How it works
Alva Courses checks lesson and section names as you type, then searches the saved content of every lesson in the course a moment later. A lesson matches when its name, its section's name or its content contains your phrase, so a lesson you have never opened in the editor still turns up. Searching is admin-only and never changes what students see.
Search from the course page
1. Open the course
In the Shopify admin, open Alva Courses, click Courses, and select a course. On the Course tab, the search box sits above your sections, with the placeholder Search titles and lesson content.
2. Type a word or phrase
Type a word or phrase you remember from the lesson. Lesson and section name matches appear straight away. While lesson content is being checked, Searching lesson content… appears under the box.
3. Read the results
The outline is replaced by a list of matching lessons. Each result shows the lesson name, its section and, when the match is inside the lesson, a short excerpt around your phrase.
4. Open a lesson
Click a lesson name to open that lesson in the lesson editor.
5. Clear the search
Click the clear button in the search box, or delete your text, to bring back the full outline with its drag handles and section tools.
Search in the fullscreen course builder
In the fullscreen course builder, the search box sits under Sections and lessons and stays visible while the outline scrolls. Matching lessons stay in place under their sections — collapsed sections open automatically — with an excerpt beneath each content match. Click a result to open it in the editor; unsaved drafts in other lessons are kept.
Searching on its own never changes the lesson you have open. Drag handles pause while a search is active, so clear the search before dragging to reorder. The builder also matches lesson names you have changed but not saved yet, and saving a lesson refreshes the results.
What search covers
Alva Courses search reads the words written into a course's lessons and outline:
- Lesson names and section names. A section-name match lists every lesson in that section.
- Text and HTML blocks, including phrases that run across bold, italic or linked words.
- Quizzes: titles, descriptions, questions, answer choices, model answers and explanations.
- Other written text in blocks, such as button labels, image alt text and Reflection Box titles.
- Older lessons created before content blocks.
What search does not cover
Search looks only at words written into the course. It does not transcribe what is said in videos or audio, read the text inside attached PDFs or other files, or match link addresses or the markup, scripts and styling behind a block. It covers one course at a time, and lesson content you have not saved yet is not included until you save it.
How matching works
Capital letters do not matter, and extra spaces are ignored. Search looks for your exact phrase, in order: welcome pack finds lessons containing those two words together, not lessons that mention welcome and pack in different places. For broader results, search for one distinctive word instead of a sentence.
Common questions
Does search include draft, scheduled and drip lessons?
Yes. Search covers every lesson in the course whatever its visibility, including drafts, lessons scheduled for a later date and drip lessons that students cannot open yet.
Why doesn't a lesson I just edited show up?
Content search reads saved lessons. Save the lesson, then search again. In the fullscreen course builder, saving a lesson refreshes an active search automatically.
What does Search stopped early mean?
On a very large course, or when a common word matches a great many lessons, content search stops before reading everything and warns that some matching lessons may not be listed. Lesson and section names are still matched in full. When a common word is the cause, try a more specific phrase.
What if content search is unavailable?
If the content check fails, a warning says content search is unavailable and offers Retry. Lesson and section name matching keeps working in the meantime, so you can still find lessons by title.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-08