Thinkific is an online course platform that enables educators to create, market, and sell their courses to learners worldwide. It provides powerful features like course hosting, payment processing, student management tools, content protection options, custom branding capabilities, and more.
For educators looking to quickly populate their existing Thinkific site with multiple courses at once or who have existing course files from another learning platform they want to migrate to Thinkific – importing courses can be a great time-saver!
This article provides clear instructions for importing individual and bulk courses into your Thinkific account so that you can get up and running quickly. So, if you’re looking to move your courses to Thinkific but don’t know how this step-by-step guide is for you!
How to Import a Single Course in Thinkific
If you’d like to import a single course into your Thinkific site, follow these steps:
Steps to Follow for Importing a Single Course
- Navigate to the “Courses” tab in your Thinkific dashboard.
- Click the “Import Course” button.
- Select either the CSV or SCORM file type.
- Choose the file you want to import by clicking “Select File.”
- Click “Upload Course.”
Uploading Course Content
Once you have uploaded the course file, it will automatically open in Thinkific’s course builder, where you can add or edit any existing content and modules. You can also use this space to add resources such as documents, images, and videos that you may include in the course curriculum.
Adding Course Details
When your course content is ready, click “Course Settings” from the left navigation menu within the Course Builder and add all necessary details, including pricing, availability dates, target market/audience, etc.
Previewing and Publishing The Course
Finally, preview your imported course before publishing it live using the corresponding buttons at the top right corner of each page within the editor. Once satisfied with how it looks, hit publish! Your newly imported single course is now available in Thinkific!
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How to Import Courses in Bulk in Thinkific
Bulk importing courses is an extremely efficient way to move multiple courses at once into your Thinkific account. This helps streamline getting your content on the platform, allowing you to quickly get up and running with all your courses in one place.
1. Preparing Course Content for Bulk Import
Before you begin the bulk import process, it’s important to ensure you have all your course files ready to go and meet Thinkific’s file requirements. You’ll need a CSV file containing each course name, description, and other metadata, such as pricing or release dates.
You’ll also need individual folders containing each course’s lectures, quizzes, and other assets like images or PDFs. Make sure these are all in a format compatible with Thinkific. If you’re unsure what those formats are, we recommend consulting our help center article on supported media types before beginning the import process.
2. Using Thinkific’s Bulk Import Template
The next step is downloading Thinkific’s bulk import template from within your admin dashboard – this will be used as the basis for creating your CSV file containing all of your course data.
Once downloaded, open it in Excel or another spreadsheet program and fill out each column with information about your courses. Be sure to include a unique identifier for each one so that Thinkific can accurately match it with its corresponding folder after upload.
3. Mapping Data Fields
Once you’ve added all of the necessary information about each course into the template, save it in CSV format (comma-separated values).
Then, head over to your admin dashboard in Thinkific, where you can choose which fields from the CSV should be mapped into what data fields within Thinkific. Doing so will allow us to automatically populate those details when we upload our courses.
4. Previewing and Publishing Courses
The final step is uploading our completed CSV file and folder containing our course assets onto Thinkific using its bulk import feature. After this point, we can preview our newly imported content before publishing them live on the platform!
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Tips and Best Practices for Importing Courses in Thinkific
Ensuring File Compatibility
When importing a course into Thinkific, it’s important to ensure that the file you are uploading is compatible with Thinkific’s system. All files must be in MP4, MOV, M4V, or WMV video format; PDF documents and audio files must also be supported. If you have any other file type (such as PowerPoint or Word documents), you must convert them to a supported format before uploading them.
Properly Naming Files for Easy Organization
Properly naming your imported course files can help keep your courses organized and easier to find when needed. When creating titles for each uploaded file, make sure they are descriptive enough that it’s easy to tell what each one contains without opening it up. Keeping your files organized makes it much easier for you and your students to search for specific content within a course.
Checking Course Content and Details Before Publishing
Before publishing any imported courses, double-check all the content and details included in the course before making it available on your Thinkific site.
You should check the quality of any media file that has been uploaded, as well as review any text-based material such as PDF documents or slideshows used in the course. Make sure everything looks good and is error-free so that there aren’t any surprises when students access the material!
Maintaining Consistency in Bulk Imports
If you have multiple courses that need importing into Thinkific – like if you’re migrating an entire library of learning materials from another platform – make sure they all adhere to similar formatting standards to look consistent once published on your site.
Consistency includes using similar fonts, image sizes/qualities, etc., across all courses so learners don’t get confused by changes between different sections of material within a single course series.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
If, at any point, during an import process, something doesn’t seem right or isn’t working correctly – don’t panic! You can easily solve the most common issues by checking out our Support Center articles related to importing courses into Thinkific, which provide step-by-step instructions for solving most problems quickly and easily.
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Importing Courses Individually and in Bulk in Thinkific: Conclusion
In this article, we’ve reviewed the importance of importing courses into Thinkific and provided step-by-step instructions. We also discussed some tips to keep in mind when importing courses, such as ensuring file compatibility, properly naming files for easy organization, checking course content and details before publishing, maintaining consistency in bulk imports, and troubleshooting common issues.
Importing courses into your Thinkific account can be a great time-saver for educators with existing course files that need to be migrated or multiple courses they want to quickly populate their site. By following the steps outlined above – along with our helpful tips and best practices – you can get up and running quickly without any hassle!