How a product page field works
A product page field is a question buyers answer on the product page, such as a Credential dropdown, that your theme or a product options app adds. Its answer is saved with the order. Shopify calls it a line item property and shows it under the product on the order page in Shopify admin.
Alva Courses reads one such field per course, on every product linked to the course. You list the field's answers and mark each one Enrols or Does not enrol. Each answer that enrols can have its own certificate design, so a student's certificate matches what they picked.
For example, an exam course's product page asks for a Credential, with the answers Athletic trainer, Massage therapist, Other and Already certified. The first three enrol, each with its own certificate. Already certified does not enrol, for buyers who want the product but not a new certification.
Set up a product page field
1. Find the field on a real order
In Shopify admin, open a recent order for the course's product, or place a test order. Under the product you'll see the field and the buyer's answer, for example Credential: Athletic trainer. Copy the field name and each answer as they appear there.
2. Add the field to the course
In Alva Courses, open the course, then its Settings tab and the Pricing & access tab. The Product page field card sits below Linked Products. Enter the field name exactly as it appears on your orders.
The field applies to every product linked to the course, whether it is linked as a whole or by variant. A course has one field, and orders without it enrol as usual.
3. List the answers
Click Add answer for each answer, type it as it appears on orders, and choose Enrols or Does not enrol. Then click Save product page field on the card. The card saves on its own, not with the page's save bar.
4. Design a certificate for each answer
Go to Settings → Email Settings and, under Certificate Email Template, click Edit Certificate Template. Choose the course in the Course select, then an answer such as Answer: Athletic trainer in the Design for select below it. The card's Set a certificate design per answer link opens the same page.
Only answers marked Enrols are listed. Until you save, the answer shows the course design (or the store default) as a starting point. Change the background, layout, issuer name or email wording, then save. The answer's option now ends in · own design.
This step is optional. An answer without a design of its own gives the certificate the student would get without the field: a variant's design, a collection rule's certificate, the course design or the store default.
5. Check each design
With each answer selected in turn, click Download Test Certificate. The PDF uses sample data and the saved design for that answer (or, before you save one, the design it starts from), so save your changes first.
6. Turn on the email for each design
Each design has its own Enable Email box under Email Certificate. Tick it on every design whose students should get their certificate by email; students can always download it from the course.
How answers are matched
Alva Courses compares the field name and the answer on each order line with yours, ignoring upper and lower case, extra spaces, the style of dash and invisible characters. Everything else must match: Massage therapist, licensed doesn't match Massage therapist, and there is no partial matching.
The safest way to get them right is to copy them from a real order, as in step 1.
What happens to each order
Alva Courses checks the field on every order line that includes the course when the order is paid:
- An answer marked Enrols. The buyer is enrolled. If the answer has its own design, it is attached to their enrolment.
- An answer marked Does not enrol. That order line doesn't enrol the buyer in this course. If another product in the same order includes the course, that product still enrols them, unless its own answer is also marked Does not enrol.
- An answer that isn't in your list. The buyer is enrolled as if the course had no field. Alva Courses notes the order for our support team but doesn't store the buyer's answer.
- No field on the order line, for example on an order you created by hand or one from another sales channel. The buyer is enrolled as usual.
The thank-you page and the order status page don't show the course for an order line whose answer is marked Does not enrol. Nothing else about the order changes: it isn't refunded or cancelled.
If you automatically fulfil course orders, Alva Courses fulfils only orders in which every line is a course. A line whose answer is marked Does not enrol no longer counts as one, so Alva Courses leaves that order for you to fulfil.
Which certificate a student gets
Alva Courses picks the design when a paid order enrols the student, in this order:
- An answer with its own design. That design. It wins over a variant's design and over a certificate named by a collection policy rule.
- An answer without one, or no field. The variant's own design if they bought one, otherwise a collection rule's certificate, the course design, or the store default if the course has none.
- Joined any other way. Members added with Add Member, imported with Bulk Import CSV or enrolled through a membership tag get the course design, or the store default.
If one order has two lines for the same course, the student is enrolled once and given the design of the first line whose answer has a design of its own.
A student who is already enrolled when they buy keeps the design they have. That includes someone you added by hand, by CSV or with a membership tag, and someone whose order you refunded who buys again. To give them an answer's design, choose it on their member page.
A purchase after the student's access has expired is the exception. If the new answer has its own design, they get it. If not, a design from an earlier answer or variant purchase is replaced by what the new order gives, while a design you chose on their member page stays.
When you change answers later
- Renaming an answer keeps its design, and the students who have that design keep it too.
- Removing an answer also removes its certificate design, and the card warns you before it saves. Students who had that design get the course design, or the store default, from then on.
- Switching an answer between Enrols and Does not enrol affects new orders only, and students already enrolled keep their access. The thank-you and order status pages check your current list, so an older order's pages can then differ from what happened at purchase. Switching an answer that has its own design to Does not enrol also removes that design, and the card warns you before it saves. Students who had it get the course design, or the store default, from then on.
- Editing a design changes it for everyone who has it, because certificates are drawn when they are downloaded or emailed. A PDF already emailed keeps its old look.
- Removing the field: clear the field name, remove every answer and click Save product page field. That also removes every answer's design.
Duplicating a course doesn't copy its product page field or its answer designs. Set them up again on the copy once it has its own linked products.
Change one student's design
Alva Courses lets you give any single student a different design from their member page, for example after a wrong answer or for someone you added by hand.
- Open Alva Courses, go to Members and open the student.
- In the course's row, click Edit in the Access deadline column.
- In the Access deadline window, choose a Certificate design, for example an answer's design such as Athletic trainer design. Click Save.
- Click Resend in the Certificate column to email the certificate with the new design.
The row then shows the design in use, for example Certificate: Athletic trainer design. The Certificate column of the members CSV export shows the same design, such as Athletic trainer design.
When to use variants instead
If buyers already choose their credential or track as a product option, a certificate per variant does the same job with no field to set up. A product page field suits a choice that shouldn't become a variant, for example on a product whose stock Shopify tracks per variant.
What learners see
Students answer the field on the product page and download their certificate from the course as before. The PDF, and the certificate email if it is on, use the design attached to their enrolment.
Common questions
Do I need a product options app?
Only if your theme can't add the field. Alva Courses reads any product page field that is saved with the order, whichever theme or app adds it. If the answer shows under the product on the order page in Shopify admin, Alva Courses can read it.
What if a buyer's answer isn't in my list?
They are enrolled as if the course had no field, and get the certificate they would get without it. Alva Courses notes the order for our support team but doesn't store the buyer's answer. Add the answer to the card for later orders, and change that student's design on their member page if they need a different one.
Does an answer marked Does not enrol cancel the order?
No. It only stops that order line from enrolling the buyer in that course. Alva Courses doesn't refund or cancel anything, and another product in the same order that includes the course still enrols the buyer, unless its own answer is also marked Does not enrol.
Which design wins if the student also bought a variant with its own design?
The answer's design. An answer with its own design wins over a variant's design, a collection rule's certificate and the course design.
Do students who bought before I set up the field get an answer design?
No. Alva Courses chooses the design with the paid order that enrols a student, so earlier buyers keep the design they have. To change one of them, open the student under Members, choose the design in the Access deadline window and resend the certificate.
Which plans include product page fields?
All of them. Product page fields and answer designs work on every Alva Courses plan, like variant designs.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-30