How manual approval works
With approval on, a paid order still adds the buyer to the course, but as Awaiting approval. They can't open the course yet, and Alva Courses sends no enrolment email. When you approve them, access starts and the enrolment email goes out if Send enrollment emails is ticked.
Every new purchase that would start access waits, including one after a refund. A student who already has access and buys again isn't held.
Turn on approval for a course
1. Open the course's Pricing & access tab
In the Shopify admin, open Alva Courses, click Courses and open the course. Select the Settings tab, then the Pricing & access tab.
2. Tick Approve purchases manually before granting access
Under Enrolment approval, tick Approve purchases manually before granting access. The card appears only on courses priced as One Time Purchase.
3. Save your changes
Click Save in Shopify's save bar. Purchases from now on wait for your approval.
What buyers see while they wait
Buyers see the purchase marked as waiting wherever their courses appear, with no way into the course:
- Thank-you page: Awaiting the store's approval where the course button would be. When every course in the order is waiting, the banner reads "Thank you for your purchase! The store will approve your access shortly and let you know when your course is ready."
- Order status page: the View Courses panel shows Awaiting the store's approval instead of Go to Course.
- My Courses in the customer account: Awaiting the store's approval, with no button.
- Storefront course list: a greyed-out card labelled Awaiting Approval that can't be clicked.
- Opening the course directly: "Your purchase is awaiting approval." and a Back to Courses button.
The first three appear only if you have added those extensions; see Thank-you and order status extensions. You can reword all of this in storefront text.
Approve waiting purchases
1. Open the course's Members tab
Open the course and select the Members tab. When purchases are waiting, a banner above the member list says how many are awaiting your approval.
2. Show only waiting purchases
Click Show awaiting approval in the banner, or choose Status, then Awaiting approval. Waiting students carry an Awaiting approval badge.
3. Select the students
Tick each student, or tick the checkbox at the top of the list to select everyone the filter shows, on every page. One approval takes up to 200 students.
4. Click Approve selected
Click Approve selected, check the count in the Approve access window and click Approve. A banner reports how many were approved, already active or refunded.
To approve one student, click Approve beside their badge and confirm. Or open them under Members, click Approve access below Purchase awaiting your approval and confirm. On Members, the Enrollment filter's Awaiting approval choice lists waiting students across every course.
What happens when you approve
Approval opens the course straight away and starts the enrolment as if the student had just bought it:
- Enrolment email. Alva Courses sends the usual enrolment email with the course link, if Send enrollment emails is ticked under Settings → Email Settings (it starts off). After a bulk approval the emails are queued and follow shortly.
- Start date. The enrolment date becomes the day you approve, so drip-fed lessons and the course's Access Duration count from approval. Subscription deadlines and deadlines you set by hand keep their date.
- Shopify Flow. The Course enrollment created trigger fires at approval, not at purchase.
- Tags. Progress tags, if the course uses them, are added at approval. A Customer Tagging purchase tag is added at purchase, as usual.
If the student's access deadline had already passed, Alva Courses still approves the purchase but sends no enrolment email, and tells you so.
Refunds and who is never held
A refund always wins. Refund the course's line in full in Shopify and the purchase leaves the waiting list and can't be approved; a bulk approval counts it as refunded. If the customer buys again, the new purchase waits again.
Only a paid order is held. These students get in straight away:
- Members you add with Add Member.
- Members imported with Bulk Import CSV.
- Customers who get in through a membership tag. A tagged customer who also buys the course can still be held; approve them as usual.
- Students enrolled by the Shopify Flow action Enroll customer in course.
Optional emails while a purchase waits
Alva Courses has two emails for waiting purchases, both off until you turn them on.
- To the buyer. In Settings → Email Settings, click Edit Email Template, open the Awaiting-approval email tab, tick Send this email when a purchase is awaiting my approval and save. It goes once per order, has no course link, and needs Send enrollment emails ticked too.
- To you. In Settings → Email Settings, under Evaluation Notifications, tick Email me when a purchase is awaiting my approval and enter a Notification email address, the address evaluation notifications use. Each alert links to the course's Members tab, filtered to waiting purchases.
Approve automatically with Shopify Flow
The Alva Courses Flow action Enroll customer in course approves a waiting purchase, so a workflow can approve for you. It sends the enrolment email whatever its Send the course access email box says, as long as Send enrollment emails is on.
For example, build Enroll tagged customers in a course: adding the tag to a buyer in Shopify then approves their waiting purchase, and the run's result says it was awaiting approval.
Common questions
Do students who already have access need approving?
No. Approval applies to new purchases only. Students already enrolled keep their access, and one who already has access and buys the course again isn't held.
How do I turn down a purchase?
There is no decline button. Refund the course's line in full in Shopify, after which that purchase can't be approved, or open the student under Members and unenroll them from the course.
What happens to waiting purchases if I switch approval off?
They keep waiting. Switching approval off only stops new purchases from being held, so approve the ones already waiting from the course's Members tab.
Why didn't the student get an email when I approved them?
The enrolment email needs Send enrollment emails ticked on the Email Settings tab of Settings, and that box starts unticked. The email is also skipped if the student's access deadline had already passed.
Does duplicating a course copy the approval setting?
Yes. Duplicate Course copies the switch, so the copy holds new purchases too until you untick it.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-20