Can I Create LearnDash Subgroups?

Managing various types of learners in one place can get confusing as your online course grows. Everyone has the same level of access, which complicates the management of who can view what, assign the right courses, or monitor progress by group.

Without the ability to make subgroups, course management becomes time-consuming and disorganized.

The solution is simple: use group management tools to organize learners into smaller, manageable groups. These tools allow you to assign courses, monitor progress, and set group leaders without complicating your workflow.

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Use Groups as Subgroups

In LearnDash, you can create multiple groups and assign learners to them based on who they are (for example, Team A, Team B, or School 1, School 2). Although these are referred to as “groups,” they function similarly to subgroups when used correctly.

Create a primary group to structure your course content.
After that, create distinct smaller groups to categorize your learners by role, location, or client.
Assign specific courses to each group only.

This approach keeps things clean and helps you control who sees what.

Assign Group Leaders

Every group is allowed to have a Group Leader, who is capable of:

Monitoring the learners in their specific group.
Accessing progress reports
Manage enrollments within their group.

This allows you to avoid the responsibility of managing every individual learner. Group Leaders manage their teams, while you maintain the entire site.

How Group Management Works

Primary Groups: These are the main groups where you assign users and allocate courses.
Group Leaders: You can designate an individual as a group leader, allowing them to manage only their group’s members and track progress.
Multiple Groups per User: A learner can belong to multiple groups if necessary, which helps if they are part of more than one team or department.

This structure allows flexibility in managing who sees what, and helps you keep things organized without creating separate websites.

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Tools to Help You Create Subgroups

LearnDash provides group management features by default, but for those looking to implement advanced subgroup features, you can use trusted add-ons such as:

Uncanny Groups for LearnDash: This plugin enables the sale of group licenses, manages groups from the front-end, and assigns group leaders.
MemberDash or MemberPress: Beneficial for controlling access to content and managing roles.
BuddyBoss: This is effective for community features and structured learning environments with large user bases.

All these tools are fully compatible with LearnDash and help you build layered group systems without technical complexity.

Example

Imagine you’re a corporate trainer working with five different companies. You can establish a primary group labeled “Corporate Clients” and then set up individual groups for each company. Each company gets its group leader, its own assigned courses, and you can monitor them all from one place, without them seeing each other’s data.

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