# Access tab: publishing, visibility & certification

> The Access tab decides whether a course is live, who can see it, and whether finishing it earns a certificate — all in one place.

Last updated 2026-06-01 · Source: https://prolaud.com/help/course-edit-access

## Publishing

- Status — Draft, Published, or Archived.
- Auto-publish at — optionally schedule the course to go live at a date/time.

## Visibility

'Who can see this course once it's published?' — four choices:

- Public — discoverable + open; in your catalog and indexable.
- Unlisted — only via link; not in the catalog.
- Password — gated by a password you set.
- Private — invite-only.

## Certification

Toggle 'Issue a certificate on completion'. When on, pick a certificate template and students get a personalized certificate when they finish. When off, no certificate is issued.

> **Note:** Status and visibility are independent: a Published course can still be Private, and you can build a Draft that's already set to Public for when you flip it live.

## Related

- [Publish & unpublish](https://prolaud.com/help/course-publish-unpublish)
- [Visibility, in depth](https://prolaud.com/help/course-access-visibility)
- [Certificate templates](https://prolaud.com/help/certificates-templates)