Course certificates
Turn on automatic completion certificates for a course, decide when a course counts as completed, issue a certificate by hand, and revoke, reinstate or reissue one.
A certificate is a PDF with a public verification link that proves a client completed your course. Zanfia can issue it automatically the moment the course is completed, or you can issue one by hand. Automatic certificates are off by default.
Turn on automatic certificates
Open the course settings
Open the course and click the Settings tab. Find the Certificate section, "Completion certificates for this course."
Switch on Automatic certificates
Turn on Automatic certificates. From now on "customers automatically receive a completion certificate (PDF + email) once they finish all lessons."
Set the optional fields
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Certificate template | The layout for this course. Workspace default uses your default template. See Certificate templates. |
| Extra line on the certificate | Free text under the course name, for example the number of training hours. Printed only by templates with Extra line (per course) turned on. |
| Completion threshold (%) | From 50 to 100. Leave it empty to require every lesson. |
| Validity period (months) | How long a certificate stays valid from its issue date. Empty means it never expires. Applies to certificates issued from now on. |
Cover clients who already finished
Once automatic certificates are on, Past completions → Issue for past completions issues certificates to clients who completed the course earlier. It is safe to run more than once: existing certificates are never duplicated.
When a course counts as completed
| Rule | Default (threshold empty) | With a completion threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Lessons | Every published lesson in a published module is completed. | The completed share of published lessons reaches the threshold. |
| Quizzes with a passing score | Must be passed. | Must be passed, whatever the threshold. |
| Practice quizzes (no passing score) | Need one finished attempt. | Can be skipped. |
| Draft content | Never counts; clients cannot see it. | Never counts. |
| Locked ("coming soon") content | Blocks completion: nobody can finish the course until you publish it. | Does not block and does not count. |
A lesson is completed when the client watches or listens to the end, or ticks Mark as completed. Opening your own course as its owner never issues a certificate.
What the client receives
- An email with the subject "🎓 Your certificate for [course]" and a download link.
- A card in the course: Congratulations! You've earned a certificate, with View my certificates.
- The page My Certificates in the client area (
/app/certificateson your site), with Download PDF, Verify and Add to LinkedIn profile on each certificate. - A public verification page that needs no login. It says Certificate valid, Certificate revoked or Certificate expired, and shows the course, the dates and the Credential ID. The QR code on the PDF, when the template shows one, leads to the same page.
If the course has a validity period, the client gets a reminder email two weeks before the certificate expires.
Issue a certificate by hand
Open Certificates
In the sidebar open Customers → Certificates (/certificates) and click Issue
certificate.
Choose the client and the course
Pick the Customer and the Course. Recipient name (optional) is what gets printed; left empty, the client's name is used. Certificate template can stay on Automatic (course template or default).
Issue
Click Issue certificate. One client can hold one certificate per course; a second attempt is refused with "A certificate already exists for this customer and course."
Manage issued certificates
The list shows the recipient, the course, the issue date, a status (Active, Revoked or Expired) and whether it was Issued automatically or Issued manually. Each row also tells you if the email was delivered, how often the credential page was viewed, and whether the PDF was downloaded or added to LinkedIn. Search by recipient or course, and filter by status.
| Action | Available on | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Copy verification link | Any | Copies the public link. |
| Open PDF | Any | Opens the certificate file. |
| Edit recipient name | Any | Regenerates the PDF with the new name. The credential ID and the links stay the same. |
| Resend email | Active | Sends the delivery email to the client again. |
| Revoke | Active | The verification page reports it as revoked and the PDF download is withheld. Can be undone. |
| Reinstate | Revoked | The certificate verifies as valid again. |
| Issue again | Revoked | Creates a new certificate with the current template, a new credential ID and link, and emails it. The revoked one stays revoked. |
| Delete | Revoked | Permanently removes the certificate and its PDF; the verification link stops working. |
Good to know
The issuer shown on certificates is your Site title (Your site → Settings → Name & logo,
/site/identity), or your account name when the title is empty; Zanfia never appears on issued
certificates. Changing the completion threshold affects who completes the course from now on, and
the same completion also starts the "Course completed" automation and feeds the completion numbers
in Course analytics.
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