When you’re reviewing a user’s profile and selecting one of their certificates, you may occasionally see a message indicating “Failed to load PDF document".
This can occur during the certificate viewing process and is related to how the certificate has been configured at the academy level.
Understanding how certificate settings work will help you ensure that certificates are always accessible when viewed from a user profile.
When This Can Occur
This scenario can occur when:
You navigate to Manage Members
When in the Academy Workspace, select Academy Admin for all Academy Administration options.
Select Organization and then Manage Team Members.
You select View Profile for a user after selecting a user’s name.
From the user’s profile, select Go to ePortfolio, then locate the certificate under the Certificates tab.
The certificate is configured as an Advanced Custom Certificate at the academy level.
Advanced custom certificates rely on specific PDF formatting in order to display correctly.
Why This Happens
Advanced custom certificates are designed to work with PDF files that include form fields. These fields allow the platform to dynamically populate certificate data, such as user or course information.
If the uploaded PDF does not contain at least one form field, the certificate cannot be rendered for viewing, which results in the “Failed to load PDF document” message.
This behavior is expected and ensures that advanced custom certificates function as designed.
Recommended Guidance
You can easily ensure certificates display correctly by choosing one of the following options:
Option 1: Upload a PDF with Form Fields
Update the advanced custom certificate PDF to include at least one form field.
Once the updated PDF is uploaded, certificates will be viewable from the user profile.
Option 2: Use the Standard Certificate Setting
If advanced customization is not required, you can switch the certificate type from Advanced Custom Certificate to Standard Certificate.
This option allows certificates to be viewed without requiring form fields in the PDF.
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