Automate Certificate Generation via Templated’s Built-In Dashboard Spreadsheet Feature

Managing multiple templates for different campaigns or clients can be a real headache. Sure, no-code tools exist, but switching between them and keeping everything consistent isn’t always easy.

Now imagine handling all of that in one place. With just a simple spreadsheet, you can feed in your data and generate images across different templates instantly.

At Templated, our spreadsheet feature makes it effortless, whether it’s certificates, banners, or product posts; you can fill rows of data and output any number of designs in minutes.

You can also set up this automation with tools like Make or n8n, but if you’re not familiar with coding or mapping, it can feel a bit tricky.

That’s where this feature shines; it is a true no-code solution, simple enough for beginners to get the job done.

So let’s jump in.

What Tools You’ll Need To Automate

A Spreadsheet Templated Account — Sign Up For Free 50 Credits Here

Step 1: Access the Spreadsheet Integration

When you sign up for the first time, you will see something like in the screenshot below: From here, you need to go to Integrations → Spreadsheet.

Step 2: Define Layer Properties in Spreadsheet

Here, you can understand the right format you need to keep your sheet in. As you can see from the screenshot below, you need to have the template ID there in the sheet for which you want to change. Further, you can change the layers & their property.

For example, if I want to change a layer with text only, I will define layer-name_property to be changed. You can also change the colour and font size, but you have to give the proper properties in the spreadsheet column. There is another example format available, which you can also see and understand how to set your sheet column according to layers.

Step 3: Choose and Prepare Templates

So now let’s suppose we are automating two templates of certificates first one is “ certificate of appreciation” and the second one is “certificate of Achievement”. You can see the layers below, which I want to automate in both templates.

You can either use the templates from the gallery or design your own template. We recently introduced the AI Template Generator, via which you can create stunning templates by prompt only.

For the sake & simplicity, I am using both certificate templates from the Gallery only. And this is the second template. In this, I also want to change the same layers. Note: For consistency, the layers that we want to change should have the same name in both templates.

In this, we want to change three layers, which are Name, Details, and Date. So in a spreadsheet, you have to mention the 3 layers’ properties also.

Step 5: Prepare the Automation Spreadsheet

Here is the spreadsheet I have generated. You can see I have two different template IDs in Column 1; this way, I am telling my system to make changes in both templates. Further, for my certificate generation, I am changing the name, details, and date layers (all text properties). And if you’re wondering how to find your template ID, it’s simple: just open the template in your dashboard and copy the ID directly from there. And the same method repeats, copy the ID from another template.

Step 6: Upload Your CSV File to Templated Dashboard

Now, once your CSV file is ready, head back to your Templated dashboard & upload your file.

Just make sure that it is in the right format. And if your spreadsheet is formatted correctly, you’ll see something just like the image below. Now hit Start Generation.

Step 7: Review and Download Your Generated Certificates

Once your images are generated, you can view them either in Renders (on the left side of your dashboard) or directly in the spreadsheet tab below.

The best part? You don’t need to recreate the template every time, and you don’t need to create multiple spreadsheets; use it again and again to generate as many images as you want.

And if you’re looking to build more automations, simply adjust the columns in your spreadsheet to map the right template IDs and layers.

By now, you’ve got the complete picture of how this new feature works. This is the one use case of this feature that I showed. You can add 3–4 templates to one spreadsheet and save time.

Additional Resources

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