How Alva Courses recognises a student
Alva Courses recognises a student in one of two ways: by the personal access code in their course link, or by the Shopify customer account they are signed in to. Either way, it then opens the courses that student is enrolled in.
Enrolment belongs to the Shopify customer who placed the order. Free courses open for anyone, Free With Account courses need the student to be recognised, and One Time Purchase courses also need an enrolment. See Course pricing types.
The access link in the enrolment email
The quickest way in is the button in the enrolment email, Start Learning Now unless you have changed it. It opens the course with the student's personal access code added to the link, so it works with no Shopify customer account, even after a guest checkout.
The code identifies the student, not one course: it opens every course they are enrolled in at your store, and Back to Courses lists them all. After the first visit, that browser remembers them, so they can return to yourstore.com/apps/alva/courses without the email.
The link is personal. Anyone who opens it is treated as that student and records progress in their name, so ask students not to forward it.
Signing in to the Shopify customer account
Students can also sign in to your store's Shopify customer account with the email they used at checkout, then open your courses page (see Add a courses page to your theme). Alva Courses matches them to their Shopify customer record, so there is no second password to create.
Shopify decides how the sign-in works, such as the one-time code that new customer accounts email; Alva Courses only needs the student to be signed in. Courses granted by membership tags are listed once the student signs in, because the tag lives on their customer record.
Buttons after checkout and in the customer account
Alva Courses' checkout and account extensions add ready-made ways in. The thank-you page's course button (Go To Course by default) uses the same personal access link as the email, so it works even after a guest checkout. In the customer account, an order's View Courses button lists its courses, each with a Go to Course button that carries the same link.
The My Courses page in the customer account is for signed-in students. It lists their courses as cards, or shows a Go to my courses button that opens your courses page. You add all three through Settings → Extensions: see Thank-you and order-status extensions and My Courses in the customer account.
What a signed-out visitor sees
A visitor who is not signed in, and has not opened an access link on that browser, sees a sign-in prompt instead of their courses. Each prompt's button opens your store's Shopify customer sign-in page, set to return them to the same page afterwards.
| Where | Message | Button |
|---|---|---|
| Your courses page | "Log in to access your purchased courses" | Log In |
| A Free With Account course | "This course requires you to be logged in to access it." | Log In to Continue |
| A One Time Purchase course | "Log in to access your course content." | Log In |
On the courses page, signed-out visitors see only your published Free courses. Free With Account courses appear once they sign in, and opening one enrols them automatically.
A signed-out visitor can watch a Free course, but at the end the player asks them to log in to track their progress and earn the certificate. If you have changed these default wordings in storefront text, students see yours.
The common mix-up: signing in with a different email
A common cause of "I bought it but can't get in" is a student signing in with a different email from the one they used at checkout. The course belongs to the Shopify customer on the order, so another address is a different customer, with no enrolment.
Because they are signed in, the courses page shows no prompt, but the paid course is missing, and opening it still says "Log in to access your course content." Ask them to sign out and back in with their order email, or to open their enrolment email link.
To check which address they bought with, open Members in Alva Courses and find the student. If the email is wrong, follow Student cannot access their course.
Common questions
Does the access link expire?
No. The link has no time limit, which is why students should keep it to themselves. What it opens follows their enrolments, so a refunded course stops opening.
Can a student share their link?
They shouldn't. Whoever opens the link is treated as that student, sees all of their courses and records progress in their name. Ask students to keep it to themselves.
What happens when a student uses a new phone or computer?
Each browser remembers the student separately. On a new phone, computer or browser, or after clearing browser data, they open their enrolment email link again or sign in.
Do students need a Shopify customer account?
Not to watch a course from their access link. They sign in to use My Courses or their order history, or to open a Free With Account course without a link.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-09