Use a course waitlist to record interest when a date is full or no suitable dates are available. You can add people, contact them or create a booking when a place is available. Optional automatic emails can notify eligible entries about available dates.
Understand the two waitlists
A date-specific entry records interest in one particular course date.
A course-level entry records interest without a selected date. It can receive a combined email about eligible dates for that course.
A waitlist entry is not a booking or a reserved place. A Contact records the person; a Registration records an attending place; an Order records the purchase. Adding an entry does not create the latter two.
These settings are available for On set dates and Blended courses. Start in the intended provider account with System Admin access or Course Owner access to the course. The normal course Waitlist tab is not offered to Facilitators. Automatic availability emails are a separate choice from allowing people to join.
Enable the course waitlist
Check pending edits before navigating inside the course editor.
Changing its pages can save pending course or lesson edits automatically. The final Save button is not the only save point.
Open Courses and select the intended course.
Select Edit Course → Settings → Booking Options.
Under Allow Waitlist, choose Allow Waitlist.
Check any other pending course or lesson edits before saving. Select Save.
Check for Course saved, reopen Booking Options and confirm the setting. If saving fails or the choice is not retained, contact Cademy Support before relying on it.
Use Do Not Allow to disable waitlisting only when that is intended: it also turns off automatic waitlist emails and hides the Waitlist tab. Re-enabling waitlisting does not restore the previous automatic-email choice.
For the other choices in Booking Options, see Managing bookings, requests & applications.
When customers can join
Where waitlisting is enabled, Join Waitlist can appear for a sold-out date. Joining from that date creates a date-specific entry. The whole-course action can appear when there are no bookable dates or all displayed bookable dates are full; joining without a date creates a course-level entry. With waitlisting off, a date on the public course page that has no places left shows a disabled Sold Out button where its booking button would be.
Check which date, if any, is recorded on the entry. A message confirming that someone joined does not prove that automatic availability emails are enabled or that a place will become available.
Find the course waitlist
Open the intended course from Courses.
Open Waitlist. If it is missing, check your course role and whether Allow Waitlist is enabled.
Check whether a date is selected. A date-scoped list shows a notice and View full waitlist. to return to the course-wide list; reopen Waitlist if navigation takes you to the course overview.
Check the person and any For: date shown beside their name. The Last Notified column records automatic notification activity, as explained below.
Waitlist Empty means the current list has no queued entries. It is not a reason to add the person again without checking the full course list and any existing booking. Open each relevant course to manage its waitlist.
Add someone manually
Check the existing course waitlist for the intended person and date to avoid a duplicate entry.
Choose Add To Waitlist (shown as Add to Waitlist on an empty list).
Check Select a course. Under Select a date, choose the intended existing date, or leave it empty for the course-level waitlist. Opening this form from a date view does not automatically choose that date.
Review Send waitlist confirmation email. It starts off; turn it on only if you intend to email confirmation that the person has joined. This does not enable automatic availability emails.
Under Contact, select the intended existing person or enter their details. Entering a new person can also create a Contact.
Check the course, date, Contact and email choice, then select Create Waitlist Entry.
After Waitlist entry created, reopen or refresh the appropriate waitlist and check the saved person/date. If the result is uncertain, check for an existing entry before retrying or contact Support.
Manage existing entries
Convert an entry to a booking
Use a System Admin for this complete conversion procedure so they can inspect the saved Order, payment details and email records. If you are a Course Owner, ask a System Admin to complete it and verify the result; seeing Convert to Booking does not give access to the saved Order.
Convert to Booking opens New Order; it does not immediately create a booking or remove the queue entry. Creating the Order can record payment information and send emails. Check current availability and the intended outcome first. Order Contact, Billed To, the items, Payment Status, Send payment request and Send confirmation email are explained in Create an Order and Request Payment.
Find the correct waitlist entry and open its three-dot menu, then select Convert to Booking.
In New Order, check Order Contact and Billed To. Choose Individual or Organisation as appropriate. If you choose Organisation, select the intended organisation. If you open Edit Billing Details, review the details and select Save Billing Details to apply them, or Cancel to leave them unchanged. This does not create the Order. Do not assume the waiting participant is also the person paying.
Check the course and use its date selector at the top of the item group to choose the intended existing date or block if it is blank or wrong. A block is a bookable group of sessions. The initial date can come from the current page rather than the waitlist entry. Then check the offer row; choose another offer from its selector if needed and use the quantity plus/minus controls for the intended number of places. Check the named participants and total after these choices.
For a zero payable total, there is no Payment Status choice: review Send booking confirmation email. For an amount payable, review Payment Status: Paid records payment as already made; it does not collect a card payment. To be paid leaves an amount due. If you choose To be paid, review Send payment request and any payment plan offered when requesting payment. Then review Send confirmation email. Confirmation starts enabled; a payment request also enables confirmation after payment.
Read the final button before choosing it. Depending on the choices it is Create Free Order, Create Paid Order, Create Order & Request Deposit, Create Order & Request First Payment, Create Order & Send Invoice or Create Order. Use it only when the stated creation and payment/email outcome is intended.
Read Order created and any warnings, then check the saved Order, participants, course/date, totals and payment/email status. A capacity warning can appear after creation; do not create another Order to retry it.
Refresh the waitlist and check whether the relevant entry has been removed by the background booking update. If the Order or queue result is uncertain, contact Support before repeating conversion.
Remove an entry
In the course’s Waitlist tab, check the person and date for the entry you intend to remove.
Open its three-dot menu and select Remove.
Read Are you sure you want to remove this person? Select Yes only to confirm that entry’s removal.
Check Waitlist entry removed. and refresh the queue. If it remains or an error occurs, check the result before retrying or ask Support.
Removing the entry does not delete the Contact or cancel a booking. Other entries for that person can remain.
Email selected waitlist contacts
In Waitlist, check the course/date scope and tick the intended entries. Check the count beside Email; Select All and Deselect All affect the displayed waitlist selection.
Select Email. Choose a template or enter Subject and Email body; review any existing template content and attachments.
Use Add Attachments if needed, then Preview. Check the message and selected recipient examples, then close Preview to return to the email.
When the audience and message are correct and you intend to contact them, select Send.
Read the result or error. A System Admin can check the Contact’s email records; Course Owners should ask a System Admin to check them. Your emails are being sent. describes a request in progress. Emails prepared but blocked means nothing was delivered; contact Support about the account restriction. Check uncertain results before resending.
Manual email remains a separate action when automatic availability emails are off. Account email permission and recipient limits still apply. Selecting several entries for the same person can result in repeated messages; check the list first.
Enable automatic availability emails
Automatic emails are off by default for a new course and are configured separately for each course. Check existing, cloned or imported courses rather than assuming their current value. Before navigating inside the editor, review pending edits: changing pages can save them automatically.
Open Courses → the course → Edit Course → Settings → Booking Options.
Under Allow Waitlist, choose Allow Waitlist if it is not already enabled.
Under Automatic Waitlist Emails, select Email Waitlisted Contacts When Spaces Become Available.
Review other pending edits, then select Save. Reopen Booking Options and check both saved settings. If an error occurs, do not assume notification is enabled.
To stop only automatic availability emails, select Do Not Send Automatic Waitlist Emails and save. This leaves waitlisting available so you can continue managing entries and sending intended manual emails.
How the automatic check works
Cademy uses an hourly background check. Changing a setting, adding a date or freeing a place does not send an immediate notification, and there is no guaranteed delivery minute. The check does not look at why a place became free. It reads the number of places recorded on each eligible date when it runs. Cademy updates that number in the background, for example after an Order is created or changed, a Registration is cancelled or moved, or the capacity of the date is changed.
A full date is excluded. Entries removed after a booking or manual removal are excluded too. Booking cleanup happens separately, so a recently booked person can still be queued until that update finishes. Check their entry and message status if a notification is unexpected.
A specific date’s queue
For each eligible date, the check considers an initial group of queued entries in join order and attempts at most one eligible entry from that group. It skips entries that are not currently eligible; it does not email everyone on that date’s queue at once or send one email for every spare place. The message links to the course and selected date. Its subject is A spot's opened for [course name] on [date].
After a recorded automatic notification, that same entry is excluded from another notification about the date for 24 hours. If the date still has a place when the next hourly check runs, the check passes over that entry and attempts the next eligible entry in join order. This is an entry-level rule; duplicate entries, manual emails and Resend are not covered by a single person-wide limit.
The course-level queue
For each eligible course, the check also considers an initial group of course-level entries in join order and attempts at most one eligible entry from that group. Its email combines the currently eligible available dates, including a new date if it meets the conditions. Its subject is New dates available for [course name]. A person waiting only for another specific date does not join this course-level queue automatically.
A course-level entry has a three-day wait after a recorded automatic notification. It is also excluded if it has already been notified about that exact set of dates. Changing only the number of places does not create a new set; returning to a previously notified set does not trigger a fresh message for that entry.
A check considers only an initial part of each queue. An eligible person farther down a long queue may not be reached in that check. If the notification attempt cannot proceed, it does not necessarily try the next person. Ask Cademy Support about unexplained long-queue delays; do not remove entries as a workaround.
When someone is on both queues
Date-specific queues are processed before course-level queues. Within one automatic check, Cademy avoids a second notification to the same email address, including across courses. This does not cover separate addresses, duplicate entries in later checks, manual email or Resend.
Notifications do not reserve places
Automatic availability messages explain that places remain open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. The recipient must make a booking under the normal availability, payment and approval conditions. Another person can book first; joining the queue or receiving an email does not secure a place. The email gives no deadline for booking.
A customer’s removal link
Automatic availability emails include a removal link that works without signing in. Opening it removes the matching waitlist entry immediately; there is no separate confirmation step. It does not cancel a booking, remove other date/course entries or unsubscribe the person from all emails.
If the page reports that the link is not valid, the customer should contact the course provider. Do not open someone’s removal link merely to inspect it.
Eligibility and missing notifications
The course must be published, have waitlisting enabled and have automatic availability emails enabled.
The date must be Public, have at least one place available and start more than 12 hours after the check’s time. Private dates, full dates and dates starting within 12 hours are excluded.
A child session within a block must be individually bookable to be considered separately.
There must be an eligible queued entry with an email address, outside the relevant repeat-notification limits.
The account must be allowed to send emails. Ask a System Admin to check the actual Contact email record for blocked or failed results.
The automatic check does not verify that every public booking route is usable. Confirm the intended course/date can be booked through your public setup before relying on notification links, particularly with external booking settings. Do not assume a missing or unusable booking page prevents an email.
If no email appears after an expected check, review the settings, date scope, recorded availability, queue and repeat limits. A System Admin can check Contact email status; Course Owners should ask for that check. An eligible entry farther down a long queue may not be reached in that check. Contact Cademy Support if these do not explain the result. Adding another entry or repeatedly using Resend is not a reliable test.
Understand Last Notified
Open the course’s Waitlist tab and find the intended entry.
Check Last Notified. Widen the browser if the column is hidden on a smaller screen.
Date or Course with a time describes the latest recorded automatic notification for that entry. Not notified yet means there is no recorded automatic notification.
This is not proof that the message was sent or received. A blocked email can still produce notification history and start the repeat-notification wait. Confirmation emails, manual sends and resends are separate; a System Admin can check the Contact’s email record for their status. Course Owners should ask a System Admin for that check.
View an email and decide whether to resend
This procedure needs System Admin access to Contacts and their email records. Course Owners should ask a System Admin to inspect the message or handle an intended resend. For where emails are recorded and what each status means, see View Email History for Contacts, Team Members, Orders and Registrations.
Select the waitlist row, or choose View Contact from its three-dot menu. Alternatively, open Contacts, find the intended person and open their record.
Open All Activity or Emails, then select the relevant message.
In View Message, check To, Subject, content and Status. A blocked message is prepared but not delivered. If the body cannot load, do not assume its contents; ask Support if necessary.
Resend sends the saved message again.
It does not refresh the dates, availability, recipient or removal link, or repeat the automatic queue checks. Review all of those before choosing Resend. Do not click a removal link while checking the message.
Only if the saved message is still correct and another email is intended, select Resend. Read the result and refresh the contact’s email history. A resend success message is not proof of inbox receipt. If emailing is blocked, resolve that with Support before attempting delivery.
What happens after a booking
Matching waitlist entries are normally removed in the background when an active Registration is created, or an active Order is created or updated for an attending person. This is not limited to paid bookings or a team member marking an Order Paid.
The update removes matching entries for the booked date and the course-level queue. An entry for another specific date can remain. A person buying places only for others is not removed simply because they own the Order. Ask a System Admin to check the saved Order, or inspect the accessible Registration, and refresh the waitlist; if the expected entry remains, ask Support before assuming cleanup has finished.
Plans and email permission
Automatic waitlist notifications are available across the standard Cademy plans. They still require the course settings and eligibility above, and the account must be allowed to send emails. Manual bulk-email limits and account-specific features are separate; ask Support about restrictions affecting your account.
Frequently asked questions
Does allowing the waitlist turn on automatic emails?
No. Allow Waitlist and Automatic Waitlist Emails are separate settings. Choose the intended automatic-email option and save it.
Where do I turn on automatic waitlist emails?
For an On set dates or Blended course, open Courses → course → Edit Course → Settings → Booking Options. Enable Allow Waitlist, choose Email Waitlisted Contacts When Spaces Become Available, then Save and check the retained setting.
Are automatic waitlist emails on by default?
No, they start off for new courses. Check the saved value on existing, cloned or imported courses.
Can I enable them for just one course?
Yes. The setting belongs to each course, so check and save the intended course.
Will a freed place trigger an immediate email?
No. The hourly background check must run and find an eligible date and entry. It is not a promise of delivery within a fixed hour.
Why did nobody receive an email after I added a space?
Check the saved automatic-email setting, published course, Public date, recorded places, more-than-12-hour lead time, eligible queue entry, repeat limits and account email permission. Ask a System Admin to check the Contact’s actual email status. Only an initial part of the queue is considered, so an eligible entry farther down may not be reached. At most one eligible entry per date is attempted; a saved setting or Last Notified time does not prove receipt.
Why did nobody receive an email after I added a new date?
The new date must meet the eligibility rules and there must be a course-level entry without a chosen date. The entry’s three-day and previously-notified date-set limits still apply. At most one eligible course-level entry is attempted from the initial group considered in that check; an eligible entry farther down a long queue may not be reached. People waiting only for a different specific date are not automatically included.
Who is notified first when a place is available?
The check considers an initial group in join order and attempts at most one eligible entry from that group, separately for a date and the course-level queue. Earlier entries can be skipped for email or repeat-notification limits; an eligible entry farther down a long queue may not be reached. Ask Support about unexplained delays.
Is everyone on a date’s waitlist emailed at once?
No. The automatic check attempts one eligible entry for that date, rather than broadcasting to the whole queue.
Is there a separate email for each available course date?
No. A selected course-level entry receives one combined message about eligible dates. The check does not send that message to every course-level entry at once.
Are private dates included?
No. A date must be Public to be included in automatic availability notifications.
Are unpublished courses included?
No. The course must be published as well as having waitlisting and automatic emails enabled.
Does an unusable or missing public booking page stop the email?
Not necessarily. The check does not verify every public booking route. Confirm your intended booking setup before enabling notifications; the email link does not prove that booking will succeed.
What if the date starts soon?
The date must start more than 12 hours after the automatic check’s time. A date starting within that period is excluded.
What if the place is filled before the check?
If the date’s recorded availability is no longer positive when the check reads it, the date is excluded. Availability can change after that; no place is held for the recipient.
What if the person has already booked?
A qualifying active Order or new active Registration normally removes matching entries in the background. Until that happens, the old entry can still be queued. Check the queue and ask a System Admin to check the Contact’s message record; do not assume a send-time booking check.
Does an email reserve a place?
No. It is an availability notification, not a reservation or booking.
Can someone else book first?
Yes. Places remain open to others, subject to normal booking, payment and approval conditions.
Do automatic messages explain first-come, first-served availability?
Yes. The automatic availability message templates explain that the place remains open to everyone and is not held for the recipient.
Does the notification include a booking link?
Yes. Date messages link to the course and chosen date; course-level messages include links for the eligible dates. The recipient still needs to make a booking.
Can someone leave without logging in?
Yes. Opening the removal link in an automatic email immediately removes that matching entry. Other entries and existing bookings remain unchanged.
Can an entry receive another notification for the same date?
Yes, after the 24-hour wait and if it remains eligible. That limit applies to the entry’s automatic notification history, not every duplicate entry, manual send or resend to the same person.
How often can a course-level entry be notified?
It has a three-day wait after a recorded notification and is not notified again about an exact date set already in its history. Changing only the number of places or returning to a previously notified set does not create a new notification for that entry.
What if a person is in both queues?
Date queues are processed first. One automatic check avoids another notification to the same email address across its date and course queues. Separate email addresses, later checks and manual sends are outside that rule.
Can I see when an entry was last notified?
Yes, under Last Notified in Waitlist. Widen the browser if the column is hidden. It records automatic notification activity; Not notified yet does not rule out a manual or confirmation email, and a time does not prove delivery. A System Admin can inspect the Contact’s email status.
Where can I view the email?
A System Admin can open the person through the waitlist row or View Contact, then All Activity or Emails. Open the message to inspect its recipient, content and Status. Course Owners should ask a System Admin to check it.
Can I resend a waitlist email?
Yes. A System Admin can use Resend in View Message when emailing is allowed; Course Owners should ask a System Admin to handle it. It sends the saved content and recipient again without refreshing availability or running the automatic checks. Review the message and current course/date first, then check the result.
Can I still email contacts manually?
Yes. In Waitlist, select the intended entries, check the Email count, compose, Preview, close the preview and Send only when ready. Ask a System Admin to check Contact email results. Automatic-email settings do not remove account sending restrictions or recipient limits.
Can I convert an entry manually?
Yes. Ask a System Admin to use the conversion procedure above so they can also check the saved Order and email results. The entry’s three-dot menu → Convert to Booking opens New Order. Check the Contact, explicitly select the intended date, then check participants, price and the applicable free/payable email choices before the final creation action. Opening the form alone changes neither the booking nor the queue.
Can I remove an entry manually?
Yes. With the required course access, open its three-dot menu → Remove, check the person/date and confirm Yes. Refresh to check the entry is gone. It does not cancel a booking or delete the Contact.
Does the waitlist update when someone books and pays?
Yes, for matching qualifying records. Matching active Order or newly created active Registration events normally remove the booked-date and course-level entries in the background; payment is not the only trigger. Other-date entries can remain. Refresh the queue; ask a System Admin to inspect an Order or use an accessible Registration. Contact Support if it does not update.
Are automatic notifications available on every plan?
Yes, they are available across standard Cademy plans. Course eligibility and account email permission still apply, and manual bulk-email limits are separate.
How do I view waitlists across several courses?
Open each relevant course and its Waitlist tab. Use View full waitlist. when a date is restricting the current list. This guide’s management route is per course.