Glossary
What Is Certificate Unlock Form?
In Verifycate, a certificate unlock form is a form a recipient must complete before their certificate is released — a survey, feedback or a testimonial — sent to each recipient as a private link.
Also called: unlock form, form gate, unlock responses
What it's for
Some certificates shouldn't be handed over until something is handed back: feedback after a workshop, a testimonial, a project, proof the course was finished. The usual method is issuing first and chasing later, and the chasing never ends — the certificate is already in their inbox, so why would they fill in the survey?
An unlock form reverses the order. The certificate is ready; the private link to it is behind one form. Submitting the form is what releases it. Completion rates stop being a hope and become a mechanism.
How it works
Each recipient you've added automatically receives a unique, private link to their form — no login, no shared link that leaks. The form is built from a preset or from scratch:
- Event feedback, course feedback, testimonial, NPS survey, project submission, or a custom form.
- Fields are whatever the moment calls for: text, ratings, number scales, file uploads, links, dates.
Then the release decision, which is the actual choice:
- Release automatically after submission. The moment they submit, the certificate is issued and emailed. High trust, zero review work.
- Review before release. Submissions land in an inbox — Unlock Responses — where you accept and release, or reject with a reason. Rejected recipients get a fresh link and a "changes requested" state, so the conversation happens in the flow instead of over email.
A response accepted and released spends one credit, exactly like any other issue.
One boundary worth knowing
An unlock form goes to people already on your list. It never creates a new recipient, and nobody can find it by accident — each link belongs to one person. For people who aren't on the list yet and want in, that's the request form's job.
The form, the private links, the responses inbox and the rejection flow are all part of one certificate. Statuses on the recipient list make the queue legible: who's been sent a link, who's submitted, who's been asked for changes, who's waiting on you. Responses export in bulk when someone upstream wants the spreadsheet.
Everything on this page runs in Verifycate. The first 300 certificates are free, no card. Start for free
Common questions
- What if someone never completes the unlock form?
- Their certificate simply stays pending — visible on your list as waiting, never issued, never charged for. You can switch the form off at any point and issue everyone who's waiting immediately.
- Can two people share one unlock link?
- No. Every recipient gets their own private link to their own form. There is no shared link to forward, which is also why responses can be trusted as coming from that person's email.
- What happens when I reject a response?
- The recipient is told what to change and gets a fresh link to resubmit. Their certificate stays pending until you accept a response.
- Is the unlock form a paid feature?
- Forms are available on the Pro plan. Issuing through a form costs the same one credit per certificate as issuing directly.
Related terms
- Certificate RecipientIn Verifycate, a certificate recipient is one person on a certificate's list — the record carrying their name, contact details, attribute values and status from import through issue to verification.
- Certificate Request FormIn Verifycate, a certificate request form is a public application form for people who want your certificate: approved requests are issued, and the applicant's answers become the details printed on the copy.
- AttributeIn Verifycate, an attribute is a named piece of data — a recipient's name, a course title, a score — whose value gets printed onto each certificate through a placeholder in the template.
- Certificate VerificationCertificate verification is confirming that a certificate was really issued by the organisation it names, to the person it names, and hasn't been altered since.
Release certificates only after the feedback arrives.
Private unlock links, a responses inbox, automatic or reviewed release. Free to set up — 300 credits to start, no card.
“We issued 2,000+ certificates for InCTF — winners, participants, the lot.” — Aravind BL, Amrita InCTF
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