Documentation

Getting started with Far LMS

From a fresh WordPress site to your first sale in three steps: install the plugin, connect Stripe and create your first course.

On this page

  1. Install the plugin
  2. Connect Stripe
  3. Create your first course
  4. Next steps

Before you start, you need: WordPress 6.0 or later, PHP 7.4 or later, and a Stripe account (it is free to open). To take real payments your site must use HTTPS.

1 Install the plugin

  1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add Plugin.
  2. Search for Far LMS, click Install Now and then Activate. If you have the plugin as a .zip file, use Upload Plugin on the same screen.
  3. That’s it. On activation Far LMS creates its database tables and the pages it needs: checkout, student dashboard, one-time purchase, login, sign-up and password recovery.

Bought a paid plan? After your purchase you receive an email with the download link and your license key. Upload the paid version the same way and enter the key. Your courses and settings stay as they were.

2 Connect Stripe

  1. In your Stripe Dashboard, open Developers → API keys and copy your publishable key (pk_…) and secret key (sk_…). While you are trying things out, use the test keys (pk_test_… and sk_test_…).
  2. In WordPress, go to Far LMS → Settings and paste both keys.
  3. On the same page you will see your webhook URL. Copy it.
  4. Back in Stripe, open Developers → Webhooks, add an endpoint, paste the URL and select these events: checkout.session.completed, customer.subscription.created, customer.subscription.updated, customer.subscription.deleted, invoice.paid and invoice.payment_failed.
  5. Copy the endpoint’s signing secret (whsec_…), paste it in Far LMS → Settings and save.

Ready to go live? Swap the test keys for your live keys and create the webhook again in live mode: Stripe keeps test and live webhooks separate.

3 Create your first course

  1. Go to Far LMS → Course content and create your course.
  2. Add a module, give it a goal if you like, and add sections and lessons inside it. For each lesson, paste the video link (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Loom, Dailymotion, Streamable or a video file) and, if you want, a downloadable material.
  3. Go to Far LMS → One-time sale and set the price of the course, or of all your courses together.
  4. Open the one-time purchase page the plugin created and make a test purchase with Stripe’s test card 4242 4242 4242 4242, any future date and any CVC.
  5. Check the result: the student account is created, the welcome email is sent and the course appears in the student dashboard.

Your course, your address. A course page can live at any URL. Add [acad_aula_virtual course="course-key"] to any page, and the classroom reads the course from the shortcode.

Next steps

  • Make it yours. In Far LMS → Customization, let the plugin take your theme’s colours or choose your own colours, font and corner rounding.
  • Show live numbers. Put [acad_figure key="lessons"] on your sales page and it always shows how many lessons you have. It also works with courses, modules, materials and students.
  • Sell subscriptions. With the Basic plan or above, create monthly or yearly plans in Far LMS → Plans.
  • Need help? Free version users get help in the support forum on WordPress.org. Customers of a paid plan can write to us.

Shortcodes

The plugin creates its pages for you, so you do not need these to get started. They are here in case you want to build your own pages.

ShortcodeWhat it shows
[acad_aula_virtual course="course-key"]The virtual classroom of a course
[acad_dashboard]The student dashboard
[acad_lifetime_plans]The one-time purchase options
[acad_checkout]The payment step
[acad_login], [acad_register]Login and sign-up
[acad_lost_password], [acad_reset_password]Password recovery
[acad_lesson_index]Lesson search for logged-in students
[acad_figure key="lessons"]A live number for your sales pages
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