Not every certificate follows an online course. Manual issuance covers live workshops, imported records, one-off recognitions, and any site running PressPrimer Certificate without an LMS at all.
Issuing a Certificate
- Navigate to Certificates > Certificates.
- Click Issue Certificate.
- Choose the Template. Only published templates can issue.
- Search for the Recipient by name or email. Recipients must be users on your site.
- Set the Earned date. It defaults to today and can be backdated, which is useful when you are recording an achievement after the fact, like last month’s workshop.
- Optionally set an Expiry date for this specific certificate.
- Confirm to issue.
The certificate is created immediately: merge fields resolve, the credential ID is generated, and the certificate email (if enabled) is sent to the recipient with the PDF attached.
If the template has a display name built from source fields, like “{{source.course_title}} Certificate”, there is no course behind a manual certificate to fill it in, so the certificate takes the template name instead. Templates you expect to issue both ways are best given a display name that does not depend on a course or quiz.
Earned Date and Validity
The earned date you choose is the certificate’s official issue date. It fills the Issue Date merge field, and if the template’s validity is set to a period (like “valid for 1 year”), the period is counted from the earned date you set. Backdating a certificate therefore also backdates its validity window, which is usually exactly what you want for a late-recorded achievement.
An expiry date entered on the issue form overrides the template’s validity policy for that one certificate.
Duplicates
If the recipient already holds a certificate from the selected template, the form lets you know before you confirm. You can still proceed: manual issuance is always deliberate, so it is never blocked by the duplicate suppression that applies to automatic triggers. Issuing again creates a second certificate with its own credential ID.
No LMS Required
Issuing a certificate manually is fully functional with no LMS plugin installed. You can run a complete certification program (design, issue, verify, and deliver) with PressPrimer Certificate alone.