Tutor LMS Setup Wizard Explained: Every Option and What to Pick
What the Tutor LMS 4 onboarding screen asks, what each learning mode and theme means for students, whether to load sample courses, and the settings to check next.
Checked against the plugin source: Tutor LMS 4.1.3, Tutor LMS Pro 4.1.3
When you activate Tutor LMS 4, it opens a short onboarding screen. It is quicker than the setup wizards of older versions: it focuses on how your learners will experience courses, and leaves the rest to the settings page. Here is what each step means and what we recommend.
Screen 1: Welcome
The first screen introduces Tutor LMS. Click Next to continue. Nothing is saved here.
Screen 2: Choose a look for your learners
This is the important step. It sets two options that Tutor LMS stores as learning_mode and default_theme in its settings.
Default Learning Mode
- Modern is the redesigned Tutor LMS 4 learning experience: a clean course player, visible progress, structured topics and lesson status, with an app-like layout on mobile. Choose it for adults, professionals and most course businesses.
- Kids uses a playful, colorful interface designed for younger learners. Choose it only if your audience is children.
A third mode, Legacy, is available later under Settings > Design for sites that need the older interface, for example because of template overrides built for Tutor LMS 3. Legacy does not support the five newest Pro question types (Image Marking, Pin, Graph, Puzzle and Range) or quiz pagination.
Default Theme
- Light: the standard look.
- Dark: a dark interface.
- Auto: follows the student's device setting.
We usually recommend Auto for adult audiences, because it respects the student's preference. If your brand colors only work on light backgrounds, choose Light. Students also have accessibility preferences in Tutor LMS 4, such as font size, high contrast and color filters.
Screen 3: Sample courses
You can load sample courses to see how a finished course looks. This is helpful when you are new to Tutor LMS. The downside is that sample content is easy to forget: remember to delete it before launch so it does not appear in your catalogue or search engines.
What the wizard does not set
The onboarding screen does not ask about selling, instructors or emails. After it, go through these settings under Tutor LMS > Settings:
- Monetization: choose Native, WooCommerce, EDD or Disable Monetization. See selling courses.
- General: the Dashboard page, terms and privacy pages, and whether this is a marketplace with instructor sign-up (Enable Marketplace, Become an Instructor Button, Allow Instructors to Publish Courses).
- Course: course visibility, course completion process (Flexible or Strict), retakes, lesson and quiz behavior, video sources.
- Design: learning mode, theme, brand color and logo, course archive layout and course page elements.
- Advanced: permalinks, registration pages, Gutenberg editing, and the "Erase upon uninstallation" option.
Our settings walkthrough covers each tab.
Can I run the wizard again?
Usually you do not need to: every choice it makes can be changed under Settings > Design. If you want the sample courses later, an administrator can reopen the wizard at wp-admin/admin.php?page=tutor-setup; sample courses are only offered there.
Frequently asked questions
Which learning mode is best for SEO?
The learning mode affects the experience inside lessons, which search engines rarely see because lessons are for enrolled students. Course pages are indexed either way.
Can I switch from Kids to Modern later?
Yes, under Settings > Design > Learning Mode. Your courses and progress are not affected.
Should I use Legacy mode?
Only if you rely on customizations built for the old interface. Plan to move to Modern; our customization team can update old overrides.
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I’m Vishavjeet Choubey, an Enterprise LMS Architect with 10+ years of experience helping businesses, coaches, universities, and online academies build and scale powerful digital learning platforms. I specialize in enterprise LMS architecture, WordPress, WooCommerce, LifterLMS, LearnDash, Moodle, custom plugin development, and AI-driven automation. I build scalable LMS platforms, high-converting eCommerce solutions, and custom WordPress applications designed to improve user experiences, streamline operations, and drive measurable business growth. My approach combines deep WordPress and LMS engineering expertise with modern AI automation to reduce manual work, improve efficiency, and help organizations launch, scale, and grow faster.
