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+Web (HTML) course certificates
+==============================
+
+Status
+------
+Proposed
+
+Background
+----------
+edX-platform currently has code for both PDF and web (or HTML) course
+certificates. Over time, much of the PDF certificate code has been deprecated
+or disabled. In particular, edX-platform has not supported the generation of
+PDF course certificates for some time.
+
+Decision
+--------
+In the future, all code related to PDF certificates will be removed from
+edx-platform. Only web certificates will be able to be generated or viewed.
+First, the code to generate PDF certificates will be removed. Later, the code
+to view existing PDF certificates will also be removed.
+
+All course runs that use course certificates should be configured to use web
+certificates.
+
+Configuring web certificates
+----------------------------
+To configure web certificates, follow the documentation to `Enable Course
+Certificates`_ and `Set Up Certificates in Studio`_.
+
+In particular, the following things must be true in order for a web certificate
+to be viewable:
+
+* The *CERTIFICATES_HTML_VIEW* feature is globally enabled
+* The course run has web certificates enabled
+* The course run has at least 1 certificate created and activated
+
+To enable the *CERTIFICATES_HTML_VIEW* feature, follow the instructions to
+`Enable Course Certificates`_.
+
+To ensure that a course run has web certificates enabled, follow the
+instructions to `Set Up Certificates in Studio`_. In particular, follow the
+steps to *Enable a Certificate*. This will result in the course run's course
+overview having *cert_html_view_enabled* set to True
+
+To ensure that a course run has at least 1 certificate created and activated,
+follow the instructions to `Set Up Certificates in Studio`_. In particular,
+follow the steps to *Create a Certificate* and to *Activate a Certificate*.
+This will result in the course run's course overview having
+*has_any_active_web_certificate* set to True
+
+To find any course runs with downloadable certificates that might need to be
+updated, you can run a query similar to this:
+
+.. code-block:: SQL
+
+    select distinct
+        cert.course_id
+    from
+        CERTIFICATES_GENERATEDCERTIFICATE as cert
+    join
+        COURSE_OVERVIEWS_COURSEOVERVIEW as overview
+    on
+        cert.course_id = overview.id
+    where
+        cert.status = 'downloadable'
+    and
+    (
+        overview.cert_html_view_enabled = False
+    or
+        overview.has_any_active_web_certificate = False
+    )
+    order by
+        cert.course_id
+
+Viewing a web certificate
+-------------------------
+To manually view a downloadable web certificate, first determine your site's
+base URL. For edX, this is ``https://courses.edx.org/``
+
+Next, find the desired certificate in the CERTIFICATES_GENERATEDCERTIFICATE
+database table.
+
+To view the certificate, find the *verify_uuid* from the table, then construct
+a URL by appending */certificates/verify_uuid* to the base URL. For example,
+the URL for edX will look like this:
+``https://courses.edx.org/certificates/verify_uuid``
+
+The web certificate will not be viewable if the course run is not
+properly configured for web certificates. If this is the case, follow the
+instructions above to configure the course run for web certificates.
+
+Consequences
+------------
+To use course certificates, follow the documentation to `Enable Course
+Certificates`_ and `Set Up Certificates in Studio`_.
+
+All course runs that use course certificates should be configured to use web
+certificates.
+
+Once the code to generate and view PDF certificates is removed, only web
+certificates will be able to be generated or viewed.
+
+References
+----------
+Documentation for enabling course certificates:
+
+* `Enable Course Certificates`_
+* `Set Up Certificates in Studio`_
+
+PRs that deprecated or disabled PDF certificates:
+
+* `Disable PDF certificate generation`_
+* `Deprecate web certificate setting`_
+
+Related DEPR (edX deprecation process) tickets:
+
+* `Remove PDF generation code`_
+
+.. _Enable Course Certificates: https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-installing-configuring-and-running/en/latest/configuration/enable_certificates.html
+.. _Deprecate web certificate setting: https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/pull/17285
+.. _Disable PDF certificate generation: https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/pull/19833
+.. _Set Up Certificates in Studio: https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/open-edx-building-and-running-a-course/en/latest/set_up_course/studio_add_course_information/studio_creating_certificates.html
+.. _Remove PDF generation code: https://openedx.atlassian.net/browse/DEPR-155