---
title: "Inactivating a Course"
slug: "inactivating-a-course"
updated: 2023-04-26T18:14:52Z
published: 2023-04-26T18:14:52Z
canonical: "support.smarteru.com/inactivating-a-course"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.smarteru.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Inactivating a Course

In order to preserve the history of any actions or records, there is no delete function in SmarterU. While it's not possible to delete a course, you can deactivate a course by [changing its status to *Inactive*](/v1/docs/inactivating-a-course#inactivating-a-course).

Refer to the [Course Status Comparison Chart](/v1/docs/inactivating-a-course#course-status-comparison-chart) for more details.

## Course Status Comparison Chart

### All Course Types

|  | **Active** | **Inactive** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Course displays in the learner interface's pages](/v1/docs/courses-1). | ✓ | X |
| Users can be enrolled in the course. This includes [manual enrollments](/v1/docs/enrolling-users), [self-enrollments](/v1/docs/learner-interface-enrolling-in-courses), [automated enrollments as part of the group](/v1/docs/group-courses#automation), [its learning plans](/v1/docs/group-learning-plans#assigning-a-learning-plan-to-a-group), or [subscriptions](/v1/docs/group-subscriptions), or automated re-enrollments. | ✓ | X |
| [Users can view or comment on course and/or session discussions to which they are subscribed](/v1/docs/message-center). | ✓ | X |
| Course can be assigned to groups from the [Add](/v1/docs/adding-a-group)/[Edit Group](/v1/docs/editing-a-group) workscreen. | ✓ | ✓ To assign an inactive course to a group from the [Add](/v1/docs/adding-a-group)/[Edit Group](/v1/docs/editing-a-group) workscreen, you will need to include inactive courses in the grid displayed in the [Courses accordion](/v1/docs/group-courses). |
| Course can be assigned to a subscription from the [Add](/v1/docs/adding-a-subscription)/[Edit Subscription](/v1/docs/editing-a-subscription) workscreen. | ✓ | ✓ To assign an inactive course to a subscription from the [Add](/v1/docs/adding-a-subscription)/[Edit Subscription](/v1/docs/editing-a-subscription) workscreen, you will need to include inactive courses in the grid displayed in the [Courses accordion](/v1/docs/subscription-courses). |
| Course can be associated with a requirement from the [Add](/v1/docs/adding-a-requirement)/[Edit Requirement](/v1/docs/editing-a-requirement) workscreen. | ✓ | X |
| Course can be included in reports. | ✓ | ✓ You will need to change the report's Course filter to include inactive courses. |
| Course included in [weekly emails](/v1/docs/sending-weekly-automated-emails). | ✓ | X |

### Online Courses

|  | Active | Inactive |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Enrolled users can access the course's contents. This also applies to SCORM courses. | ✓ | X |
| Users who previously completed the course will be able to review it. | ✓ | X |
| [Long answer quiz questions](/v1/docs/quiz-question-general-preferences#type) that are ready to be graded display in the [Quiz Grading Dashboard](/v1/docs/quiz-grading-dashboard). | ✓ | X |

### Instructor-Led Courses

|  | Active | Inactive |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Users can be added to the [course](/v1/docs/instructor-led-course-main#enable-waiting-list-for-this-course) or [session wait list](/v1/docs/instructor-led-session-main#enable-waiting-list-for-this-session). | ✓ | X |

## Who Has Access

The following users can inactivate a course:

- [Course managers](/v1/docs/course-course-managers) (for the courses they manage)
- [Administrators or owners](/v1/docs/user-profile-information#access-level).

## Inactivating a Course

Before you can change a course's status to *Inactive*:

- The course cannot be a [prerequisite](/v1/docs/course-prerequisites) for another course. To determine what course(s) it is a prerequisite for, contact our [Success Desk](mailto:success@neovation.com).
- The course cannot be part of a [learning plan's requirement](/v1/docs/editing-a-blocks-courses).
- You can reactivate a course by setting its status back to *Active*.

To deactivate a course:

1. Edit the [online](/v1/docs/editing-an-online-course), [SCORM](/v1/docs/editing-a-scorm-course), or [instructor-led course's](/v1/docs/editing-an-instructor-led-course) settings.
2. Expand the Main accordion.
3. Set the **Status** setting to *Inactive*.
4. Click **Save**.

## Related

- [Archiving a Course](/archiving-a-course.md)
- [Automating Group Enrollments](/automating-group-enrollments.md)
- [Custom Enrollment Report: Filters](/custom-enrollment-report-filters.md)
- [Custom Learning Plan Report: Filters](/custom-learning-plan-report-filters.md)
- [Editing a SCORM Course](/editing-a-scorm-course.md)
- [Editing an Instructor-led Course](/editing-an-instructor-led-course.md)
- [Editing an Online Course](/editing-an-online-course.md)
- [Enrolling Users](/enrolling-users.md)
- [Instructor-Led Course: Main](/instructor-led-course-main.md)
- [Learner Interface ](/learner-interface.md)
- [Learning Plan Automation](/learning-plan-automation.md)
- [Online Course: Main](/online-course-main.md)
- [SCORM Course: Main](/scorm-course-main.md)
- [System Email Templates: Weekly Emails](/system-email-templates-weekly-emails.md)