02. Getting Started with LearnDash
LearnDash is the learning management system (LMS) plugin that LearnDash Materials Extended builds on. This page orients you to the LearnDash concepts the plugin touches. It is not a LearnDash tutorial. For that, use the official documentation linked throughout.
LearnDash Materials Extended requires LearnDash to be installed and active. Nothing in this documentation works without it.
The LearnDash concepts the plugin builds on
| Concept | What it is | How the plugin uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Course | The top-level container learners enroll in. | Can carry its own materials list. |
| Lesson | A course step. | Can carry its own materials list. The most common place to attach files. |
| Topic | A sub-step inside a lesson. | Can carry its own materials list. |
| Quiz | An assessment attached to a course, lesson, or topic. | Can carry its own materials list. |
| Materials | A per-item field LearnDash offers on each of the above, shown to learners in a Materials tab. | This is the field the plugin extends. |
| Settings tab | The tab on a course, lesson, topic, or quiz edit screen where LearnDash keeps its per-item options. | Where you manage the materials list. |
If any of these are unfamiliar, start with the official LearnDash Core Documentation.
How the Materials field works in LearnDash
Every course, lesson, topic, and quiz has a Materials setting on its Settings tab, under Display and Content Options. It has an on/off toggle and a small text editor. Whatever you put in that editor is shown to learners in a Materials tab on the front-end page, next to the main content tab.
Out of the box the field is free text: to offer a downloadable file you paste in a link and format it yourself.
LearnDash Materials Extended keeps that field and adds a managed list beneath it. You add items with a title, a file or URL, and a couple of options, then insert one shortcode into the field. LearnDash renders the shortcode in the Materials tab as your styled list. Nothing changes about where or when LearnDash shows materials; only how you build them and how they look.
Where to go next
- Install the plugin: 4.1 Installing LearnDash Materials Extended
- Add your first materials: 5.1 Adding Materials to a Lesson