Automate Certificate Generation with Airtable Guide

Generating certificates for course completions, training programs, or events turns into a repetitive task when you're doing it manually.

You copy names into templates, download PDFs, and send them one by one - work that takes hours even for a small group. A study run by Adobe showed that workers spend 36% of their time on administrative tasks due to disconnected document processes. McKinsey goes even further by saying employees lose about 19.8% of their workweek doing those tasks.

If you already use Airtable and your participant data is there, with the right setup, you can automate the certificate process from start to finish. In this article, we are going to show you step by step how to build a process that generates professional certificates without any manual work once you set it up.

What You Need Before Starting

Before starting to automate your certificate process, you can check if you have those elements:

• Airtable account: The free version works fine.
• TypeFlow account: Connects your Airtable data and generates PDFs.
• Recipient data: A list of people receiving certificates, even just 5-10 test records to start.
• Certificate design: A basic idea of what your certificate looks like.

I recommend starting small with 5-10 test records. You can iterate on your setup before generating certificates for your entire group.

Step 0: Set Up Your Airtable Base for Certificate Data

In your Airtable base you will store all the information about your training, events or whatever. We will use some information in the certificate that we will generate.

Create a new table or use an existing one that has your recipient information. I call mine "Certificate Recipients" so it's clear what the table does.

Add these fields to your table:

• Recipient Name: Full name as it appears on the certificate.
• Course Name: The program or achievement being certified. I recommend it to be a linked record (Have another table with all the courses).
• Completion Date: When they finished.
• Email Address: Where the certificate gets sent.
• Certificate Status: Tracks whether the certificate was generated.

The Certificate Status field can be a checkbox or single single-select field. This helps you avoid generating duplicate certificates when working with large groups.

If your recipient data lives in a spreadsheet, click "Add or import" in Airtable and upload your CSV file. Airtable maps your columns to fields automatically.

Step 1: Create Your Certificate Template

You can duplicate our certificate template. Then change the design the way you want. Add placeholders for Airtable data. The placeholders work like fill-in-the-blank spaces that get replaced with actual information. Add your logos, adjust the borders, etc.

Keep the design clean so the text remains readable when converted to PDF.

Notes about variable placeholders:

Placeholders should follow this structure {{Recipient Name}}, {{Course Name}}, and {{Completion Date}}. Ideally, your placeholder's name should be the same as the Airtable fields in Airtable. So it's easier to map the data, in TypeFlow.

For example, If your field is called "Full Name" in Airtable, your template variable name should be {{Full Name}} (or {{full name}} or {{full_name}}) but not {{Recipient Name}}.

Step 2: Connect TypeFlow to Your Airtable Base

Connecting TypeFlow to Airtable takes about two minutes. You'll connect to Airtable securely. You can visit this link to connect your Airtable account to TypeFlow.

Now when creating a new flow, TypeFlow shows you all the selected bases in your Airtable account. Select the one with your certificate data, and TypeFlow reads your table structure and field names.

Step 3: Map Airtable Fields to Your Certificate Template

This step connects your Airtable data to the placeholders in your template. You're telling TypeFlow which data goes where.

TypeFlow shows your template variables on the left and your Airtable fields on the right. Match each variable to its corresponding field by clicking or dragging. If your Airtable Field has the same name as the placeholders, you can use the Auto-map feature. The mapping will be done automatically.

• {{Recipient Name}} connects to your Recipient Name field.
• {{Course Name}} connects to your Course Name field.
• {{Completion Date}} connects to your Completion Date field.

If you have date, currency, or data fields, no worries, we import the format from Airtable to the certificate.

Step 4: Generate Your First Certificate from Airtable

Generate one test certificate before automating anything. This catches formatting problems or mapping errors before they affect your whole batch.

Click "Generate PDF for test" in TypeFlow and select a single record from your Airtable base. The preview shows what the final PDF looks like.

Check that all variables filled in with the correct data. Look for misaligned text, formatting issues, or missing information.

Download the PDF and zoom in to verify text clarity. Make sure nothing looks blurry or cut off.

If something looks wrong, go back to your template and adjust the layout or variable placement. Generate another test certificate until the output looks right.

Step 5: Automate Certificate Generation with Airtable Automations

Once your test certificate looks good, you can automate the process so certificates generate without manual work. We have many options to let you generate your certificates automatically.

First method: Classic Implementation

To make certificate generation easy, you can add a button directly in your Airtable base:

1. In TypeFlow, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Classic Implementation."
2. Copy the URL; it should look like this: "https://app.typeflow.us/api/generate-doc?record_id="&RECORD_ID()&"&table_id=xxx&flow_id=xxx"

3. Go to your Airtable table and add a new button field

4. Paste the URL from TypeFlow to the URL Formula

Now whenever you want to generate a certificate, you can click the button in Airtable and it will generate the PDF for you.

Second Method: Airtable Automation

With this method, we will use the Airtable Automation.

Open your Airtable base and click "Automations" in the top toolbar. Create a new automation and pick your trigger condition.

Common triggers include:

• When a record enters a view: Create a filtered view called "Ready for Certificate" and certificates generate when records appear there.
• When a field matches a condition: Generate when Status changes to "Completed."
• When a form is submitted: Works well for event registrations or course completions.

For the purpose of this article, we will trigger the PDF generation whenever the field Status, for any invoice, is equal to "Ready".

1. Go to Automation in Airtable
2. Click on "Add a trigger" and Choose When a Record matches a condition
3. Select the table you want to trigger the automation on (in this case the Certificates Recipients table)
4. Select the field you want to trigger the automation on (in this case the Status field)
5. Select the condition you want to trigger the automation on (in this case "is")
6. Select the value you want to trigger the automation on (in this case "Ready")

7. Now choose a record that matches the condition
8. Now click on Add an advanced logic or action
9. Pick Run Script. A new popup appears.
10. Go back to TypeFlow and select Automation in Airtable. Copy the script.

11. Paste the script in the popup.

12. In the left-side of the popup, do not forget to configure the variable input, record_id. You need to select Airtable Record ID from the dropdown. See the image.

13. Test your script, and see if it works. Adjust if needed (most of the time the error comes from the record_id variable - see step 12).

14. Now name your automation and save it.

Now your flow is ready. Test it carefully to see if it works well.

TypeFlow receives the ID, pulls the data from Airtable, fills your template, and generates the PDF. The process takes a few seconds per certificate (internal data from TypeFlow).

Test by creating a record that meets your trigger condition. Check the automation run history in Airtable to confirm it executed without errors.

Method 3: Airtable Extension

It's possible to generate documents with the Airtable Extension. It's the best way to bulk generate documents.

You can follow this tutorial:

Step 6: Send certificates Automatically via Email

Generating certificates is useful, but delivering them automatically saves even more time.

For that you can run a new Airtable automation (or you can run a Make or Zapier workflow). Whenever you have the status Ready and the attachment field with a PDF then an email can be sent.

The email sends right after the PDF generates. You can track delivery status in TypeFlow's dashboard.

Best Practices for Bulk Certificate Generation

When generating dozens or hundreds of certificates, a few organizational practices make things smoother.

Use Airtable views to organize recipients. Create a "Ready to Generate" view that filters for records with all required fields filled and no certificate generated yet.

Lock your template design once you're happy with it. If you make changes later, test them with sample data before using the template for real certificates.

For batches over 100 certificates, generate them in groups. TypeFlow handles large volumes, but smaller batches let you catch issues early.

Add a "Certificate Generated" checkbox in Airtable and mark it after each certificate creates. This prevents duplicates and shows your progress.

Troubleshoot Common Certificate Generation Issues

Even with a solid setup, you might hit occasional problems. Here are the common ones and how to fix them.

PDF formatting looks wrong: Complex layouts with multiple columns or text boxes can cause problems. Simplify your template design if you see formatting errors in generated PDFs. Of course, if you need help, you can reach out to me.

Automation not running: Review your trigger conditions in Airtable's automation settings. Test with a record that clearly meets the criteria and check the run history for errors.

Start Automating Your certificates Today

You now have a complete automated certificate system. From Airtable data to delivered PDFs, the workflow runs without manual work once you set it up.

What used to take hours of copying names into certificate templates now happens in seconds. You can focus on your programs while certificates generate in the background.

Start generating certificates with TypeFlow and connect your Airtable base in minutes.