What does annual recertification need in LearnDash?
Two pieces. First, each certificate needs an expiry date, counted from the day that student completed. Second, when the date gets close, the student needs a way to renew without asking you what to do.
LearnDash has neither. Its certificates don’t expire, and there’s no renewal step, so the usual set-up is a spreadsheet of dates and a support inbox full of “how do I renew?” emails. Our guide on making LearnDash certificates expire covers the first piece. This one covers the second.
What are the ways a student can renew?
In practice there are three, and different courses on the same site often need different ones.
- Retake the whole course. Right when the content changes every year or a regulator expects the full training again.
- Pass a short recertification quiz. Right when the skill hasn’t changed and you only need proof the student still knows it. A short check beats a four-hour course nobody reads twice.
- Pay to renew. Right when renewal is part of your business model, with or without a quiz. The renewal price can be lower than the first certificate.
The route is set per course, not per site. On our test site, the fire safety course renews with a short quiz called Fire Safety Recertification Quiz, while other courses keep the default of retaking the whole course.
Quiz or full retake: how do you choose?
Start with what the certificate is evidence of. If an inspector or insurer would ask whether the person sat the training this year, a quiz won’t satisfy them, and the full course is the honest route. If what matters is that the person still knows the procedure, a quiz proves that more directly than clicking through slides they’ve seen before.
Then look at what changed. When the content is rewritten every year (new regulations, a new process), students have to see it, so they retake the course. When it hasn’t changed, a quiz respects their time, and a renewal that takes minutes is easier to fit in than one that takes an afternoon.
Finally, think about the failure case. A student who fails a recertification quiz can take it again. A student who can’t find time for a full retake simply lapses, so for long courses, start the reminders months ahead.
How do you set up a recertification quiz?
Build the quiz in LearnDash as part of the course, the same way you’d build any quiz. Keep it short and focused on the parts that matter for safety or compliance, and set a pass mark you’d be comfortable defending.
With LearnDash Certificate Renewal (full settings in its setup guide), you then open the course edit screen and find the Certificate Renewal box. Under How does a student renew an expired certificate?, choose Retake a specific recertification quiz only, and pick the quiz under Recertification quiz.
The quiz list only shows quizzes that belong to that course, and it won’t save a quiz from somewhere else. When a student passes it, their certification is renewed with a fresh expiry date.
What if the student has to retake the whole course?
Choose Retake the whole course, which is the default. The renewal link then opens the course page.
There’s a catch worth knowing before you choose it. Retaking doesn’t reset the student’s LearnDash progress. If they already completed every step last year, the course shows as complete and there’s nothing to redo. Either reset their progress in LearnDash when you want them to go through it again, or use the quiz route instead.
How do paid renewals work?
Choose Admin re-issues manually (one-click). With WooCommerce active and a renewal product set, the renewal link puts that product in the student’s cart. Paying for it renews the certificate.
Under WooCommerce product for paid renewal you can pick a separate product, for example a cheaper renewal. Leave it on “Same as the initial-issuance product” to charge the original price. The payment is released under the same rules as a first paid certificate: the order has to reach a status you’ve ticked on the Payment & Unlock tab in Certificate Expiry.
Two practical limits. Paid renewals are matched to the customer account on the order, so students need to be logged in at checkout; a guest order can’t be matched to anyone. And without WooCommerce there’s no paid route, so you renew these certificates by hand from the Certifications screen.
How does the renewal link in the reminder email work?
This is the part that stops the support emails. Certificate Expiry’s reminder templates support a {renewal_link} placeholder. With Certificate Renewal active, it becomes a signed link that:
- belongs to one student and one course,
- stays valid for 30 days, with a fresh link in each reminder,
- sends the student straight to the right place for that course’s renewal route,
- lands on a normal page, not an error, if someone edits it or uses it late.
The default templates already include the placeholder. If you’ve rewritten yours, check it’s still there. A reminder without a link is just a warning, and warnings are what create the support tickets.
When should the reminders go out?
Earlier than you think for a quiz or a payment, and much earlier for a full course retake. The default schedule is 180, 90 and 60 days before expiry. Each course can have its own, written as days before expiry, such as “90,30,7”.
Work backwards from how long renewal really takes. A student renewing by quiz needs a week at most. A student who has to redo a full day of training, and book the time off work to do it, needs months. The last reminder should arrive while there’s still time to act on it.
Reminders are sent by WordPress. If they go missing, set up an SMTP plugin before blaming the schedule, and check that WP-Cron runs on your host.
What happens if a student misses the date?
The certificate expires. Its status changes, the public verification page says expired, and, if you chose it on the course, course access ends.
Renewal still works after that, because the renewal settings are about renewing an expired certificate. The student can use the link from their last reminder while it’s within its 30 days. You can also extend or re-grant the certification yourself from the Certifications screen, for example after a student sends proof they renewed somewhere else.
Do you need both add-ons?
Yes. Certificate Renewal builds on Certificate Expiry’s certifications and settings, and without Expiry it shows a notice and does nothing. That’s why we also sell the two as the Expiry + Renewal bundle, which covers both with one licence key.
A short checklist before your first renewal cycle
- Each course awards a certificate with the right validity period.
- Each course has a renewal route that matches how the training really works.
- Recertification quizzes belong to their course and have a pass mark you can defend.
- Reminder templates include
{renewal_link}, and the schedule leaves enough time. - Paid renewals: WooCommerce is active, the renewal product is set, and students check out logged in.
- Test the whole loop with one student account before real certificates start expiring.
LearnDash Certificate Renewal. Quiz-based recertification and one-click signed renewal links for LearnDash Certificate Expiry.
View the add-on