The error message
Alva Courses shows this message when you choose Published under Visibility on the course's Settings tab and save. It appears in a pop-up and in a red Failed to save changes. Please try again. banner:
The course stays unpublished, even if a Course settings saved successfully pop-up flashed up first. The other course settings in that save aren't stored either, and a changed price, image, title or description isn't sent to the Shopify product. Your edits are still in the form: choose Draft under Visibility and save to keep them.
Why Alva Courses blocks the publish
When you switch a course from draft to Published, Alva Courses looks for a quiz with Required to complete lesson ticked, a Passing Score (%) above 0 and no questions. An empty quiz always scores 0%, so nobody can pass it.
Draft lessons and lessons in draft sections are skipped; Scheduled and Drip lessons are checked. Whether publishing is refused depends on whether the lesson locks the lessons after it:
| Where the empty required quiz is | What Alva Courses does |
|---|---|
| Any lesson, when Require lessons to be completed in order is on (Settings → Learning), or a lesson with Require completion before next lesson on | Refuses to publish. The Course tab shows the red banner. |
| A lesson that doesn't lock the ones after it | Publishes. The Course tab shows a yellow A required quiz has no questions banner. The lesson can never be completed, so nobody finishes the course or gets a certificate. |
| A quiz with a passing score of 0, an optional quiz, or a Draft lesson or section | Nothing. An empty quiz with a passing score of 0 passes as soon as a student starts it. |
The check uses the Require lessons to be completed in order setting as it is in that save, so you can change the setting and publish in one go.
Fix it step by step
1. Find the lessons on the Course tab
In the Shopify admin, open Alva Courses and select the course. On the Course tab, the red banner lists the lessons that block publishing and a yellow banner lists lessons that can't be completed but don't block it. Fix both.
2. Add at least one question
Open each named lesson and find its quiz. Click Add Question, write the question and its answers, then save the lesson. One question is enough to clear the check.
3. Or make the quiz optional
If the quiz shouldn't hold students back, open Quiz Settings on the quiz, untick Required to complete lesson and save. If the lesson isn't ready, set it to Draft instead: click Visibility in the lesson editor, choose Draft under State and save. Draft lessons are hidden from students and skipped by the check.
4. Publish the course again
Check that the red banner has gone from the Course tab. Then open the Settings tab, choose Published under General → Visibility, and save.
If the course is already published
Alva Courses runs this check only when a course is switched to Published, so it never stops a save on a live course. An empty required quiz added to a live course reaches students at once, and only the banners on the Course tab flag it.
The usual cause is Add Quiz Step. It creates a published lesson with a required quiz, a 70% passing score and Require completion before next lesson on. Add the questions straight away, or set the new lesson to Draft until they're ready.
What learners see
When a live course has this problem, every attempt at the empty quiz is marked as failed, so the lesson never counts as complete. If the lesson locks the ones after it, they stay locked for every student. Either way nobody can finish the course or earn its certificate. A student can't mark a lesson complete covers what students see.
Preview won't show the lockout: it opens every lesson, including those held back by a completion requirement. Rely on the Course tab banners instead.
If you're still stuck
Email courses@alvaapps.com with the course name, the lessons the Course tab banner names and a screenshot of the message. If publishing is refused but no banner appears on the Course tab, say so.
Common questions
Were my other changes saved when publishing was refused?
No. None of the course settings in that save are stored, not only the status, and a changed price, image, title or description isn't sent to the Shopify product. Your edits stay in the form, so choose Draft under Visibility and save to keep them, then fix the quiz and publish.
Why isn't my empty quiz with a passing score of 0 flagged?
An empty quiz with a passing score of 0 passes as soon as a student starts it, so it can't lock anyone out. Alva Courses only flags required quizzes with a passing score above 0.
Can I publish now and write the quiz later?
Yes. Set the quiz's lesson to Draft and publish the course, then set the lesson back to Published once its questions are written. Unticking Required to complete lesson also works, but students can then complete the lesson without passing the quiz.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-12