How to extend a student's Thinkific course access from Zendesk

To extend a student's Thinkific course access from Zendesk, install Lessonwell, open the student's ticket and find the course in the sidebar. Click Extend access on the course (the link shows the number of days), add an optional reason and confirm. Thinkific moves the access end date forward by the days set in Days added by Extend access (30 by default), counted from the later of today and the current end date, and Lessonwell logs an internal note with the lessonwell_access_extended tag.

Before you start

Lessonwell needs a Thinkific API Access Token (or the legacy API key) in its settings, on a Thinkific plan with API access (Grow, Pro + Growth or above). In the settings, Allow extending access must be on and the agent must be in Who may take actions. The ticket must be saved and not closed, because every change is logged there.

Steps

1. Open the ticket. Lessonwell finds the student by the requester's email, then by the other verified addresses on their Zendesk profile. If they bought with a different address, type it into Find another student, or enter their Thinkific student id.
2. Find the course. Each course shows its progress, enrolled date and status. Courses whose access ran out show Access ended with the date and how long ago.
3. Click Extend access 30 days on the course (the number follows Days added by Extend access). The confirmation states the old and new end dates before anything is sent.
4. Add a reason if you want one. It goes in the ticket note, not to the student.
5. Confirm. Thinkific updates the enrollment's access end date. Lessonwell writes an internal note saying who extended it, the end date before and after, and your reason, and adds lessonwell_access_extended.

How the new end date is worked out

Change the number of days in Days added by Extend access. It applies to every extension, so pick the length your policy usually grants.

Ending access instead

End access stops a student's access to one course now, for example after a refund handled elsewhere. Thinkific keeps their progress, so a later Extend access puts them back where they were. It writes the tag lessonwell_access_ended. Teachable has no API for access dates, so on Teachable the equivalent is Unenroll, which removes the student from the course.

If the change doesn't seem to land

Each change is sent once. If Thinkific answers slowly, Lessonwell reads the student back: when the new date is there, it's logged as done. If not, you see "answered slowly ... check before trying again". Look at the student in Thinkific or press Refresh before you repeat the action.

What it costs

Lessonwell is $99 a month per Zendesk account for up to 12 agents and admins (Team), or $8 per agent per month for 13 or more (Scale). Every feature is on both plans, with a 14-day trial; Zendesk asks for a card at install and bills monthly. The Lessonwell documentation lists every setting.