Looking to give your learners something a little more polished than a generic certificate when they finish one of your courses? You’re in the right spot. This guide is for Skilljar admins, training managers, or anyone who needs to set up custom certificates of completion—without spending all day fighting with confusing settings.
I’ll walk you through the whole process: designing your certificate, configuring it in Skilljar, hooking it up to your courses, and making sure it actually gets sent out. I’ll point out what’s worth sweating over (and what’s not), plus a few “gotchas” that can save you a lot of headaches.
Why Custom Certificates Matter (and When to Skip Them)
Before you dive in, ask yourself: do you really need a custom certificate? For some teams, the default Skilljar template does the job just fine—especially for internal training or low-stakes courses. But if you’re running customer-facing academies, partner programs, or anything where branding and perceived value matter, a custom certificate can make a surprisingly big difference.
Skip the custom design if: - You’re still prototyping your course. - Completion certificates aren’t a priority for your learners. - You need to launch yesterday.
Go custom if: - You care about your brand’s look and feel. - Learners expect to share certificates on LinkedIn or with their bosses. - Compliance, regulatory, or partner requirements demand it.
If you’re still reading, I’ll assume you’re in the “let’s make it look good” camp. Let’s get started.
Step 1: Design Your Certificate (Don’t Overdo It)
The most time-consuming part is the design. Skilljar certificates are PDF templates—think of them like a digital diploma. You’ll upload a background image (PDF) and Skilljar will “stamp” dynamic fields (like the learner’s name, course title, etc.) onto it.
What works: - Clean, simple layouts. Don’t crowd the certificate with text. - Plenty of white space. - Room for dynamic fields (leave space for names, dates, etc.).
What doesn’t: - Tiny fonts or busy backgrounds. They’ll make the final certificate unreadable. - Overly fancy fonts that Skilljar might not support.
What You Need
- PDF background file: Usually 8.5” x 11” (letter) or A4, landscape or portrait. Use a design tool you know—Canva, PowerPoint, Google Slides, Adobe Illustrator, whatever.
- Fields to include: At minimum, you want space for:
- Learner’s name
- Course or learning path name
- Completion date
- Your organization’s name/logo
- (Optional) Instructor signature, certificate number, expiration, etc.
Pro tip: Don’t embed the learner’s name in the PDF. Skilljar adds that automatically—just leave space for it.
Step 2: Upload Your Certificate Template to Skilljar
Once you’ve got your PDF background ready, it’s time to upload it to Skilljar.
- Go to your Skilljar Dashboard.
- Navigate to Branding > Certificates.
- Click Add Certificate.
Here’s what you’ll see: - Certificate Name: This is internal—call it something logical. - Upload Certificate Template: Attach your PDF. - Default Font: Choose something readable. Don’t get clever here; Arial or Helvetica work fine. - Fields: This is where you place dynamic fields.
Placing Dynamic Fields
Skilljar lets you drag and drop fields like: - {{ student_name }} - {{ course_name }} or {{ learning_path_name }} - {{ completion_date }} - {{ organization_name }}
You’ll see a certificate preview. Drag fields to where you left space in your design. Don’t stress about pixel-perfect placement—most learners won’t notice if it’s a little off.
Test it: Use the preview with a long name (“Alexandria Catherine McAllister III”) to make sure it fits.
Step 3: Configure When and How Certificates Are Awarded
Certificates don’t send themselves. You need to decide: - Should every course completion trigger a certificate? - Only certain courses? - Should it be emailed automatically, or just available for download?
Linking the Certificate to a Course
- Go to Domains & Publishing > Course Management.
- Click into the course you want to attach the certificate to.
- Under Settings, look for the Certificate of Completion section.
- Choose your custom certificate from the dropdown.
If you want certificates for learning paths:
Repeat this process under Learning Paths Management.
Emailing Certificates Automatically
By default, Skilljar can send an email with the certificate attached when someone completes a course.
- Under Notifications, make sure “Send Certificate Email” is enabled.
- You can customize the email text, but keep it short. Learners mostly care about the attachment.
- Always test: Complete the course as a test user and see if the email shows up. Check spam folders.
Step 4: Test Everything (Seriously)
This is the step most people skip—and then regret later when a customer emails complaining their certificate has the wrong date or a typo in the organization name.
How to Test: - Enroll a test account in your course. - Complete the course (mark all lessons as done). - Download and open the certificate. - Check: Is the name correct? Dates? Spacing? Any weird formatting?
What can go wrong: - Fields overlapping because of long names or course titles. - Date formatting looks weird in some regions. - Certificate doesn’t trigger because of a missed setting.
Tip: If you plan to support multiple languages, test certificate generation in each one—Skilljar can translate field labels, but your background image won’t.
Step 5: Keep It Simple—But Update as Needed
Once you’ve got certificates working, resist the urge to tweak them every week. Learners mostly care about: - Their name is spelled right. - The certificate looks legit. - They can download or share it easily.
If you get feedback that the certificate is ugly, hard to read, or missing info, make changes. Otherwise, move on to more important things.
Managing Multiple Certificates
If you have lots of courses, don’t create a new certificate for every single one unless the content or branding really demands it. One or two templates (maybe one for internal, one for external) is usually enough.
What to ignore: - Over-customizing for each course. No one cares except your design team. - Chasing every edge case. If 1% of users have a long middle name that wraps—live with it.
Step 6: Tracking and Troubleshooting
Skilljar tracks certificate issuance, so you can see who’s been sent what.
- Go to Analytics > Course Reports to see completions.
- For audit purposes, you can download a list of learners and their certificate status.
Common issues: - Certificate not received: Double-check that the course is set to award a certificate and that notification emails are enabled. - Emails go to spam: Tell learners to check their spam/junk folders. Consider whitelisting your sender domain if this happens a lot. - Wrong names or info: Fix the data in your user records—Skilljar just pulls what’s on file.
If something’s really broken, Skilljar’s support is generally responsive, but be ready to provide screenshots and exact steps.
A Few Honest Pros and Cons
What Skilljar does well: - Makes it easy to set up and automate certificates. - Handles most use cases out of the box.
Where it can fall short: - Limited design flexibility—you can’t create truly interactive or animated certificates. - If you want something wildly unique, you’ll hit the limits fast. - No “retroactive” certificates—if you change the template, old ones don’t update.
Wrapping Up: Don’t Overthink It
Custom certificates are a nice finishing touch, but they’re not worth weeks of tinkering. Get a clean PDF template, hook it up in Skilljar, and test with a few real learner accounts. Iterate if you get meaningful feedback, but otherwise, keep it simple and let the automation do its thing.
Remember: no one ever completed a course just for the certificate design. Focus on making completion easy and the certificate accessible—your learners (and your future self) will thank you.