Designing a Certificate
You can create a custom certificate template for your course by following the instructions below.
1. Design your certificate template using an application such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. An example of a template created in Microsoft Word is shown below.
You can also download a template from various websites, such as https://templates.office.com/en-ca/certificates.
2. Open Adobe Acrobat software and select Prepare Form.
3. Click Select a file and select the template file you created in Step 1.
4. Click Start.
5. Place text boxes where custom text must be inserted using Text Field tool. In this example, two text boxes are required as Student Name and Award Date will be automatically inserted when a certificate is generated.
6. Right click the text box for the student name, and select Properties.
7. Select General Tab and enter the following. When a certificate is generated, this text box will be replaced with the student’s full name automatically.
- Name: {FullName}
- Tooltip: {FullName}
- Close the window and repeat the steps 6 and 7 for the Date textbox. Enter {AwardDate} for both Name and Tooltip fields.
For other supported text strings that can be automatically inserted, go to https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/4753-manage-award-icons-and-templates#create-new-certificate-templates
9. You can also specify the Date format to be used on the certificate. Select Format tab, and select Date format and choose one of the options. Close the pop-up window and save the file.
10. Login to your D2L course, and go to Awards tool. Select Course Awards and click Add Award To Course. Click Create in the next screen.
11. Fill out the information about this certificate in the next window. In the Choose Certificate Template box, click Upload New Template and select the PDF file you created in Adobe Acrobat.
12. Save and close the window. Your new certificate is now listed under Certificates. Issue a few certificates to verify the template appears as expected.
