the action and settings, they send emails, occupy places, start access deadlines or release schedules, and affect waitlists. Use details and dates you control. Completing lessons or recording attendance can also trigger certificates or CPD awards.
Four Ways to Test a Course Before Customers Book
Preview as Student: see saved online lessons as a learner sees them. Progress is not tracked and nothing is created. For On-demand and Blended courses.
New Registration: add a real test learner without an Order. Use this to check access and progress.
New Order: create a free purchase record with participant Registrations. Use this to check the Order Contact, participants, billing or invoices.
Public course link: make a test booking as a customer would, with a 100% promo code if the course costs money. Use this to check the course page, booking forms, dates, availability, checkout and confirmation emails.
Preview the Saved Course Layout With Preview as Student
The preview option is in the course editor, on the Contents tab. It opens the saved lessons of an On-demand or Blended course as a learner sees them, without booking. You need System Admin access or Course Owner access to that course. Save the course once before previewing it.
Open the Preview Option From Edit Course
From the Admin Dashboard, select Courses, then open the course.
Select Edit Course, then Contents.
Select Preview as Student. The button is also available inside a lesson or Quiz in the same editor.
If Save Before Previewing? appears, choose Cancel to stay in the editor, Preview Without Saving for the last saved version, or Save & Preview to include your changes.
In the new tab, check that the banner says Previewing as admin. Progress is not tracked. Admin preview opens even if the same login also has a Registration. If the banner is missing, check which page and login you are using before interacting.
Example of the admin-preview banner above a lesson in the learner tab.
What the preview does not test: while the admin-preview banner shows, lesson progress, Quiz answers, form responses and progress in SCORM content (an imported online learning package) are not saved. Preview also bypasses lesson Access rules, including schedules and earlier-lesson requirements, and shows draft lessons with an Unpublished label. To test learner progress and restrictions, use a real Registration on a separate non-admin account.
Preview a Form Without Going Through Registration (Lesson and Booking Forms)
Form inside a lesson: open the lesson with Preview as Student. The form shows as the learner sees it, but you cannot submit it: it shows Preview. Responses aren't saved. To test a real submission, see Check Forms Inside Lessons as a Test Learner below.
Booking or registration form at checkout: to check a checkout form's questions without booking, open Forms, select the form and look at the Form Editor tab. To see it as a customer does, with your course's details, make a test booking through the public course link. For a paid course, see Test Checkout Without Paying below. The test booking creates a real Order and Registration.
Choose the Email Address for Your Test Learner
Use Your Admin Email to Check a Course as a Learner
Using your admin email connects the admin and learner profiles to one login, so you can move between them without logging out. This is convenient for a first check, but admin access can show draft lessons and bypass restrictions that apply to an ordinary learner.
In the Admin Dashboard, select your organisation name at the top of the left menu.
Under User Profile, select Student Profile.
To return, select Admin Dashboard from the learner website.
Example of the menu with Student Profile under User Profile.
Use a Separate Non-Admin Email to Test Learner Access
A different email address is a different Cademy login. Keep the Admin Dashboard open in your normal browser window, and open a Private or Incognito window, or a second browser, for the test learner. Go to cademy.io/login there and sign in with the test learner email. Signing in as the learner in the same normal window replaces your admin login.
Use an account with no admin access to the course when checking payment, approval, release, prerequisite or access-expiry restrictions. Two test emails also let you test a booker and a different participant.
Use the same course and, if applicable, date to compare a learner who matches an exception with one who does not. If the condition uses Offer, book each test learner on the relevant ticket. To test Paid their order in full, use a test learner on an unpaid order that allows early course access. A free order or a place without an order already meets the check. See Allow Course Access Before Manual Payment and Set Lesson Access and Completion Rules.
Add a Test Learner Without an Order (New Registration)
Use this option to give a test learner access without an Order, invoice or payment record. A Registration is the record of one person's place on a course. System Admins, Course Owners and Facilitators can add Registrations for the courses and dates they can access.
From the Admin Dashboard, select Courses and open the course. Select Registrants, then New Registration. The Add Registration panel opens with the course selected in Select a course....
For a Blended, On set dates or On-request course, use Select a date... to choose the test date. Create a date only if you intend to create that real course date. An On-demand course does not need a date.
Use Search for a contact... to find your test Contact, the saved person with the test email. If needed, select Create new contact... and enter the test details.
Review Send confirmation email, which starts selected. Clear it if you do not want that email. This does not stop other effects of registration.
Select Add Registration and check for Registration created. If Already Registered appears, select Go Back to avoid a duplicate. If the date is full, a warning explains that continuing takes it over capacity.
Example of New Registration on a course's Registrants tab. A System Admin can also start from Registrations in the Admin Dashboard.
The test learner now has a real Registration to check access, progress, lesson forms, emails and certificates. It cannot later be added to an Order. For full instructions, see Add a Participant to a Course Without Creating an Order.
Create a Free Test Order
Use this option when you need to check both the learner experience and the purchase record. A System Admin can use Orders. A Course Owner can open a contact and use Add to Course for a course they manage. The Order Contact is responsible for the booking. A participant is someone attending the course.
To test a participant who is not the Order Contact, the course's Participant capture preference (Edit Course, Settings, Forms & Participants) must be Capture Details of All Participants. Otherwise the participant selectors are hidden. Changing this course setting also affects customer bookings.
From the Admin Dashboard, select Orders, then New Order.
Under Order Contact, use Search for a contact... to select your test Contact, or select Create new contact....
Use Select a course... to choose the course. For a Blended, On set dates or On-request course, use Select a date... to choose the test date.
Check the participant shown beneath the offer. The Order Contact is selected by default. To test a different learner, choose the other test Contact in that participant selector, or use Choose Different Participant if you just entered a new Order Contact.
Set the offer's unit price, beside its quantity, to 0. Avoid other paid items and check the Order total is zero.
Review Send booking confirmation email, or Send order confirmation email for an On-demand course, then select Create Free Order. Check for Order created and inspect the Order and its participants.
Read the final button before selecting it: if it shows Create Paid Order, Create Order, Create Order & Send Invoice, Create Order & Request Deposit or Create Order & Request First Payment, the Order is not free. Create Paid Order records it as paid, and requesting payment also sends the confirmation.
The participant sees their course and progress, but not the Order Contact's payment information. An admin Order can bypass public capacity, membership and form requirements, so it is not a full checkout test. For full instructions, see Create an Order to Book a Customer Onto a Course.
Make a Test Booking Through the Public Course Page
To open Share, you need System Admin or Course Owner access to the course. A Facilitator can ask someone with that access for the course link.
Test Checkout Without Paying: Create a Private 100% Promo Code
If the course costs money, a System Admin can create a 100% Discount with a promo code. Your test booking then goes through checkout at zero cost. It creates a real booking but does not test taking a card payment.
What private means here: there is no Private Discount setting. Require Promo Code and the cleared Visibility options keep the code off the course page and checkout, but anyone who knows it can use it, so share it only with your testers.
In the Admin Dashboard, select Discounts from the left menu, then New Discount. If this is your first Discount, select Create Discount.
Under Basic Information, enter a Name, such as Private Checkout Test.
Under Calculation, select Percentage and enter 100 in Percentage Amount.
Under Application, select Require Promo Code and enter a code in Promo Code, such as TEST100.
Under Applies To, select Specific courses only, then use Select courses to choose the course you are testing. Leave Criteria empty.
Under Availability, select Fixed Dates. Leave the dates empty if the other rules are enough.
Optional: under Usage Limit, select Limit how many times this discount can be used and enter Maximum Uses, so the code stops working after your tests.
Under Visibility, clear both Show discount on qualifying course page and Show discount on qualifying course checkouts.
Select Create Discount and check for Discount created.
For full Discount instructions, see Create a Discount or Promo Code.
Open the Course Page and Complete the Test Booking
The course needs to be published: choose Public, or Private if your plan includes private courses and you want to share a direct link. Anyone with a Private course link can open it. An Unpublished course's page is unavailable to people with no booking on it. You can publish only once your email address is confirmed. If Cademy says it is not confirmed, select Message Us at the bottom of the sidebar. For plans, see What Each Cademy Plan Includes and Costs.
From the Admin Dashboard, select Courses, select the course, then select Share.
Under Course Link, select Open. The label uses the course's service keyword, such as Bootcamp Link. If you use a different test email, open the link in your Private window or second browser.
Start the booking, application or request shown on the course page. Check the course details, dates, price, spaces, booking and Registration fields, and emails.
If the course costs money, continue to Payment. Open Apply promo code or gift card, enter your code in Enter code..., then select Apply. Check that Voucher applied successfully! appears and the amount due is zero, then select Continue. An application or request that does not take payment has no Payment step.
What happens next depends on the course:
On-demand: complete the booking, then open the online content.
Blended or On set dates: check the booking, application, date-request, group-request or waitlist options that the course settings and available spaces allow.
On-request: the journey depends on the course's Booking Flow. A request conversation lets you agree details before you arrange the Order or Registration. With Free or Set pricing, choosing an available calendar slot of one day or less is an instant booking that can create a course date and Order; its Payment step has no promo code field, so create a free test Order instead.
Test a Course That Uses Another Website (External Bookings or Hosting)
Externally hosted course content: Cademy still creates the Order or Registration. Sign in as the test learner, open the course and check the instructions under Course Access.
External Bookings: the booking button sends the customer to another website. Cademy creates no Order, Registration, request, application or payment record, and does not reduce the available spaces. Test the external form and its confirmation separately. See Send Customers to an External Booking Website.
Open the Course as the Test Learner
Open Your Test Course Using Your Admin Login
In the Admin Dashboard, select your organisation name at the top of the left menu, then Student Profile under User Profile. Select My Account at the top right, then My Courses & Bookings.
Open Your Test Course Using a Separate Learner Login
In a Private or Incognito window, or a second browser, go to cademy.io/login.
Enter the test learner email and select Continue.
Enter the password and select Log in & Continue, or select Email me a code instead if there is no password.
Select My Account, then My Courses & Bookings.
For Cademy-hosted on-demand or blended content, check in the course editor that each lesson you want the test learner to see is Published. A Draft lesson is hidden from a non-admin learner even if the course is Public or Private; see Publish or Hide Course Lessons. Admin preview can still show Draft lessons, so it does not confirm this check.
Under Your Courses, select the course. An On-demand course with Cademy-hosted content opens its Content page, which lists the lessons. A course with a booked date opens its course details; for Blended online content, select Start Course, Continue Course or View Course, whichever appears. The button wording uses the course's service keyword, and Start Course and Continue Course can be renamed for one course: see Rename Course Buttons and Labels (Custom Labels).
If the course is missing, select My Account and check the email shown at the top. It must match the email on the Registration. Also check that the Registration is active and the course is not archived. A place waiting for approval or payment can show that message instead of the course content. Invoice and manual-payment settings can allow access before the Order is paid, and Partially Paid does not by itself block access. See Can't Access Your Course or a Lesson? What to Check and Log In to See Your Courses and Bookings.
What to Test for Each Course Type
Test an On-Demand Course
Use Preview as Student for the saved content, then a real Registration, Order or public booking for access and progress. No course date is needed. Check Start Course, Continue Course and View Course, lesson completion, Quiz results, SCORM progress, lesson forms, release rules and access expiry.
Test a Blended Course
Use Preview as Student for the online content only. Then use a real Registration, Order or public booking, choose the course date, and check both the scheduled sessions and the online content.
Test a Course on Set Dates
Preview as Student is not available. Use a real Registration, Order or public booking on a course date. Check the date, time, time zone, delivery method, venue or live-online information, joining instructions and welcome content. If used, check applications, requests, group requests, spaces and waitlists through the public course link.
Test an On-Request Course
Preview as Student is not available. Use the public course link to test the booking or request route. A request conversation alone gives no learner access: agree the details, then create the Registration or Order and choose or create the date. For an instant calendar booking, inspect the created Order, course date and participants, and any payment or approval state. Check the location or online details, duration, confirmation email and learner course page. If a new date created a video meeting, include it in your cleanup.
Check Forms Inside Lessons as a Test Learner
Use a real test Registration and open the course as that learner. A real submission triggers the form's notifications, confirmation email and Inbox settings, so use only test answers.
For an optional form, check that the learner can complete the lesson without submitting.
For a required form, check that the learner cannot complete its lesson before submitting. With the later-lesson lock off, that form alone must not lock later lessons. If Also lock later lessons until it's submitted is on, check that later lessons stay locked until the form is submitted and its lesson is completed.
Submit the test form. Check that a saved receipt shows the answers and submission date, and that the response is still visible when you reopen the lesson.
Complete the lesson using Complete & Continue, or Mark as Completed in the final lesson. Check course completion separately; blended courses also require attendance.
As a System Admin or Course Owner, open Forms, the form, then Responses. Use Source > Lesson and open the response. Also check the Progress section of the learner's Registration.
One form has one response per Registration. Reusing the form in another lesson, or marking lesson progress back to Not Started, does not give a fresh response. For another test, use another test Registration. See Add Forms to Lessons.
Remove or Cancel Test Bookings After Testing
When testing is finished, decide which test records to delete and which to keep as cancelled history.
Test Order that never received money: a System Admin can use Delete Order. Free Orders and zero-cost promo-code bookings qualify. Any payment or refund history, including a manual payment, gift card or customer credit, prevents deletion, even if the balance is now zero.
Standalone test Registration (added with New Registration or imported without an Order): use Delete Registration. Order-linked Registrations are removed through their Order.
History you need to keep: cancel the Registration or Order instead. For an Order that received money, see Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order.
Deletion cannot be undone. Check the person, course, date and record code, then follow Delete Test or Duplicate Orders and Registrations for the steps and full limits.
To cancel a test Registration and keep its record, open it from the course's Registrants tab, open the three-dot menu in the Registration section and select Cancel Registration. If Release the space from [Order] too appears, clear it to cancel only the Registration.
Cancellation does not refund payments by itself. Neither undoes sent emails or removes your test Contact, Discount, course date or video meeting. Releasing a place can trigger waitlist emails to other people.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can I not see Preview as Student in the course editor?
Check that you have System Admin or Course Owner access, that the course is On-demand or Blended and has been saved, and that you are on Edit Course, then Contents. Facilitators cannot use it.
Can a Facilitator test a course?
Yes. A Facilitator can add a Registration for a course or date they can manage. They cannot use the course editor or Preview as Student. A System Admin is needed to create an Order, and a System Admin or Course Owner can provide the course link for a test booking.
Can I test an Unpublished course?
Yes. You can use Preview or add a real Registration. To test the public booking journey, change the course to Public or Private first.