Activating and managing catalogs

Introduction

A catalog is a collection of courses and learning plans that you can use to organize the learning content on your platform and manage its visibility to users. 

• Catalogs let you provide learners with collections of content that they can browse through.
• Typically, this is for the purpose of allowing them to self-enroll in or purchase the content of interest.  

In this article, you’ll learn how to configure custom catalogs in your platform. To learn how to set up the Docebo Content catalog instead, refer to the article Managing the content marketplace catalog.

You can configure multiple catalogs, each intended for a specific purpose–for example, to group together content focused on a particular topic area, or targeted at a particular set of users. 

Tip: If subscriptions are active on your platform, remember that catalogs are the basic unit included in a subscription. When you create a subscription bundle, you can include one or more catalogs in it. For more information see the article Creating and managing subscription plans

The structure of a catalog is very simple. It consists of: 

• A list of the courses and learning plans included in the catalog
• A list of the “assigned” users (or groups, or branches) who are allowed to access that catalog

For instructions, see the chapter Create a catalog.

Built-in Course catalog page:

The main area where signed-in users can browse their assigned catalogs is the built-in Course catalog page. On this page, within each catalog, users will be able to see all the content that is eligible to be visible, based on settings that are done at the level of the individual course or learning plan.  For more information see the chapters Configure the built-in course catalog page and  Visibility of content in internal catalogs.

Public catalog page: 

Another use for catalogs is to organize the content presented to non-authenticated visitors on the platform home page. For information about how to configure this view see the article Configuring the public catalog. 

Catalog management page 

On the main catalog management page you can view a list of all the catalogs currently configured in the platform. To access it, select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Catalogs. 

Note: Power Users will see here listed only the catalogs assigned to them as resource, and the available actions will depend on their permissions. For more information, see the chapter Power user and catalogs and the article Power User permissions > Permissions for catalogs.  

From this page you can Create a new catalog as well as Edit, Duplicate or Delete an existing catalog. You can also multi-select catalogs and use the Choose action button to perform mass actions. 

The columns in the list view give you a quick overview of each catalog’s Visibility and Content, as well as the Subscriptions that include that catalog.

If you click the name of a catalog in the list (or select ellipsis menu > Edit on its row) you can open the configuration page for that catalog. This is divided into a number of tabs: 

• Properties: The title, description, code and sorting options of the catalog.
• Content: The courses and learning plans included in the catalog.
• Visibility: The users (groups, branches or individuals) who will have access to the catalog, in learner view.
• Subscriptions: Shows which subscriptions include this catalog. Present only when subscriptions are active on the platform.

Create a new catalog

To create a new catalog, select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Catalogs and, from the main catalog list, click the + (New catalog) button in the top right corner. In the panel that opens:

• Enter a Title and a Description for the new catalog. These will be displayed to learners.
• If required, you can set a Code for the catalog. This will not be directly visible in learner view, but you can choose to sort catalogs by Code, and this lets you achieve a custom ordering not dependent on the name or date.
• In the Sorting options area, you can set the default sort order that will be applied to the content (courses and learning plans) included in the catalog. 

Note that you can later edit all these settings in the catalog Properties tab. For more information about them see the chapter Properties of a catalog. 

When you are finished click Create and edit. 

The catalog configuration page will open. From here you can proceed to define what courses and learning plans to include in the catalog, and which users will have visibility of this catalog. See the chapters: Add content to a catalog and Assign users to the catalog.

 When you are finished, click Save changes. 

Edit a catalog 

To edit an existing catalog, select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Catalogs and, from the main catalog list, click the name of the catalog you want to modify. 

This will open the configuration page for the catalog. Here, in the Properties, Content and Visibility tabs, you can make all the required changes to the catalog. See the chapters: Properties of a catalog, Add content to a catalog, Assign users to the catalog.

Duplicate a catalog

Instead of creating a new catalog from scratch, you can create a catalog starting from an existing one. To do this, select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Catalogs to open the main catalog list. Locate the catalog you want to duplicate and, from the ellipsis menu on its row, select Duplicate.

In the panel that opens, edit the catalog Title, Code and Description as appropriate for your new catalog. 

In the Assignments area:

• Set whether you want to copy over into your new catalog the same courses and learning plans as the source catalog.
• You can later adjust these, when you edit your new catalog, by adding/removing some content.

When you are ready click Confirm. The configuration page for the new catalog will open. Here you can edit the Properties, Content, and Visibility of the newly created catalog as needed, then click Save changes when finished.

Properties of a catalog

In the configuration page of a catalog the Properties tab lets you edit the basic details that were entered when creating the catalog: 

• Title and a Description for the catalog. These are displayed to learners both when they view the catalog carousel (in the built-in Catalog page, or in a catalog widget) and when they open the catalog page itself.
• Code for the catalog. This will not be visible in learner view, but can be displayed as a column in Catalog management.
• In the Sorting options area, you can set the default sort order that will be applied to the content (courses and learning plans) included in the catalog (newest to oldest, oldest to newest, name or code). The user has the option to apply a different sort order from the catalog page. 

Notes about the catalog description: 

The catalog description is plain text and cannot include images. The text will be subject to the platform's default CSS or custom CSS added through the branding settings. The description can include hyperlinks. If you include a link it will be clickable from the catalog carousel (within the built-in course catalog page or within any catalog widgets that you configure) but it will not be clickable once on the catalog page itself. 

Add content to the catalog

In the configuration page of a catalog, the Content tab lets you configure the courses and learning plans that are included in the catalog. Note that: 

• You can include the same course or learning plan in multiple catalogs. This allows for a great deal of flexibility.
• You can only add courses or learning plans to a catalog. You cannot, for example, include a catalog or a subscription bundle inside a catalog.

To view the content already included in the catalog, in the left-hand Resources panel select Courses or Learning plans. The list will then show all the content of the selected type. 
→ Power Users will see here only the courses and learning plans assigned to them as resource.   

Here you can click the column headers to change the sorting order of the listed content. You can also use the Search field or the Filters panel (filter by date or price) to help you find the desired items. At the end of any row, you can click Jump to content to directly open the page of that course or learning plan.    

To remove content from the catalog, select the trash icon (Unassign) on an item’s row. You can also multi-select items and then click Choose action > Unassign. 
→ The unassigned courses or learning plans will not be deleted, they will only be removed from this catalog. 

To add content to the catalog:

- In the left hand Resources panel select the desired content type (Courses or Learning plans) then click the ellipsis menu alongside and select the Assign action.
- The panel that opens will show all the content of the selected type (courses or learning plans) that is not already included in the catalog. Select all the items that you want to add, then click Assign.

Tip: You can also add content to a catalog from the management page of a Course or Learning plan. The Catalogs tab shows you the current catalog assignments. Click the + button in the top right and select Assign to catalogs. You can similarly remove a catalog assignment: from the Catalogs tab, click the ellipsis menu on the catalog’s row and select Unassign.

Assign users to the catalog

In the Visibility tab, you can configure which users will be able to see the catalog in learner view. You can do this by assigning user groups, user branches or individual users to the catalog. 

The assigned users will then be able to access the catalog in the Course catalog built-in page, and from the Catalogs widget (if configured) on a custom page. 
→ Make sure the Course catalog page is available in the user menu and/or a Catalogs widget is included in one of the pages accessible by users. Learn more about how users navigate catalogs. 

Tip on Power User visibility of catalogs: Do not confuse the learner visibility configured here with the assignment of a catalog as resource. 
- Assigning a catalog as resource to a Power User enables them to see and work with that catalog in Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Catalogs (requisite permissions are also needed). 
- However that same Power User will still not be able to see the catalog as a learner, in the Course catalog page, unless you assign them visibility of it as described here. 
The same logic also applies to Superadmins, who can only see in learner view the catalogs for which they are assigned visibility, even though they can access all catalogs in Catalog management. 

Please note that, if a Power User is assigned the resource “All courses and learning plans in visible catalogs”, this refers to the catalogs that are visible to that Power User as a learner. Consequently, if the Power User loses learner access to a catalog, they will also lose the resource assignment for its content (courses and learning plans). 

Assign groups: 

To configure the groups assigned to a catalog, in the vertical navigation under Resource type select Groups: The groups currently assigned to the catalog will be listed on the right-hand side. 

• You can remove an already-assigned group by clicking the trash icon (Unassign) on its row. You can also remove multiple groups at a time by selecting check boxes and then clicking Choose action > Unassign.
• To add more groups, click the ellipsis menu alongside Groups and select Assign groups. In the panel that opens you will see listed only the groups not already assigned. Select the ones you want to add and click Assign. 

Assign users: 

To assign or unassign individual users, in the vertical navigation under Resource type select Users and proceed in a similar fashion to that described for assigning groups. 

Assign branches: 

To configure branch assignments, in the vertical navigation under Resource type select Branches and proceed in similar fashion to that described for assigning groups. 
→ The only difference is that, in this case, the  panel where you select branches will show all the branches, with an empty check box indicating those not yet assigned, and a filled check box indicating those currently assigned (either with or without descendants). You can select or deselect the check boxes to change the branches assigned to the catalog then click Update. 

Please note: A user will have visibility of the catalog if they match at least one of the configured assignments (ie, the user belongs to one of the groups OR belongs to one of the branches OR is individually assigned).

Configure the built-in course catalog page

Users can see their assigned catalogs in the built-in Course catalog page. When users access this page they will be able to browse their assigned catalogs. Within those catalogs, they will be able to see the content set to be visible in internal catalogs, as well as any content set to be shown only to enrolled learners, if they are enrolled in it.

The Course catalog page is always enabled, but you can configure some aspects of it in Advanced settings. 

1. Select Navigation menu > Configuration (spanner icon) > Platform setup and tools > Advanced settings, and in the vertical navigation select Course catalog.
2. In the Internal catalog section, the option Show the internal generic catalog if user is not assigned to any specific catalog controls what happens to users who have no assigned catalogs:
   • If you deselect this check box, these users will not see anything in the built-in Course catalog page.
   • If you select this check box, the page will be populated with all the courses and learning plans that are eligible to be visible in internal catalogs. This is sometimes also referred to as the “default catalog”.(Note that the drop-down options Show the catalog in a dedicated page / Hide the catalog do not have any effect. The page will be displayed in either case)
3. There are two more settings that you can configure, which affect the presentation of catalogs in the page. Refer to the sections Catalog options and Sorting options at the end of this chapter.
   Please note: The settings in the Public catalog section do not affect the built-in catalog page. For more information about these see the article Configuring the public catalog.
4. When you are finished click Save changes. 

Catalog options

In the Catalog options section, set whether you want to display the categories tree in catalogs and in the Catalogs widget. When the category tree is displayed, Superadmins will see all of the categories defined in your platform, while the category visibility for Power Users and learners:

• is limited to the categories associated with the courses belonging to the catalogs they have visibility on, as learners, when the widget displays one catalog
• is open to all categories of the courses the user has visibility on when the widget displays more than one catalog

Define whether to enable the Share this view button in the top right corner of internal and external catalogs and in the Course Catalogs tab of the platform Global Search results page so that users can use it to copy the page link on their clipboard to share the filtered results of their search within the catalog with other users. Refer to the Advanced filtering article for further information on sharing filtered page deeplinks. This option activates the Share this view button in the catalog page; if the catalog is displayed in a Catalog widget, activate the button in the pages including the widget. Further information on widget pages.

Sorting options

This setting controls the default sorting order of top-level items (either catalog carousels or content cards) on the built-in catalog page and also on the public catalog page, if enabled. 

If the page is showing catalog carousels, the Sorting order defines the default order of the catalogs (but not of the content inside the catalogs). If the page is showing content cards directly, then the Sorting order defines the default order of the content itself. 

Users can still manually apply a different sort order, if required.

→ Note that this setting  will not affect the default sorting of catalog carousels within the catalog widget, as this is controlled by the widget settings.  Also, this setting does not affect the default sorting of content inside the catalog, which is instead configured in the properties of each catalog.

Please note: Regardless of the default sorting order or learners' preferences, marketplace catalogs (if enabled) will always appear at the top of the list, in this order: Docebo Content Classic, LinkedIn Learning, and Skilla.

Visibility of content in internal catalogs

The built-in catalog page allows users to browse their assigned catalogs. However, within those catalogs, users can only see the courses and learning plans set to be “shown in internal catalogs”. In addition, courses must be set to have "self-enrollments available".  

The same rule applies to the “default catalog”, if enabled (this is the collection of content shown to users who have no assigned catalogs). Only the cards of content with the requisite settings for visibility will be displayed. 

For a course:

1. Select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Courses and click the <Course name> to open its page.
2. In the Properties tab select Advanced settings > Catalog options
3. Under Course visibility in catalogs:
   • Select Show the course in internal and external catalogs if you want this course to also appear in the public catalog shown to non-authenticated visitors. (See the article on the public catalog).
   • Otherwise select  Show the course in internal catalogs only. 
     Please note: If you select the option Show the course only to enrolled learners, learners will see the course within their assigned catalogs only if they are already enrolled in it.
4. Under Course self-enrollment:
   • Select Self-enrollments are available to make the course always visible in the catalog.
   • Select Self-enrollments are available during a specific time period to show the course in the catalog only during the specified period. 
     Please note: If you select Self-enrollments are not available, the course will not be shown in the catalog. For more information about these enrollment settings and their effect on visibility, see the chapter Course enrollment settings.
5. Click Save changes. 

For a learning plan:

1. Select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Learning plans and click the <learning plan name> to open its page.
2. In the Properties tab select Catalogs and e-commerce.
3. Under Learning plan visibility in catalogs select Show the learning plan in internal and external catalogs and click Save changes.
   Please note: If you deselect this option learners will see the learning plan only if they are enrolled, and only in the My courses and learning plans page. They will not (even if enrolled) see the learning plan in the Course catalog page, or in the catalog widget. 

Course enrollment settings 

In the Catalog options for a course you can set how users may self-enroll in the courses included in their assigned catalogs. To access these settings select Navigation menu > Content and delivery (folder icon) > Courses and click the <Course name> to open its page. Then in the Properties tab select Advanced settings > Catalog options. 

Here you will see some sections that control how users can self-enroll in courses from catalogs. These are described in detail in the following chapters:

• Course self-enrollment
• Course enrollment policy
• Maximum enrollment quota

Course self-enrollment

Use the options available in this section to configure whether users can self-enroll in the course from the catalogs where it is included (and they have visibility on):

• Self-enrollments are not available. Users cannot self-enroll in the course. For those who are already enrolled in the course, it will be visible in catalogs and in the My Courses and Learning Plans page as long as they still have a valid enrollment status (i.e. the enrollment is not expired).
• Self-enrollments are available. The course is always visible in catalogs, and users can self-enroll according to the course enrollment policy.
• Self-enrollments are available during a specific time period. Make self-enrollments available only for a specific period. The course will not be visible in catalogs outside of these dates. For those who are already enrolled in the course, it will be visible in catalogs and in the My Courses and Learning Plans page as long as they still have a valid enrollment status (i.e. the enrollment is not expired). Available options are:
  • Start date. Set the first available date for learners to self-enroll. The start date is expressed in UTC, meaning that users will be able to self-enroll at 00:00:00 UTC of the selected date.
    Example: If your timezone is UTC +04:00, users will be able to self enroll at 04:00:00 of the selected date.
  • End date. Set the last available date for learners to self-enroll. The end date is expressed in UTC, meaning that users will be able to self-enroll up to 23:59:59 UTC of the selected date.
    Example: If, for example, your timezone is UTC +04:00, users will be able to self enroll up to 03:59:59 of the following day.
  • Period. Select this option and define the period when learners can self-enroll using the Start Date and End Date options.

Course enrollment policy

This section is visible only when the Course Self-Enrollment option is either set to Self-enrollments are available or to Self-enrollments are available during a specific time period, and offers the following options to manage the self-enrollment policy from catalogs:

• Only admins can enroll learners. Use this option if you do not want users to self-enroll in the course from catalogs. In this scenario, only Superadmins (and Power Users with granted permissions) are able to enroll users in the course.
• Pending admin approval. When this option is selected, learners are able to self-enroll in the course, but the Superadmin (or Power User with granted permissions) has to manually approve the enrollment. Once this option is selected, the course waiting list is automatically enabled, and learners are placed on the course waiting list till approval. When a course is on sale, the admin approval is not taken into consideration: users will be able to self-enroll freely. This prevents users from purchasing courses without being able to access their purchases.
• Self-enrollment. If self-enrollments are free, users can self-enroll in the course directly from the course catalog.

Maximum enrollment quota

Enable this option to set the maximum number of users who can simultaneously be enrolled in the course. If users attempt to self-enroll in the course after the max quota has been reached, they will not be able to do so.
As an option, you can enable the course waiting list where the platform will place the users trying to enroll when the maximum enrollment quota is reached.

As an option, you can also enable the option to automatically enroll one waitlisted learner every time another learner unenrolls or is unenrolled. The system will select waitlisted learners based on their enrollment date. This option does not apply to courses on sale. Learn more on self-enrollments and waiting lists.

Please note: When enabling the waiting list for ILT courses, remember that users will be placed in the session waiting list, and not in the course waiting list.

The value defined as Maximum enrollment quota is not taken into consideration for the courses sold via Shopify. This means that if the course’s maximum enrollment quota is set to 10, and the course is bought by 15 people via Shopify, all of the users purchasing the course will be automatically enrolled into the course, without being placed on the course waiting list.

Demo material

From this area, you can add demo material to the course, which will be shown in the course area in catalogs. You can upload demo material in the following formats: PDF, PPT, PPTX, DOC, DOCX, MP4.

Course pages in catalogs

When users are browsing a catalog, they can click any course card to view more information about the course. These include the course description, a syllabus listing its lessons, the course language, its rating if available, and other details. In the case of ILT courses users can see the instructors and details of the available sessions 

If you’ve assigned the course to a content partner using the Content partners app, the content partner’s banner can also appear on this page.

If any additional enrollment fields apply to the course, the Additional information tab will appear. Enrollment additional fields are additional fields that a user or Superadmin must enter when enrolling a user into a course. Please note the iFrame additional enrollments page are not visible in this tab.

Please note: When accessing a course from a catalog, all users will either have to enroll in the course or purchase the course, regardless of their level in the platform (learner, Superadmin, or Power User). Power Users and Superadmins can still reach the learner's view and perform admin functionalities for courses within catalogs by reaching the course via the Navigation menu.

Power Users and catalog management

Access the Catalog management page:

Power Users must have the Course catalogs / View permission to be able to access the catalog management page. This permission is therefore required for any of the other catalog permissions to work. 

In catalog management, Power Users will see listed all the catalogs assigned to them as resource. 
→ Tip: Remember that having a catalog assigned as resource to a Power User is distinct from being assigned visibility of a catalog as a learner.   

Actions available in Catalog management:

Additionally, you can assign the Course catalogs/ Create, View, Edit and Delete permissions to control what actions the Power User can perform on the catalog management page. 
→ All these actions will be available only for the catalogs that are assigned as resource to the Power User. 

Adding or removing content from a catalog: 

Power Users who can edit or create catalogs (Course catalogs/ View and Edit or Create permissions) will be able to add or remove from their assigned catalogs only those courses and learning plans assigned to them as resource. No additional courses or learning plan permissions are needed to add/remove content from the catalog management page. 

Setting the visibility of a catalog to learners: 

Power Users who can create or edit catalogs (Course catalogs/ View and Edit or Create permissions) can set which learners (groups, branches, or individual users) will be able to access a catalog : 

- No specific further permission is required to do this. However the Power User will only be able to add/remove those groups, branches or individual users that are assigned to the Power User as resource. 

In addition, for those using content catalogs from Docebo’s Content marketplace, note that marketplace catalogs cannot be assigned as resource to Power Users, and so Power Users cannot grant their assigned users visibility to those catalogs. Only Superadmins can manage catalog visibility for Content marketplace catalogs.

Purchase on behalf permission:
Power Users with the permission Course Catalogs / Can buy courses and learning plans on behalf of someone else can buy courses and learning plans for other users. To do this, they add the content to their shopping cart in the normal way and then, before payment, set the option Enable payment on behalf of another registered user and select the recipient user.
→ The recipient user must also have visibility on the course and catalog.
For more information see the chapter Purchase on behalf of another user in the Shopping cart article.

Seats permission: 
Power users with the permission Course catalogs / Allow Power User to buy and assign seats for courses and learning plans can purchase or be granted seat in a paid course, which they can then use to enroll their learners. For more information see the article Managing seats for paid courses.

Notes

When updating public catalogs, it may take up to three minutes to see your changes applied.

Best practices

If you use more than ten custom catalogs, you need to configure the Max number of elements per page parameter. To do so, access the Configuration (spanner icon), click on Platform setup and tools and press Advanced settings item. Then move to the Advanced options vertical tab. Locate and update the Max number of elements per page parameter option to encompass the number of catalogs you wish to display at once. For catalogs, each catalog constitutes one element.