3 Ways to Automatically Generate Certificates With Bannerbear
Tired of creating certificates one by one? In this video, we'll show you 3 ways to generate professional certificates automatically using Bannerbear — no design skills or coding needed.
🎓 What you'll learn:
• Why certificate templates are the key to scaling your workflow
• How to use Bannerbear's free online certificate maker for quick, one-off certificates
• How to set up on-demand certificate generation using Bannerbear + Airtable (perfect for self-paced courses)
• How to batch-generate hundreds of certificates at once with Bannerbear's native Airtable integration
Choose your method:
• Free Tool – Great for a handful of certificates, no setup required
• On-Demand – Issue certificates sporadically to different people as needed
• Batch Processing – Generate certificates for large groups all at once
📌 Resources mentioned:
• Bannerbear free certificate maker: [https://www.bannerbear.com/generators/free-online-certificate-generator/]
• On-demand Airtable tutorial: [https://www.bannerbear.com/blog/how-to-generate-and-save-images-on-demand-in-airtable/]
• Batch processing Airtable tutorial: [https://www.bannerbear.com/blog/how-to-generate-bannerbear-images-with-airtable-integration-guide/]
🚀 Ready to get started? Sign up for your free Bannerbear trial at [bannerbear.com]
Feel free to swap in your actual links and adjust the tone as needed!
Video Transcription
[00:00:00] Certificates can offer a lot of value to students. They're used to prove learning ability, showcase newfound skills, and celebrate accomplishments. If you're offering an online course, immersion program, or even a skill-based class, giving out certificates at the conclusion can be a great idea. The problem?
Issuing certificates manually is quite the time sink. When you're generating one by one or worried about needing design skills that you don't have, there's a better way. And guess what? It doesn't require any coding at all. With Bannerbear, there are several approaches that you can take to certificate making, and they largely depend on how many certificates that you need and how customized they should be.
In this video, we'll walk you through why certificates are the ideal candidate for
[00:01:00] templating. Then we'll go through your generation options, starting from a simple free tool, then moving on to on-demand automation, and finally to full batch processing. All you've got to do is pick the best one that matches your needs.
Now let's move on to the obvious question. Why use templates for certificates at all? The answer is in the scale and nature of this type of file. Templates are ideal for use cases requiring consistent, repeatable formatting. With certificates, you want a professional, uniform presentation. There are also clear boundaries that you don't want to cross, like borders, other text fields, and so on.
That means if you can set up a good template that defines where each text item will go, you
[00:02:00] can very easily scale the workflow while maintaining accurate, high-quality output. Without a template, you'd be manually adjusting text placement for every single certificate, checking alignment, fixing spacing, catching errors.
But with a template, you define the layout once, and it scales perfectly to hundreds of certificates. If all you need are a few certificates, automation isn't that important. A free online certificate maker, like the one we've got on the Bannerbear website, might be your best choice. It's quick and easy, and it comes with minimal decision fatigue.
Pick out a design, fill in a few fields, and hit the Create PDF button
Just like that, you've got a
[00:03:00] certificate that you can download and distribute. With the on-demand method, you get to pick and choose when and to whom you want to issue a certificate. This works well when you have ongoing certificate generation needs but no clear time cutoff, like a self-paced online course.
This method combines Bannerbear's image generation capabilities with Airtable's database. Unlike the first option, you can fully customize your certificate and add your own branding. The setup takes a bit more time, but you can get it done in an afternoon. Here's how it looks in action. We've got an Airtable base storing records for every potential certificate holder
When we click this button, Bannerbear pulls the information from the record and generates a
[00:04:00] certificate. Within seconds, it lands in the attachment field ready to be used
On the back end, we have the Airtable base with all the information, plus an attachment field for the certificates
We also have a Banner Bear template customized for our needs
And by using Airtable's scripting extension, we can connect each field in your database to the matching layer in your template
Then we can set up a button that runs the script whenever it's clicked
There's a step-by-step video tutorial linked below if you want to follow along and try this yourself
[00:05:00] The third option is Bannerbear's native Airtable integration. Use this when you need to generate large batches of certificates all at once. It's perfect when you generate for fixed groups with little to no ongoing needs.
All you need for this method is a Bannerbear template and an Airtable database. Let's see it in action. We've got everything set up. The layers are matched to our data, so all that's left to do is click the button. Watch it work.
And there you have it, a full batch of certificates generated and sitting in your Airtable database ready to go. Now let's take a step back to how this all happens. We've got a Bannerbear template customized to our needs, though you can start with one of our pre-designed options if you prefer.
[00:06:00]
When we scroll down to Integrations, we have an Airtable option that allows us to import data straight from a table. Select it
Connect with a personal access token, then enter your base ID and table name
Map your fields to data values, choose your attachment field for output, then you're done
There's a video tutorial for this method, too. Find it linked below. And there you have it. Three ways to generate certificates without lifting a finger or writing a line of code. Pick the free tool if you're issuing a handful and don't need to keep coming back. Go on-demand if you're issuing certificates sporadically to different people.
And choose batch processing if you're handling
[00:07:00] large groups all at once. All three methods are on Bannerbear. Head to our site and sign up for your free trial. Pick your approach and get started.
