Hi there
I am looking at starting a business in which I sell study notes and summary guides to university and high school students. Unfortunately, being a student myself, I know that students always illegally distribute these kinds of notes, resell them, or send them to all of their mates etc.
I am not naive and I know that this is bound to happen, but I want to try to mitigate this as much as possible. I have looked into a few DRM systems such as lock lizard among others, but I think that I would be most keen to create a website where customers (students) can create an account, log in, and have all of their purchased notes on the dashboard, as well as a separate reader, and some type of store where I can bundle notes by year or sell them individually etc.
I am wondering whether this would be possible in any way? If anybody has ever built a site like this before? And if Shopify is the right platform for something like this?
I would prefer to try doing as much as I can myself as I am still a broke student, but I’m not against getting external help.
Thanks so much
Turning your “student notes idea” into a protected Shopify dashboard 
Hey Christian,
I read your post about wanting to sell study notes while stopping them from being shared and you’re absolutely right, that’s the hardest part of digital content.
The good news? Shopify can handle exactly what you’re describing with a few clever integrations. You can give each student their own login dashboard, view-only access to purchased notes (no file sharing), and even bundle content by year or subject all without spending much upfront or using heavy DRM tools like LockLizard.
I’ve built similar secure note and course dashboards for independent creators so you’d still control everything yourself, but your files stay protected and organized.
Would you like me to outline how your setup could look (and what you can DIY vs. what to outsource)? It could save you a lot of trial and error.
Best,
Daniel Whitford
Shopify Specialist | Digital Content Protection
Hi christianhall13,
Thanks for reaching out, I really appreciate how thoughtfully you’ve approached this. It’s clear you’ve experienced the challenges firsthand, and it’s great to see you turning that into something useful for other students.
You’re absolutely right to be thinking about content protection early on. While it’s hard to stop all sharing, building a login-based platform with a secure reader is a smart way to keep more control over your content. That kind of system is definitely possible and common in digital learning platforms.
As for Shopify, it’s great for selling products, but for what you’re imagining, a more flexible setup (like WordPress with member access or a custom web app) might serve you better in the long run.
Happy to chat more if you’d like some guidance or to explore options. And props to you for building this while studying that’s no small thing.
Best,
Bella
Hi Daniel
Thanks so much for your reply. I have decided to go down the route of selling the notes as an online “course” but I still think that having a proper dashboard would be a very good idea anyway.
What is the best way for me to get in touch with you? I think that early next year would be an realistic goal to get all of the courses ready and then I would love to chat to you re building a dashboard.
My email is christiankzn1318@gmail.com