# Course Publishing and Versions

## 📌 Overview

Courses in Quinn have a published version and a working draft. When you edit a course that's already live, your changes are saved as **Draft changes** — learners keep taking the version you last published, so nothing shifts under them mid-course.

When the edits are ready, **Publish** freezes them as a new numbered version and every learner from then on gets it. Because each version is kept, you can always see which version a learner actually took.

### Step 1: Check publish status at a glance

Open **Courses** in the admin sidebar. Each course carries its publish status next to its name: **Never published** for a course learners can't see yet, `v1 · Aug 10, 2026` for a published course, and `v1 · Draft changes` when there are unpublished edits waiting.

![Admin course list with badges showing Never published, a published version with its date, and v1 Draft changes](https://assets.meetquinn.ai/website/Help/course-publishing-and-versions_step_01.png)

### Step 2: Open the course you want to change

Click the course to open it. The version badge sits next to the title, so you always know what learners are being served before you start editing.

![Course detail header with the course title and its v1 published version badge](https://assets.meetquinn.ai/website/Help/course-publishing-and-versions_step_02.png)

### Step 3: Edit and save as a draft

Click the pencil **Edit** icon to open the course editor. As soon as you change something, the badge in the editor header switches to **Draft changes** and Quinn reminds you that your changes are saved as a draft — learners won't see them until you click **Publish**.

![Course editor header showing the v1 Draft changes badge, the Publish button, and the draft reminder](https://assets.meetquinn.ai/website/Help/course-publishing-and-versions_step_03.png)

💡 Tip: Use **Preview** to walk through your draft exactly as a learner would before you publish it.

### Step 4: Publish a new version

When the draft is ready, click **Publish**. Quinn freezes the draft as the next numbered version and serves it to learners from that moment on — anyone already partway through finishes on the version they started.

### Step 5: Review the version history

Click the version badge to open **Version History**. Every published version is listed with its publish date, and the one learners are currently taking is marked **Live**.

![Version History dialog listing version v1 as Published and Live, with a Restore as draft button](https://assets.meetquinn.ai/website/Help/course-publishing-and-versions_step_04.png)

💡 Tip: **Restore as draft** copies an older version back into your editable draft. It doesn't change what learners see until you publish again — a safe way to undo a round of edits.

### Step 6: See which version each learner took

Back on the course, the **Members** tab lists everyone assigned along with a **Version** column, so completions and **Assessment Score** results are always tied to the exact version that learner worked through.

![Assigned members table with a Version column showing v1 next to each learner's completion and assessment score](https://assets.meetquinn.ai/website/Help/course-publishing-and-versions_step_05.png)

## 💡 Tips

- A course stays **Never published** until you publish it the first time, so you can build it in the open without learners stumbling onto it.
- Draft changes are safe to leave sitting — edit over several days and publish once when the whole update is ready.
- Version numbers make reporting defensible: if an audit asks what a learner was taught, the **Version** column answers it.
- Want a second pair of eyes before publishing? Send the course through **Review Mode** first — see [Assign for Review](/help/assign-for-review).