How to Add a Certificate to a Person

In this article:

• Overview
• Before you start
• How to add a Certificate to someone's profile
• How people add their own Certificates
• How to edit or remove a Certificate
• Things to keep in mind
• FAQs
• Who can do this

Overview

Most Certificates are awarded automatically when someone completes the learning they're attached to. But people also earn qualifications outside SuperPath — a first aid course run by an external provider, a licence renewed with a governing body, a certification from a previous employer. Adding a Certificate manually records those against the person's profile so they appear alongside everything else they've earned, and feed into your Certificates reporting.

You control whether manual adding is available at all, and who can do it, from Settings → Features. You can also open it up so your people record their own Certificates without going through an Admin.

Before you start

Certificates must be enabled for your account, and manual adding must be switched on. Both live in Settings → Features → Certificates:

• Enable Certificates on your account — turns the whole feature on.
• Allow certificates to be added manually — when this is off, nobody can hand-add a Certificate to anyone, including Admins. Certificates are then only ever awarded automatically on completion.
• Who can add certificates — choose Everyone, Managers & Admins (the default) or Admin Only.

Choosing Everyone is what lets your people add Certificates to their own profile.

How to add a Certificate to someone's profile

1. In the left-hand menu, click People.
2. Select the person you want to add a Certificate for.
3. Open the Certificates tab on their profile.
4. Click Add certificates.
5. Choose the Certificate from the Select existing certificate list. If the one you need doesn't exist yet and you have permission to create Certificates, click Create New Certificate beside the list to add it without leaving the screen.
6. Optionally set a Date awarded and an Expiry Date. If the Certificate has an expiry period configured, selecting a date awarded fills the expiry date in for you.
7. Optionally upload a Certificate File — a scan or PDF of the qualification, which becomes the file the person opens from their Certificates list.
8. Click Add Certificate.

Note: The Certificate must already exist in your account before you can record it against someone. Certificates are created under Settings → Features → Manage Certificates — see How to Create, Edit or Delete a Certificate.

How people add their own Certificates

When Who can add certificates is set to Everyone, your people can record their own qualifications from their profile:

1. Open your Profile.
2. Select the Certificates tab.
3. Click Add certificates.
4. Choose a Certificate from the list, optionally set the dates, and optionally upload a file as evidence.
5. Click Add Certificate.

People can only choose from the Certificates your organisation has already set up — they can't create new ones. If the list is empty they'll see "No certificates are available yet. Contact your administrator to have one added", and if the list simply doesn't contain what they need there's a hint pointing them the same way.

Certificates someone adds for themselves are recorded as self-added, which keeps them distinguishable from the ones SuperPath awarded automatically. That matters for the editing rules below, and it means a self-declared qualification is never mistaken for a verified completion in your reporting.

How to edit or remove a Certificate

On the Certificates tab, each row has actions at the end:

• Edit (pencil) — change the dates or the attached file. The Certificate itself can't be swapped once the record exists.
• Delete (bin) — remove the record. You'll be asked to confirm.

Who sees these depends on who added the record. Someone editing their own profile only sees Edit and Delete on Certificates they added themselves — they can't change or remove one SuperPath awarded them, or one an Admin recorded for them. Admins and Managers can edit and remove records for the people they look after.

Note: If Allow certificates to be added manually is switched off later, people also lose the ability to edit and delete their own self-added Certificates. The records stay on their profile; only the actions go.

Things to keep in mind

• Manual adding is off-limits to everyone when Allow certificates to be added manually is switched off — the Add certificates button disappears for Admins too.
• The default access level is Managers & Admins, so if you want your people recording their own Certificates you need to change it to Everyone deliberately.
• Restricted users can never add a Certificate, whatever the access level is set to.
• Uploading a file is optional. Without one the Certificate still appears on the person's profile and in reporting; there just isn't a document to open.
• A Certificate added manually isn't linked to a completion, so it has no score and can't be regenerated from a template — see How to Regenerate a Certificate.

FAQs

Why can't I see the Add certificates button?
Either Certificates aren't enabled for your account, Allow certificates to be added manually is switched off, or your role isn't included in the Who can add certificates access level. All three are under Settings → Features → Certificates.

Can my people add any Certificate they like?
They can only choose from the Certificates your organisation has already created — they can't invent new ones. What you put in that list is what they can claim.

Can I tell which Certificates people added themselves?
Yes. SuperPath records how each Certificate got there — awarded automatically, added by an Admin, or self-added — and uses it to decide who can edit or delete the record.

Does adding a Certificate manually generate a PDF?
No. Automatic template generation only happens when a Certificate is awarded on completion. When you add one by hand, the file is whatever you upload — or nothing at all.

What happens if someone leaves and comes back?
Their Certificates stay on their profile, including manually added ones, as long as the user record itself isn't deleted.

Who can do this

Two things have to line up: the Who can add certificates access level in Settings → Features, and the role's own permission.

At the default Managers & Admins level, Owners, Admins, Managers, Content Managers, People Managers and Instructors pass the access-level check. At Admin Only it's just Owners and Admins. At Everyone, every role passes except Restricted users, who have no permission to create a Certificate record at all.

Permission then decides whose profile they can add to. Owners and Admins can add a Certificate for anyone in the account. Managers and People Managers can add for the people who report to them, and for themselves. Content Managers, Instructors, Employees and Members can only add to their own profile. Editing and deleting follow the same rules, with the extra condition that people can only change or remove Certificates they added themselves.

Changing the settings under Settings → Features is limited to Owners and Admins.

Updated on: 11/08/2026