Credentials management
Fix a name on a certificate you have already issued
Corrections always come. Someone's name was misspelled, someone married, a registration form ate a diacritic. On a credential that lives at a permanent URL, fixing it does not break anything the recipient has already shared.
Why corrections are usually painful
When a certificate is a file, a correction creates a second file. The original is already in somebody's inbox, possibly attached to a job application, possibly forwarded to an employer who now holds a version you have replaced. There is no mechanism that reaches it. You send the new one and hope it wins.
That is why organisations get defensive about corrections, and why recipients get told their misspelled name is not worth reissuing. The reluctance is rational when every fix multiplies the number of versions in circulation.
A credential that lives at an address rather than in an attachment inverts this. There is one record, at one URL, and correcting it corrects what everybody sees next time they look.
What happens when you send us a correction
Four things, in this order. The fourth is the one that matters.
1. The details are corrected
Recipient name, award details, issue date, or the per-recipient description. Names are the usual case: a misspelling, a marriage, a legal change, a diacritic dropped by a registration form.
2. The certificate is regenerated
A fresh PDF and PNG are produced from the corrected record and replace the originals, so the file behind the credential is right as well as the page.
3. The credential is re-signed
The signature covers the recipient's name, so a corrected credential is signed again under the issuing organisation's key. Without that step verification would fail against the very details we just fixed.
4. The verification URL does not move
The credential keeps its ID, so its address is unchanged. Every link already shared, whether in an inbox, on a CV, or on a LinkedIn profile, keeps working and now shows the corrected credential.
One consequence worth knowing in advance: a recipient is one person, identified by their email address, and their name is stored once. If they hold three credentials from you, correcting their name corrects all three. That is almost always what you want, and it is occasionally a surprise.
What a correction cannot fix
A permanent URL fixes the record. It does not reach copies that have already left.
- Files already downloaded. A PDF saved to somebody's laptop before the correction still shows the old name. Nothing can change that. What changes is that the link printed on it now resolves to the corrected credential, so anyone who checks sees the right details.
- Cached social previews. LinkedIn and X cache the preview card for a URL. After a correction the card can lag for a while, showing the old name beside a page that shows the new one. It clears; it is not instant.
- A recipient's email address. Email is what identifies a recipient across everything they hold, so it is not edited in place. A credential issued to the wrong address is reissued to the right one rather than moved.
- A credential issued to the wrong person. That is not a correction, it is a withdrawal followed by a fresh issuance. Editing the name on it would leave the original recipient's credential silently pointing at somebody else.
Sending a correction
Send the credential ID or the verification link, and the corrected details. For a batch, send the list and we will run the whole set at once. That covers a cohort where a spreadsheet column arrived in the wrong case, or an award renamed after issuance.
Most corrections are cheaper to avoid than to make. Creating certificates in bulk covers the data checks that catch names before they are printed, and credential verification covers what the recipient's link does once it is right.
Frequently asked questions
- Does correcting a certificate change its verification link?
- No. The credential keeps its ID, so its address is unchanged. Every link already shared, whether in an inbox, on a CV, or on a LinkedIn profile, keeps working and now shows the corrected credential. This is the practical advantage of a credential that lives at a permanent URL rather than as a file in an attachment.
- What happens to the PDF a recipient already downloaded?
- It still shows the old details, and nothing can change that. What changes is that the verification link printed on it resolves to the corrected credential, so anyone who checks sees the right details. The file behind the credential is also regenerated, so a fresh download is correct.
- A recipient holds several credentials from us. Does a name fix apply to all of them?
- Yes. A recipient is one person identified by their email address, and their name is stored once, so correcting it corrects every credential they hold from you. That is almost always what you want, and it is occasionally a surprise.
- Can you change a recipient's email address?
- Not in place. Email is what identifies a recipient across everything they hold, so a credential issued to the wrong address is reissued to the right one rather than moved. Similarly, a credential issued to the wrong person is withdrawn and issued afresh, not edited, since renaming it would leave the original recipient's credential pointing at somebody else.
- Is the corrected credential still cryptographically signed?
- Yes. The signature covers the recipient's name, so a corrected credential is signed again under the issuing organisation's key as part of the correction. Without that step, verification would fail against exactly the details that were just fixed.
Issue credentials you can correct without reissuing
We will show you a live credential, correct a detail on it, and let you watch the original link keep working.