How to Display Lesson Duration in LearnDash Without Writing [1:23] in Titles

Step #1: Enable “custom fields” support for Lessons and Topics

Add this PHP code snippet to enable WordPress custom fields:

add_action( 'init', 'lmscoder_custom_fields_support_learndash' );
function lmscoder_custom_fields_support_learndash() {
	$post_types = [
		'sfwd-lessons',
		'sfwd-topic',
	];

	foreach ( $post_types as $post_type ) {
		add_post_type_support( $post_type, 'custom-fields' );
	}
}

Step #2: Confirm “custom fields” support

Check the “Custom Fields” checkbox in the Screen Options when editing a Lesson.

Step #3: Add duration_in_seconds key-value pairs

Add custom field entries with the key duration_in_seconds containing numeric values representing seconds (e.g., 500).

Step #4: Display the data

Helper function to get duration:

function lmscoder_get_duration( $post_id ) {
	return get_post_meta( $post_id, 'duration_in_seconds', true );
}

Display via the_title filter:

add_filter( 'the_title', 'lmscoder_add_time_to_title', 10, 2 );
function lmscoder_add_time_to_title( $title, $id ) {
	$formatted_time = lmscoder_get_duration( $id );

	if ( $formatted_time AND ! is_admin() ) {
		$title = $title . '<span class="course-step-duration">' . $formatted_time . '</span>';
	}

	return $title;
}

Style the time:

.course-step-duration {
	display: none !important;
	background: #db2020;
	color: #fff;
	font-size: 90%;
	padding: 5px;
	margin-left: 10px;
	font-weight: bold;
	display: inline-block;
	line-height: 1;
	position: relative;
	top: -.1em;
}

.ld-course-navigation .course-step-duration,
.ld-item-list .course-step-duration {
	display: inline-block !important;
}

Step #5: Format the time

function lmscoder_seconds_to_time( $seconds ) {
	$seconds = intval( $seconds );

	$hours = floor( $seconds / HOUR_IN_SECONDS );
	$minutes = floor( ( $seconds / 60 ) % MINUTE_IN_SECONDS );
	$seconds = floor( $seconds % MINUTE_IN_SECONDS );

	$time = '';

	if ( $hours >= 1 ) {
		$time .= $hours . 'hr, ';
	}

	if ( $minutes >= 1 ) {
		$time .= $minutes . 'min, ';
	}

	$time .= $seconds . 'sec';

	return $time;
}

Update the helper function:

function lmscoder_get_duration( $post_id ) {
	$seconds = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'duration_in_seconds', true );

	if ( ! $seconds ) {
		return false;
	}

	$formatted_time = lmscoder_seconds_to_time( $seconds );

	return $formatted_time;
}

Step #6: Template override breadcrumbs

Copy wp-content/plugins/sfwd-lms/themes/ld30/templates/modules/breadcrumbs.php to wp-content/uploads/learndash/templates/ld30/modules/breadcrumbs.php

Replace line 33:

<span><a href="<?php echo esc_url( $breadcrumbs[ $key ]['permalink'] ); ?>"><?php echo esc_html( wp_strip_all_tags( $breadcrumbs[ $key ]['title'] ) ); ?></a> </span>

With:

<span><a href="<?php echo esc_url( $breadcrumbs[ $key ]['permalink'] ); ?>"><?php echo wp_kses_post( $breadcrumbs[ $key ]['title'] ); ?></a> </span>

Scope Limitations

The tutorial explicitly does not cover: automated duration calculations, per-user reading speeds, video API integration, or summing lesson substeps.