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.  

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. 

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 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. 

Create a catalog

To create a new catalog select Admin menu > Course catalog, then select New catalog. 

In the window that opens, add a Name and a Description.
Optionally, set a Code for the catalog and select the default sorting mode for the courses and the learning plans included in the catalog (newest to oldest, oldest to newest, name or code).

When you are finished click Confirm. 

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

Next, to add content to the catalog, click the list icon on its row. A window will open listing the courses and learning plans currently included in the catalog. 

To add more content, press the Assign courses button. In the dialog box that opens, select the courses and learning plans that you want to add, and click Confirm. 

Please note that only courses and learning plans can be added to a catalog. It's not possible to add existing catalogs to a catalog. Also, note that a course or a learning plan can belong to more than one catalog at a time.

To remove content from the catalog, you can click the x icon alongside any item. Alternatively, select  the check boxes alongside the items you want to remove and from the On selected drop-down list choose Delete. 

Tip: You can also add content to a catalog from the management page of a Course or Learning plan. The Catalog 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 Catalog tab, click the ellipsis menu on the catalog’s row and select Unassign.

Assign users to the catalog

The next step is to select the users, groups or branches who are allowed to see the catalog when they are signed in to the platform. 

Click the users icon on the catalog’s row. A window will open listing the users, groups or branches currently assigned to the catalog. 

To assign more users, press the Assign users button. In the dialog box that opens select the individual users, user groups, or branches that will be given visibility on this catalog. Then click Confirm.  

To remove user assignments, you can click the x icon alongside any item. Alternatively, use the check boxes and then from the On selected drop-down list choose Unassign.  

Tip: Users can access the catalogs visible to them from the Course catalog page or any Catalogs widget displayed on widget pages. 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.

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 Admin menu > SETTINGS > 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 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. 

→ 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. 

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 Admin menu > Course management 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 Admin menu > 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 Admin menu > Course management 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 subscription quota is not taken into consideration for the courses sold via Shopify. This means that if the course’s maximum subscription 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 Admin menu.

Power Users and catalogs

• Purchase on behalf of other users
  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.
• Using seats to enroll users in paid courses:
  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.
• Power Users cannot remove the association between a catalog and a sub-branch unless they are also assigned to the sub-branch parent branch.
• To allow Power Users to assign courses to catalogs, you need to assign them the Courses / View and Edit and the Course catalogs / View and Edit permissions.
• When assigning catalogs to a Power User, for those using content catalogs from Docebo’s Content marketplace, Power Users cannot grant their assigned users visibility to those full content catalogs. Only Superadmins can manage catalog visibility for Content marketplace catalogs.

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 Admin menu, then click on Advanced settings in the Settings section and move to the Advanced options left 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.