When a trainee finishes a course, you can produce a completion certificate for them as a PDF. The certificate uses your own layout, wording, colours and logo, and carries a certificate ID. Anyone holding that ID, such as an auditor or a customer’s QA manager, can check on a public QTRACA page that the certificate is genuine and still current, without needing a login.
Where to find it: produce a certificate from Training > Trainees: open the trainee, then the Courses tab. Layouts are managed under Setup > Training > Certificate Templates. The verification page is public and is described below.
Concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Certificate | A PDF printed for one completed course assignment. It is produced when you ask for it and is not stored, so you can produce it again at any time. |
| Certification | Not the same thing. A certification is an outside qualification you record against a trainee, such as a forklift licence. See Managing Trainee Certifications. |
| Certificate template | The layout a certificate is printed with: wording, signature lines, colours and logo. Templates are shared by every site in the account. |
| Default template | The template used for any course without a category template of its own. There is always exactly one while any templates exist. |
| Category template | A template assigned to a course category. It is used instead of the default for courses in that category. |
| Certificate ID | CERT-<year>-<record id>, printed on the certificate and checked by the verification page. |
Quick start
- Open Setup > Training > Certificate Templates, click New Template, fill in the wording and logo, and click Create Template. Your first template becomes the default automatically.
- Open Training > Trainees, choose a trainee and open the Courses tab.
- On a completed course, click the certificate icon (Generate Certificate). The PDF downloads.
- To check it, scan the QR code on the certificate with a phone camera. It opens the verification page for that certificate.
Certificate templates
Each card shows the template’s name, a Default badge on the default, a small preview, the Category it applies to (All Categories for a general template) and its two colours. The buttons along the bottom are:
- Preview (eye): opens a sample PDF with placeholder names in a new tab.
- Edit: opens the template.
- Set as Default (tick): makes this the default and removes the badge from the previous one. Not shown on the default itself.
- Delete (bin): asks Are you sure you want to delete the template "<name>"? Not shown on the default.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Template Name * | For your own reference; it is not printed. |
| Training Category | All Categories, or one course category to use this layout for that category’s courses. |
| Default Template | Use as default. When you edit the current default the switch is locked on. To change the default, set another template as the default instead. |
| Logo | Upload a PNG or JPEG under 512 KB, or click Use Company Logo. With no logo, the company logo from your account settings is printed. |
| Header Text, Subheader Text, Body Text | The wording above the trainee’s name, between the name and the course, and so on. Left empty, they print as “CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION”, “This is to certify that” and “has successfully completed the training program”. |
| Signature Line 1 / 2 | Labels under the two signature lines, for example Training Coordinator and Site Manager. The lines are left blank for a wet signature. |
| Footer Text | Optional line at the bottom. |
| Border Color / Accent Color | Navy Blue, Blue, Green, Purple, Gold, Red, Gray or Black. The border colour is also used for the heading, and the accent colour for the course name. |
Live Preview updates as you type. Full Preview (PDF) opens the complete layout.
Which template a certificate uses
- A template assigned to the course’s category, if there is one.
- Otherwise the default template.
- Otherwise, when the account has no templates, a built-in layout. A certificate can always be produced.
Rules about the default
- The first template you create becomes the default, even if you did not tick Use as default.
- Making another template the default removes the default from the old one.
- The default has no Delete button and cannot be deleted while other templates exist, because courses would be left without a layout. To retire it, set another template as the default first, then delete the old one.
Producing a certificate
On the trainee’s Courses tab, the certificate icon (Generate Certificate, the fourth button) appears only on courses whose status is Completed or Signed. That covers quizzes, document courses, and practical assessments that have been passed. A course that is still assigned has no certificate icon, because there is nothing to certify yet.
Click it and a PDF named Certificate_<First>_<Last>_<Course>_<date>.pdf downloads, with the message Certificate generated successfully!. The certificate is landscape A4 and shows:
- the logo, header and subheader from the template;
- the trainee’s name and the course name;
- Score: N%, for quiz courses only;
- Completed on and the date the course was completed;
- the two signature lines, with a QR code and the certificate ID between them, and the footer text.
The certificate ID
The ID looks like CERT-2026-646afe14-53b7-4338-a67a-485295aeeda7. It is printed in full under the QR code, and the whole certificate fits on one page.
- The long part after the year identifies the trainee’s completion record. It is random, so nobody can guess other certificate IDs from one they hold.
- The year is the year the course was completed, so printing the certificate again gives exactly the same ID. The verification page ignores the year, so certificates printed before this was the rule, which carry the year they were printed, still verify.
- The same IDs are listed in the Certificate # column of the Audit-Ready Compliance Report. See Running Training Reports.
The verification page
Certificate Verification is a public page. It needs no login and works for someone with a login to a different company’s QTRACA. The QR code on each certificate opens this page with the certificate already checked. Without the printed certificate, a verifier can use the address you open QTRACA with followed by /verify/ and the certificate ID. They can also open /verify on its own and type the ID into Verify Another Certificate.
The four results
| Result | When |
|---|---|
| Valid Certificate | The completion record exists, is still completed or signed, and has not expired. |
| Certificate Expired | The course recurs (annually, for example) and the completion date plus the recurrence period is before today. The details are still shown, with the expiration date marked Expired. |
| Certificate Revoked | The record still exists but is no longer completed or signed. |
| Certificate Not Found | The ID is not in the right form, or no such record exists, including a record that has been deleted. The page says: “The certificate ID you provided could not be found. Please check the certificate ID and try again.” |
What a valid or expired certificate shows
| Line | Source |
|---|---|
| Certificate Holder | The trainee’s name |
| Training Program | The course name |
| Score Achieved | Quiz courses only |
| Completion Date / Issue Date | Both are the date the course was completed |
| Issued By | The company name in your account settings; failing that the account name; failing that the course’s site name |
| Expiration Date | Only for recurring courses: the completion date plus the recurrence period |
The page never shows email addresses, the site, or any other internal detail.
A revoked certificate shows only that it is revoked
For a revoked certificate the page deliberately leaves out the name, course and dates. It shows only Certificate Revoked and “This certificate has been revoked and is no longer valid. Please contact the issuing organization for more information.” Someone holding an old certificate learns only that it no longer stands, not whose it was or what it was for.
Availability and permissions
- Needs the Training module.
- Certificate Template Settings opens for Administrators and Training Coordinators. They are also the only roles that can create, change, delete or set the default template. Other staff (not operators) can read templates, which is what lets their certificates print with your layout.
- Generate Certificate is available to anyone who can open the trainee’s Courses tab.
- The verification page is open to everyone. It keeps working if the account’s subscription later lapses: a certificate earned while you had Training does not stop being genuine.
Things to know
- The QR code points at the address the certificate was produced from. Generate certificates from your normal QTRACA address, not from a test or bookmarked alternative, so the code opens a page verifiers can reach.
- Nothing is stored when you generate a certificate. There is no list of issued certificates. The completion record is the certificate, so producing it again gives the same ID.
- Revoked means the completion no longer stands. To withdraw a certificate, the trainee’s completion has to stop being completed. Deleting the course record instead makes the certificate read Certificate Not Found.
- Renewing does not cancel the old certificate. A renewal is a new record. The old certificate keeps verifying until its own expiry date.
- Only course completions have certificates. Document training (read and acknowledge, document quizzes) does not produce one.
- Templates cover every site. A template cannot be limited to one site; use a course category to vary the layout instead.
- Colours set outside the list may show blank when editing. The template still prints with its saved colour until you choose a new one.