Certificates

The Certificates space is where the community attests that someone finished a course, attended an event or completed a program. The staff builds the template and issues it; the member receives the certificate as a PDF and as an image to share, with a code anyone can check on a public page.

#What it's for

#How it works

#What members see

Each member sees only their own certificates issued in that space, under My certificates. Each card's cover is the social media image (1200×630, in the community's colors), with the title and the issue date.

Clicking the cover opens the certificate full screen: the certificate page itself, in A4 landscape, exactly as it comes out in the PDF.

Under Download and share:

With no certificates: "You haven't received any certificates here yet."

#What the staff sees

Whoever can issue sees the same space with three tabs:

#Who issues

When you create the space, instead of Who can post, you see Who issues:

There's no "Anyone" option: a certificate is a document the community attests to, and only the community issues it. Revoking and reissuing are always for owners or admins.

#The two kinds of template

Platform default. The community's logo at the top (without a logo, its name), a border in the community's color, the title, "awarded to", the name in large type, the description, the course hours, the date, up to two signatures and, in the footer, the code and the QR code. If the community's color is too light to read on white, the platform darkens the shade.

Your own artwork.

1. Upload the artwork as PNG or JPEG, ideally A4 landscape at 300 dpi (3508×2480), at least 2000 px wide.
2. Choose a field from the list (Name, Date and time, QR and code and the optional ones) and draw its box on the artwork. Each box can be moved and resized.
3. For each box, choose the font, weight, size, color, alignment and, if you like, all caps.
4. Check the preview, generated with a deliberately long test name so you can see the text shrink.

The PDF is always A4 landscape. If the artwork has a different aspect ratio, the editor shades the strip that falls outside, and no box can sit in it. A name that doesn't fit in its box shrinks and, if needed, wraps onto two lines, without cutting off any letters.

The description text accepts the variables {nome} (name), {assunto} (subject) and {cargaHoraria} (course hours). The subject is what the certificate is about: a course, an event, a mentorship, anything, and it is given at issue time. Older templates with {curso} or {evento} keep working: both became other names for {assunto}.

Text in square brackets is optional: in "completed[ {assunto}], totaling {cargaHoraria} hours.", an issue without a subject drops that part and prints "completed, totaling 8 hours.". Without brackets, the part of the sentence (between commas) holding the empty variable is left out. The preview fills the subject with an example.

Each template has a slug, a short address such as course-completion, created from the name and editable. Other modules, such as courses, will use it to point at the template once automatic issuing arrives. Renaming the template does not change the slug.

Editing a template that has already issued certificates creates a new version. Certificates already issued stay exactly as they were.

#Language and time zone

Each template has a language (for the fixed text, such as "awarded to", and the date format) and a time zone (for the printed date and time). Both start with the community's settings and can be changed per template.

#The name on the certificate

The name comes from the person's profile at the moment of issuing and is stored. If they correct their name later, the certificate doesn't change on its own: the staff reissues it, which creates a new certificate, with a new code, and revokes the previous one.

#The verification page

Every certificate has a public page at the community's address, /_/certificates/verify/<code>. The code has 12 characters, such as K7Q3-9XWD-2MFA, and isn't sequential: you can't guess someone else's.

The page opens for anyone with the link or the QR code, without signing in, but it's kept out of search engines by default. The member can turn on Show in search engines on their own certificate.

#The email

When it's issued, the person receives "Your certificate is here: …", with the image, Download PDF, Add to LinkedIn and a link to the community. The PDF is sent as a link, not as an attachment. Whoever issues can turn the email off, for example for a retroactive issue.

#LinkedIn

In Settings, the community can enter its LinkedIn page ID (numbers only, taken from the admin address of the company page). With it, the certificate appears on the person's profile with the community's logo; without it, only with the name.

#Step by step: issue

Role: whoever issues in the space (Admins or Staff).

1. In the Certificates space, click Issue certificate.
2. Template: one of the active templates.
3. Recipients: pick members by name, one or more groups and one or more tags, combined as you like: someone in more than one gets a single certificate. Only community members receive certificates. There is no issuing to a list of emails, because an address alone does not carry the name to print.
4. Details for this issue: the title, description and course hours come from the template and can be adjusted, for example for a specific cohort. Fill in the subject (the course, the event, the mentorship). Leave send email turned on.
5. Confirm: "Issue to 37 people". Anyone who already has a certificate from the same template is flagged and skipped, with the option to issue anyway.

With more than one person, the issue becomes a batch: the Issued tab shows the progress ("31 of 37 generated, 0 failed"). If one certificate fails, the others continue, and that one gets try again.

#Revoking

Role: owner or admin.

In Issued, open the certificate and click Revoke, with a reason (internal, nobody outside sees it). From then on:

• the verification page says the certificate was revoked;
• the PDF and images can no longer be downloaded from the links;
• the member sees the card with the Revoked badge, without download and share buttons.

A PDF the person had already downloaded still exists, but its QR code leads to the page saying it's no longer valid.

A refund doesn't revoke on its own: the staff decides.

#Delete

Role: owner or admin.

A certificate that is no longer valid can be deleted: a revoked one, including one replaced by a reissue (the Issued tab shows which certificate replaced it), and one that failed to generate. A valid certificate cannot be deleted: revoke it first.

Deleting removes the certificate and its files for good. The verification page for that code then says "Certificate not found", like a code that never existed.

#People who leave the community

#Examples

A school with a cohort of 30. A platform default template: Certificate of completion, description "{nome} completed[ {assunto}], totaling {cargaHoraria} hours", 40 hours, signed by the coordinator. At the end of the cohort, Issue certificate to the March cohort group, with the subject the Community Management course: 30 certificates in one batch, and each student gets the email.

A conference with the designer's artwork. The artwork in A4 landscape with boxes for the name, date and QR code. After the event, the staff issues to the Attended the conference tag and the Speakers group at once.

A misspelled name. The student corrects her name on her profile and lets the staff know. The admin opens the certificate in Issued and clicks Reissue: a new certificate comes out with the right name, and the old one is revoked as reissued.

#What comes next

• Automatic issuing on course completion, once the courses screen is ready. See Courses.
• Issuing by attendance at an event, once there is check-in.
• Issuing from a spreadsheet, with name, email and course hours on each row.

#Frequently asked questions

Do certificates expire? No. A certificate is valid until it's revoked.

Can I issue to someone who isn't a member? No. The certificate is tied to the profile of a community member.

Does the verification page show the person's email? No. It shows the name, the title and the certificate details, never contact information.

Can I use the same artwork for different cohorts? Yes. The title, description and course hours can be adjusted on each issue without touching the template.

#Related

• Modules
• Courses
• Events
• Create and organize spaces