Certificates of Completion
A certificate gives students a small reward and something they can share. People put them on LinkedIn, save them as PDFs, and frame them on a wall. They cost you nothing and make finishing the course feel like an accomplishment.
Turning on certificates
- Open the course and go to Certificates.
- Switch Issue Certificate to On.
- Save.
By default, the certificate is awarded when every lesson in the course is complete. You can change the rule:
- All lessons complete. The simplest. Everything must show as done.
- Required lessons only. You mark certain lessons as required. Optional lessons do not count.
- Final quiz passed. A specific quiz must be passed at the set score. Other lessons do not need to be complete.
Customizing what the certificate looks like
CourseFriendly comes with a clean default certificate. You can edit it to match your brand:
- Logo. Upload a square or rectangular image. PNG with a transparent background works best.
- Title. "Certificate of Completion" is the default; you can change it to "Diploma", "Certified Practitioner", or anything you like.
- Body text. The line that includes the student's name and the course title. Use the placeholders shown in the editor —
{student_name}and{course_title}— and they fill in automatically. - Signature. Upload a signature image or type a name in a script font. You can add two signatures (for example, course creator and program director).
- Color scheme. Pick from the presets or enter your brand colors.
Click Preview to see how it will look with a sample student name.
How students get the certificate
When a student meets the completion rule, the certificate appears in two places:
- A Download Certificate button at the end of the last lesson.
- A My Certificates entry on their student dashboard.
They can download it as a PDF or share a link straight to the certificate page on your course site.
Verifying a certificate
Every certificate has a unique code printed at the bottom and a public verification page. Anyone can enter the code or open the verification URL to confirm the certificate is real and check who it was issued to, on what date, for which course. This matters for employers or licensing bodies who want to confirm the certificate is genuine.
Revoking a certificate
If you need to revoke a certificate — say, after a refund, or because a student broke your terms — open the student in the Students list, find their certificate entry, and click Revoke. The student keeps their copy if they downloaded it, but the verification page will mark it as revoked and the certificate will disappear from their dashboard.
Common questions
Can a student earn a certificate for a free course? Yes. Free and paid courses use the same certificate engine.
Can the certificate include a custom number, like a license number? Yes — add a custom field in the certificate editor and fill it in per student in the Students list before they finish.
Can two students get the same certificate code? No. Every code is unique. You can copy the design across courses, but each student's certificate has its own verification code.