.. _Controlling Content Visibility:

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Controlling Content Visibility
###################################

As course staff, you must carefully control which content is visible to
students and when.

You control content visibility through these features in Studio:

* `Release Dates`_
* `Unit Publishing Status`_
* `Content Hidden from Students`_
  
These features work together to control content visibility for students.

.. _Release Dates:

***********************
Release Dates
***********************

You schedule release dates for sections and subsections. By default, a
subsection inherits the release date of the section it is in, though you can
change it to another date.

By defining release dates, you can ensure that content is available to students
as planned without requiring manual intervention at that future time.

Published units are not visible to students until the scheduled release date.
When the section and subsection have different release dates, published units
are not visible until both dates have passed.

Prior to the release date, content is visible to course staff
:ref:`previewing the course <Preview Course Content>` or :ref:`viewing the live
course as staff<View Your Live Course>`.

See:

* :ref:`Set a Section Release Date`
* :ref:`Set a Subsection Release Date`

***********************
Unit Publishing Status
***********************

You publish units to make them visible to students.  Students see the last
published version of a unit if the section and subsection it is in are
released.

Students do not see units that have never been published, and they do not see
unpublished changes to units or components within units.  Therefore, you can
make changes to units in released subsections without disrupting the student
experience.

For more information, see :ref:`Unit Publishing Status`.

.. _Content Hidden from Students:

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Content Hidden from Students
*****************************

You can :ref:`hide any unit from students<Hide a Unit from Students>`,
regardless of the parent section and subsection's release dates.

You might hide a unit from students, for example, when that unit contains an
answer to a problem in that subsection. After the problem due date, you could
make the unit with the answer visible.