Can I set a course to automatically publish at a specific date and time?

[TammyPerkins]

I feel certain that Spring 2025, I was able to set a specific time and date (ex: Friday at noon) for the course to automatically publish so students could see it. Now, I can't remember how I did that, nor am I finding the answer in a guide. I do know how to publish a course, but lock modules/assignments until a specific time/ date.  I want to be able to have the course set in advance to publish at a given time.

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

Hey there @TammyPerkins !

While you cannot specifically set a date for your course to actually publish, you can have your course published and then go into your course settings and set course start and end dates, and choose whether or not students can access the course before or after those dates.

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-change-the-start-and-end-dates-for-a-co...

I hope this helps a bit!
Noah

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

Hey there @TammyPerkins !

While you cannot specifically set a date for your course to actually publish, you can have your course published and then go into your course settings and set course start and end dates, and choose whether or not students can access the course before or after those dates.

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-change-the-start-and-end-dates-for-a-co...

I hope this helps a bit!
Noah

[fffarzad · Accepted solution]

Aside from what Noah mentioned, you can also set specific dates for items in a module to be published. Say you have an introductory module published, the items such as pages or assignments inside the module can also be given specific availability dates. 

[Jenny121]

I recall having a similar experience where I thought I had scheduled a course to publish automatically, but couldn't later retrace the steps. It would be beneficial if there were clearer documentation or a built-in option to schedule course publishing in advance—just like we can do with modules or assignments. If anyone has figured out a way to do this recently, I’d love to hear how