How a variant design works
Alva Courses picks a student's certificate design when a paid order enrols them in the course. If the course has its own design for the variant they bought, that design is attached to their enrolment and used for their certificate. Otherwise they get the course design, or the store default if the course has none.
Only a variant linked to the course on its own, with a Variant badge, can be given a new design. The Variant select on the Certificates page lists those links and any design whose variant link was removed. It doesn't appear for a course whose products are all linked as a whole (All variants) and that has no variant designs.
Set up one certificate per variant
1. Add the option to the product in Shopify
In the Shopify admin, add an option such as Credential to the course's product, with one value per credential or track: for example Nurse, Physiotherapist and Other. Shopify creates a variant for each value, and the student picks one when they buy.
2. Link the variants that need their own certificate
In Alva Courses, open the course, then its Settings tab and the Pricing & access tab. In the Linked Products card, keep the product linked as a whole, marked All variants: that link enrols buyers of every variant, including those without a design of their own. If there is no such row, click Add Product, pick the product and tick every variant to add it.
Click Add Product, pick the same product and tick only the variants that need their own certificate. Each is added as a separate link with a Variant badge, and a buyer still gets the course once. Ticking every variant counts as the whole product, which is already linked, so if every variant needs its own certificate, add all but one, then the last one on its own.
3. Design each variant's certificate
Go to Settings → Email Settings and, under Certificate Email Template, click Edit Certificate Template. Choose the course in the Course select, then a variant in the Variant select below it.
Until you save, the variant shows the course design (or the store default) as a starting point. Change the background, layout, issuer name or email wording, then save. The variant's option now ends in · own design.
4. Keep the course design as the fallback
Choose Course design (all variants) in the Variant select to edit the design everyone else gets: buyers of a variant with no design of its own, and students enrolled any other way. A banner there counts the variants that have their own design and links to each.
5. Check each design
With each variant selected in turn, click Download Test Certificate. The PDF uses sample data and the saved design for that variant (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. A variant's design copies it from the design it started from when you first save it. Tick it on every design whose students should get their certificate by email; students can always download it from the course.
Which design a student gets
Alva Courses picks the design when a paid order enrols the student, in this order:
- Bought a variant with its own design. That design. It wins over a certificate named by a collection policy rule.
- Bought a variant without one. A collection rule's certificate if one applies, otherwise 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.
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 who later buys a variant, and someone whose order you refunded who buys again. To give them the new variant's design, choose it on their member page.
A purchase after the student's access has expired is the exception. If the new variant has its own design, they get it. If not, a design from an earlier variant purchase is replaced by the collection rule's certificate or the course design, while a design you chose on their member page stays.
When you change a design later
Giving a variant a design later doesn't change students who already bought it. To give them the new design, change it for each student on their member page, as shown below.
- 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.
- Remove this variant's design deletes it, and the students who had it get the course design (or the store default) instead. The button appears only on a variant with its own saved design.
Avoid Modify Variants on this product once it is set up, as it replaces the product's links with your new choice. It opens with every variant ticked, and saving with every variant ticked keeps only the whole-product link, so new buyers stop getting the variant designs. Tick some instead and the whole-product link goes, so the rest no longer grant the course.
Students who already have a variant design keep it, and the designs themselves are kept. Each stays in the Variant select, ending in · link removed, where you can still edit or remove it; it isn't given to new buyers until its variant is linked again. To undo the change, repeat step 2.
Change one student's design
Alva Courses lets you give any single student a different design from their member page, for example after a mistaken purchase 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: Automatic, Course design, a variant's design such as Nurse design, or Store default. 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: Nurse design. Automatic gives the course design, or the store default if the course has none; it doesn't restore a variant design given at purchase, so choose that variant's design instead.
Course design is listed only when the course has a design of its own. Resend works once the student has earned the certificate, and emails it only if that design's Enable Email box is ticked.
What learners see
Nothing changes in the storefront. Students choose their variant 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 students who bought before I added a variant design get it?
No. Alva Courses chooses the design with the paid order that enrols a student, so earlier buyers keep the course design. To change one of them, open the student under Members, choose the design in the Access deadline window and resend the certificate.
Can a product linked as a whole have a design per variant?
No. A whole-product link has no variant to attach a design to. Keep that link so every variant grants the course, and add the variants that need their own certificate as separate links with Add Product.
Which design wins if a collection rule also names a certificate?
The variant's own design. A collection policy rule's certificate applies only when the variant the student bought has no design of its own for that course.
What if one order includes two variants of the same course?
The student is enrolled once and given the design of the first variant on the order that has a design of its own. If they should have the other one, change it on their member page.
Do students I add by hand get a variant design?
No. Members you add with Add Member, import from CSV or enrol through a membership tag get the course design, or the store default if the course has none, and keep it if they buy a variant later. Choose the variant's design for them on their member page.
A student bought the wrong variant. How do I fix their certificate?
Change it on their member page: choose the right variant's design in the Access deadline window, save, then resend the certificate. Refunding the order and having them buy the right variant doesn't change the design, because buying again doesn't change the design a student already has.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-22