Course certificates: how to earn, find and download one

A course certificate is issued automatically when you complete the course. Where to find it, what it shows, and how to save a copy.

A course certificate is issued automatically the moment you complete a course. There is nothing to request and nothing to generate.

What counts as complete

Every lesson in the course has to be marked complete. On top of that, if the course has them:

Assignments are graded by the instructor, by peer review, or by a mix of the two, depending on how the course is set up. Submitting an assignment marks the lesson done, but it does not finish the course. If your progress reads 100% and no certificate has appeared, an assignment is almost always still waiting on its grade.

Where to find it

What it shows

The certificate is headed Certificate of Completion and carries your name, the course title, the instructor, the organisation running the course if there is one, and the year you finished. At the foot is a Certificate serial.

The certificate page is public, so the link is the verification. Anyone you send it to can open it and check that the serial on the page matches the one you gave them. They do not need an account.

Saving a copy

Select Print / Download on the certificate page. That opens your browser's print dialog, where you can choose Save as PDF instead of a printer. There is no separate PDF or image file to download.

Not the same as a competition certificate

Competition certificates are a different thing entirely. They are issued per competition entry, they unlock at the competition's results stage, and they are reached through My Competitions rather than through a course. See Competition certificates: when they unlock, how to generate and download them.

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