If your site runs LearnDash, you probably already maintain groups there. LearnDash Groups Mode lets the Educator add-on use those groups directly as its group source, so there is one roster to maintain instead of two. LearnDash Group Leaders act as instructors for the groups they administer, and assignment distributions target LearnDash groups.
Requirements
- PressPrimer Assignment (free) 2.2.0 or higher
- PressPrimer Assignment – Educator 2.2.0 or higher
- LearnDash installed and active
Switching the Group Source
- Navigate to Assignments > Settings and select the Groups tab. This tab only appears when LearnDash is active (or when LearnDash mode was previously enabled).
- In the Group source section, choose LearnDash groups and confirm the switch.
The switch takes effect immediately and can be reversed at any time. The default source, PressPrimer groups, is the group system described in Managing Groups.
What Changes in LearnDash Mode
Group Leaders Become Instructors
LearnDash Group Leaders can manage assignments for the groups they administer. The existing teacher data isolation applies: a leader sees only submissions, reports, and overrides for members of their own groups. No roles or capabilities are edited to make this work, so switching back instantly reverts it.
Membership Is Read Live from LearnDash
PressPrimer never copies or syncs LearnDash rosters. Membership is read directly from LearnDash at the moment it matters, such as when a student opens a distributed assignment or when a teacher views group submissions. Add or remove someone from a LearnDash group and their assignments follow automatically, with no delay and nothing to keep in sync.
Group Management Defers to LearnDash
In LearnDash mode, group rosters are read-only in PressPrimer. The Groups screen shows a notice — Manage groups in LearnDash — and lists your LearnDash groups. Create groups, add members, and assign group leaders in LearnDash; PressPrimer Assignment reads from LearnDash automatically. Group and member editing tools inside PressPrimer are unavailable while LearnDash mode is on.
Distributions Target LearnDash Groups
New assignment distributions are made to LearnDash groups. Everything else about distribution works as described in Distributing Assignments to Groups: per-group open dates, due dates, close dates, and submission tracking.
Switching Back
Switching back to PressPrimer groups is non-destructive, and it works a little differently than you might expect: every distribution records which group system it was made under, and it keeps resolving through that system. Distributions made to LearnDash groups continue working after you switch back to PressPrimer groups — students in those LearnDash groups keep their access and their dates. New distributions simply target PressPrimer groups again.
That means you can switch sources without breaking anything historical, in either direction.
If LearnDash Is Deactivated
If LearnDash is deactivated while LearnDash mode is selected, group features temporarily fall back to PressPrimer groups without errors. Reactivate LearnDash to restore LearnDash mode; nothing needs to be reconfigured.
Notes
- Administrators always have full scope in both modes.
- PressPrimer never writes to LearnDash groups. All membership changes happen in LearnDash.
- One source is active at a time, site-wide. If PressPrimer Quiz Educator is also installed, its group source is a separate, per-product setting — a site can run Quiz in one mode and Assignment in the other.
- Per-student due date overrides work identically under either source, because overrides reference the student directly rather than a group. See Per-Student Due Date Overrides.