Overview
The Breadcrumb Links module adds a navigation trail to your LearnDash courses so learners always know where they are in a course and can jump back to any parent level in a single click. In deep course structures, this small piece of context makes a big difference in keeping learners oriented and reducing support requests.
What the Breadcrumbs Show
By default, the breadcrumb trail follows the full LearnDash hierarchy:
Home » Course Archive Page » Course Name » Lesson Name » Topic Name
Each item is a clickable link to that level, and the trail automatically reflects the learner’s current location (quizzes are supported too). The first item, Home, links to your site’s home page; the course archive is shown as a separate crumb after it. The default separator between items is ».
Enabling the Module
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Uncanny Toolkit and open the modules screen.
- Find the Breadcrumb Links module and turn it on.
- Open the module’s Settings to customize the display (see below).
If you haven’t installed the Toolkit yet, see Install the Uncanny LearnDash Toolkit.
Displaying the Breadcrumbs
You have two ways to output the breadcrumb trail, depending on where you want it to appear.
Shortcode
Use the shortcode to place breadcrumbs in any page, post, or widget. It takes no attributes:
[uo_breadcrumbs]Template Function
To integrate breadcrumbs directly into your theme (for example, in a header template or another PHP file), call the template function:
<?php uo_breadcrumbs(); ?>By default the function echoes the breadcrumb HTML. Pass false to return it as a string instead:
<?php echo uo_breadcrumbs( false ); ?>We recommend the template function when you want breadcrumbs to appear consistently across all course content without editing individual pages.
Customization Options
Open the Breadcrumb Links module Settings to tailor the trail to your site.
The module’s Settings panel includes these options:
- Dashboard Page Title — The label used for the dashboard crumb.
- Dashboard Page — Select a page to use as the dashboard. When set, this page replaces the course archive in the trail, sending learners to a custom landing page instead of the default LearnDash archive.
- Breadcrumbs Separator — The character or markup placed between items (default »). You can include HTML here, so you’re free to use a Font Awesome icon or similar element in place of a plain character.
- Include Current Page — Whether the current page is included as the final crumb in the trail.
Related Articles
- Introduction to the Uncanny LearnDash Toolkit — an overview of everything the Toolkit offers.
- Install the Uncanny LearnDash Toolkit — get the Toolkit set up on your site.
- Resume Button — let learners jump straight back to where they left off.
- Menu Item Visibility — show or hide menu items based on enrollment and login status.
How did you get the home link to show up as a house image?
The house icon is actually a customization we had done for a specific client. However, you could try this CSS on your site, which should work as long as the FontAwesome font is loaded:
.breadcrumb-trail span:first-child a span {display: none;
}
.breadcrumb-trail span:first-child a:before {
content: "\f015";
font-family: fontawesome;
}
Hi there,
I’m having a slight issue with the plugin. I’ve activated the Breadcrumbs tool, and created a shortcode in a widget.
All works well, except for its display on a “quiz” CPT. For some reason the “topic” link on the breadcrumbs is shown twice:
https://imgur.com/a/etvwg
Any ideas on a CSS code that will hide the copy of the “topic” link?
Thanks