We have a course published with a final exam, and the course validity end date is September 30, 2026. For the enrollment validity period, we have set the number of days available to learners to 45 days. We have also enabled the soft deadline because we would like learners to continue accessing the course training material even after the course end date—for example, for new staff who may be enrolled later.
I would like to confirm whether the final exam, which is set at the end of the course, will also remain accessible to learners after the course end date when the soft deadline is enabled, or whether the soft deadline only keeps the course lessons/training material accessible.
Our objective is to ensure that both the training material and the final exam remain accessible to learners after the course end date, particularly for new staff/trainees.
Also, I’m not sure whether this makes a difference, but our exams are sometimes developed using a content authoring tool such as Adobe and uploaded as SCORM files, while in other cases they are created directly within the Docebo platform. I hope this does not affect how the soft deadline applies to the exam.
Could you please confirm how the soft deadline works in this scenario and whether both the lessons and exam will remain accessible?
Best answer by giacomo.angioletti
Hello aryas!
Giacomo here from the Docebo Support team.
When Soft Deadline is enabled for an e-learning course, learners can continue accessing the course and its training material after the validity period end date. Therefore, the final exam should remain accessible as long as it is configured as training material in the course and the learner is otherwise eligible to access it.
This applies to both:
A native Docebo test, which is a test training material in the course.
A SCORM exam uploaded to the course, since Docebo treats the uploaded SCORM package as course training material.
In your example, September 30, 2026 remains the formal validity end date, but Soft Deadline allows eligible learners to continue accessing and completing the course after that date.
That said please also keep the following points in mind:
If the course is included in a Learning Plan, the Learning Plan’s Time options may influence or override the course-level settings. so in similar cases you should ensure that a linked Learning Plan does not impose a stricter end date or otherwise control access.
The exam’s own settings still apply, including prerequisites, maximum attempts, publishing window set at the specific training material level and SCORM package behavior . the Soft Deadline feature extends course access but does not override those training-material rules or SCORM behaviors that are integrated in the package
In summary, for an already-eligible learner, both the lessons and the final exam should remain accessible after September 30, 2026 when Soft Deadline is active and no specific limitation for the training material was set
When Soft Deadline is enabled for an e-learning course, learners can continue accessing the course and its training material after the validity period end date. Therefore, the final exam should remain accessible as long as it is configured as training material in the course and the learner is otherwise eligible to access it.
This applies to both:
A native Docebo test, which is a test training material in the course.
A SCORM exam uploaded to the course, since Docebo treats the uploaded SCORM package as course training material.
In your example, September 30, 2026 remains the formal validity end date, but Soft Deadline allows eligible learners to continue accessing and completing the course after that date.
That said please also keep the following points in mind:
If the course is included in a Learning Plan, the Learning Plan’s Time options may influence or override the course-level settings. so in similar cases you should ensure that a linked Learning Plan does not impose a stricter end date or otherwise control access.
The exam’s own settings still apply, including prerequisites, maximum attempts, publishing window set at the specific training material level and SCORM package behavior . the Soft Deadline feature extends course access but does not override those training-material rules or SCORM behaviors that are integrated in the package
In summary, for an already-eligible learner, both the lessons and the final exam should remain accessible after September 30, 2026 when Soft Deadline is active and no specific limitation for the training material was set
the Soft Deadline by itself should not change the answer display or make test responses read-only. For a native Docebo test, the most likely causes are:
The learner is viewing a submitted attempt or the test results page. The test’s Show submitted answers and Show correct answers settings control which responses are displayed and correct answers can be set to shown automatically after a configured date(ex after the course validity end).
The learner saved the test and resumed it later while Allow users to change answers if they resume a test that they save and access later was disabled. In that case, previously saved answers cannot be changed and would result greyed out
For a SCORM exam, the response appearance and editability can also depend on the SCORM package’s own logic and saved tracking state. Docebo treats the package as course training material, but Soft Deadline does not override controls implemented inside the package .
if you would like us to investigate this further to identify the exact cause for your usercase could you please submit a Helpdesk ticket with our Support team? This will allow us to share the relevant information with more details and better assist you directly through the appropriate channel.
