> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.itsaffinity.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.itsaffinity.com/product-guides/lms-authoring/previewing-and-publishing.md).

# Previewing and Publishing

When editing a training, you can preview and publish it as often as needed. Changes will only be shown to learners when a training update has been published. Thus, you can make long form edits and preview them without disrupting the learner experience until you are ready to publish.

When publishing a training, this creates a new version of the training. Each version is managed by the version control system. Learn more about this here: [Version Control](/product-guides/lms-authoring/version-control.md).

## Previewing

<figure><img src="/files/cSWWls37z1HqWtNsGQgz" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The preview button is located in the top right of the editor. Clicking this will open a new page to show you the current content in the editor as if you were a learner.

## Publishing

The publish button is also in the top right of the editor. If there are unpublished changes to your course, this button will be available to be clicked. Otherwise, if there are no current changes, it will be disabled.

Publishing a course takes effect immediately. All learners currently assigned the course will then need to take the new content if they have not yet finished. Publishing has no impact on learners who have already finished a course. If a learner has already finished a course, they would not need to take the new content until the next time you assign them this course.

### Publishing Modes

There are two publishing modes which you can choose from: Direct Publish, and Publish & Preserve.&#x20;

{% embed url="<https://www.loom.com/share/b72fda53ef514639826e0a20f0ac0e96>" %}

#### Direct Publish

A direct publish, the default, will force learners to restart the course if they are in progress. Any learner who has already completed the course, will not have to restart. Just learners who are in progress would be required to start the course over. You would choose a direct publish when it was imperitive learners always took the latest version of the course before they completed it.

#### Publish & Preserve

There is also a Publish and Preserve mode. In this mode, it will preserve the learner's tracking status the best that we can. Basically, pages that were already completed by the learner who is in progress, will remain completed. If there are new interactive elements on a page they have already completed, they will be asked to recomplete it. If there are new pages, they will be asked to complete those pages. It will preserve as much tracking as possible. This mode is useful if you are making frequent edits and do not want to interrupt learner progress.

### Availability in the Course Catalog

When you create a new training it is not yet avialble in your Training Library Course Catalog. You must publish the training at least once for it to be available.

{% hint style="info" %}
Note: these trainings are private to just your organization. "Publish" means making the changes available to your organization, it does not mean they will be public to the broader Affinity community.
{% endhint %}