Tutorials
How to Automate Certificate Generation in Notion
A practical guide to automating your entire certificate workflow — from Notion database to polished, ready-to-share certificates — in three setup steps you'll never have to repeat.
By Sanat Biswal · 2026-05-17 · 12 min read
Certificates are the crucial documents for schools or educational institutions on a day-to-day basis. But producing certificates is an arduous task as it requires setting up the template and manually copying and pasting the elements each time onto the template to make it work.
Copying the elements, downloading the PDFs one by one is not only time consuming but also is prone to errors when it comes to producing the certificates.
If you are using Notion to manage your data related to students and certificates but have been looking for a simpler way to produce certificates on automation, then this guide will help you out.
While there are several other tools such as Certifier or Sertifier which help with producing certificates but Notion offers simplicity in managing things at one place and provides a lot of flexibility when it comes to building the right setup to manage things.
By the end of this guide, we will be able to setup the document automation in Notion, which will help to:
- Reduce manual time spent in copying and pasting records to produce certificates.
- Eliminate any errors which happens while copying and pasting records.
- Ensure all the pdfs created come with consistent branding and formatting required.
- Scale operations effectively lowering costs and improving profitability.
- Google Document or
- Word File or
- PDF File or
- Choosing from a list of pre-defined template added to template source
- Click on New Automation and provide a name for the automation.
- It will take you to the setup page where you can add the notion database, click on Connect Notion and it will ask to connect the notion database.
- Click on Select Pages to select the pages to connect for automation.
- Search for the database to be added, eg: Certificates Database.
- Use simple table formatting
- Use simple font style and provide minimum styling effects supported by Google Docs
Prerequisites for setting up certificate automation
3 essential prerequisites for creating certificates on automation from Notion:
1. Notion Databases
We will create 2 data sources for this which includes Certificates and Courses databases:
Certificates Database (Primary Database)
This will contain the details of the certificate to be issued.
We will create the data source by the name of DB_Certificates.
!Certificates Database in Notion
| Field Name | Type of Field | Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate Title | Text Field | Specify the title of the certificate |
| Recipient Name | Text Field | Full name to be used on certificate |
| Email of Recipient | Email Field | For delivery to the recipient |
| Course Details | Relation Field | Linked to course database |
| Completion Date | Date Field | Specified the date of completion |
| Grade | Text Field | Grade obtained for certificate |
| Certificate ID | Title Field | Unique Identifier for certificate issued |
Courses Database
This will contain the information related to the course for which certificate will be issued.
We will create the datasource by the name of DB_Courses.
| Field Name | Type of Field | Use of Field |
|---|---|---|
| Course Name | Title field | Used to denote the courses |
| Program Name | Text field | Used to find the name of program |
| Name of instructor | Text field | Used to specify instructor name |
| Director Name | Text Field | Find name of director |
| Total Hours | Number Field | Find total hours of instruction |
| Course Description | Text Field | Find the description of the course |
| Accreditation | Text Field | Accreditation |
| Organization Name | Text Field | Issuing Organization Name |
| Certificate URL | URL field | Online URL for Certificate |
> Note: We can add as many datasources as we need for this demonstration, but eventually all must be connected through a relation property to showcase all properties when the datasources are added.
2. Template Source
!Template source for certificate
We need to add a template source file to the setup which will define how the Certificate will look like.
A template can be added in the following 4 types:
For this demonstration, we will use a pre-defined template file "Certificate" which is the exact template source we need to produce the automated PDFs.
3. PDFOutput Account
Finally, we will require a PDFOutput account where users can sign in to setup their account and connect Notion datasources as discussed above and the template file that will enable us to produce certificates on automation.
PDFOutput will act as the bridge between the Notion Data sources and the template file which will be connected to produce the PDFs on automation.
How to setup Certificate Automation in Notion?
In order to setup Certificate Automation in Notion, here's what we will do:
1. Connect Notion Databases to process the database properties
In this step, we will connect Notion Databases to see all the properties.
Here's the steps to follow:
It contains both the databases DB_Certificates and DB_Courses, select the databases and then click on Allow Access to proceed further.
This completes the process to add the datasource as required.
Next step, is to select the Template.
2. Connect the Template Source for preparing the Certificate file
As we had discussed earlier, there are 4 ways to add the template file.
We will simply search for Certificate in the search bar and select the predefined template as our template file.
!Selecting the Certificate template
Once that is selected click on Continue to proceed to the mapping section.
Alternatively if you already have a template available in a Word File or Google Doc or PDF File format you can choose either of these options and proceed further.
3. Mapping Notion Database properties onto the template file
In this step, we will map the properties of the database one by one onto the template file.
Once you click on Continue after selecting the Template File, it will load the template automatically on the left and will show the notion database properties on the right.
After this select the desired database, i.e. Certificates Database and it will load all the properties of the Certificates Database along with the connected databases used.
Once the properties are loaded click on Copy on the properties which are needed to be mapped and then Paste the property onto the document loaded on the left.
The placeholders copied and pasted are loaded onto the template source in the form of \{\{placeholdertext\}\}.
This allows the tool to recognise the placeholders and replace them with the value obtained from the properties.
> Example: If your notion database has a property named "Certificate_ID" and there's a property \{\{Certificate_ID\}\} added onto the template it will find the value of "Certificate_ID" from the notion database and replace the same.
4. Generating Preview of Output and setting up automation
Once the mapping is done and everything works fine, it's time to create a preview output of the document mapped.
Click on Preview Document and it will create a preview of the document where it will replace the placeholdertext with the values from the notion Database.
This showcases a quick glance as to how the output will look like once the automation starts working.
!Preview of certificate output
If you are happy with the output file coming in preview, click on Setup Automation and it will enable the automation to start generating the PDFs.
If you want to edit the document once again click on Back and it will take you back one step to the document editing step.
Once the automation is setup, you can start generating the PDFs directly from inside the database right away.
How to generate certificates on automation from Notion
We can generate the certificates from the Notion Database through 3 different ways:
1. Using Preview Document
For this, click on the 3-dots and then click on Preview Output.
When we click on Preview Output, it will automatically create a preview of the document being generated and will show the preview of the document as required for our reference.
2. Using Batch PDFs
While generating the PDFs we also have another option to start producing the PDFs in batches of 100 PDFs at once.
For this, click on the 3-dots and then click on Batch PDFs.
This will produce PDFs in batches for 100 records at once that will then add the PDFs back into the Notion Database.
3. Using one-click database automation
!GeneratePDF property in Notion
Once the automation is activated, we can mark the desired records as "Ready to Generate" in the GeneratePDF property.
This allows us to generate the PDFs right inside the database which is generated in the PDFFiles property once the automation is activated and setup.
!Generated certificate PDFs in Notion
> Pro Tip: Notion also has in-built automation setup which allows to send emails to the recipient right inside the database as well. So, if needed one can send the PDFs directly to the recipient using this automation.
Key Considerations to setup Notion Automation for producing certificates
Here's important things to consider before setting up Notion Automation for generating certificates PDFs in PDFOutput:
1. Always ensure to Preview the output file before setting up Notion Automation
Before setting up an automation, always ensure that you preview the document generated to make sure the formatting of the document is intact and matches your exact output as required with the placeholders replaced from the notion database values correctly.
2. Always use consistent pdf file naming convention across all the outputs
While generating the pdf, make sure to use a consistent style of naming the pdf files generated.
This maintains synonymity of the files generated as per their file name and ensures you are using the correct naming convention.
If you want to use a custom file name which is not directly related to any of field names provided, use a formula type property and then create another custom formula which can define the field name before creating a pdf.
> Example: Let's say you want to use Certificate ID combined with the database name, it can be provided as pdf file name. You can create another formula type property which would be like [Certificate ID + "Certificate Details"], this will provide a custom file name that will be unique for each pdf generated. This will fetch the Certificate ID values for each record and then add the same to "Certificate Details" while creating the pdf.
3. Always use appropriate dimensions for images
PDFOutput also supports media file types in the form of a png or jpg file types.
While adding the image type placeholders, add the same onto the document with the dimension being provided in the following format "\{\{imagefield\}\}\_\{\{20\*20\}\}".
Here the dimensions that are given are marked inside the \{\{…\}\} corresponding to the size of the media files used in inches.
So, whatever you provided inside the \{\{…\}\} it would be the dimension of the image marked in inches and the output generated marks the images in the right dimensions.
4. Using a simple pdf template document to create reliable output
While designing the sample template source file to create the PDFs, make sure to consider following:
Using any form of complex formatting techniques can break and sometimes cause the template to not produce a consistent output file as it's expected.
5. Formatting of the date field values
By default, all the PDFs which are generated follow the format of "MMMM DD, YYYY".
> Example: For the date value 11th May, 2026 provided, it will generate the placeholder value as May 11, 2026.
If you are looking to generate the date in a different format, let's say in the form of 11.05.2026, then simply just add another formula property in the database, let's say "New_Date" with the following formula:
formatDate(prop("originaldatefield"), "DD.MM.YYYY")
This will create the required new date value in the above format of DD.MM.YYYY as we require.
Map this new field "New_Date" onto the document instead of the original date field and the output will show the date value in the above desired format of DD.MM.YYYY as we require instead of the "MMMM DD, YYYY".
Common Problems generating certificates PDFs in Notion and how to fix them
Here's some common problems that you might face with generating certificates PDFs in Notion and the various ways to fix them:
1. Placeholders aren't populating correctly onto the document created
Issue: Placeholders that are added in the template source file aren't being replaced with the desired values fetched from the data source.
Solution: For this make sure that the field mapped from data source is exactly the same field that is added onto the template source.
> Example: If the field name present in the database is "Certiticate_id" and the placeholdertext mapped to the template source is "CertificateID", then it will not be able to replace the placeholdertext correctly as there is difference between notion database field name and the actual field entered in the document.
Thus, make sure both the texts are exactly the same including the capitalisation or underscores used.
Always ensure to click on Copy and then use Ctrl + V / Cmd + V to paste the mapped values onto the template source loaded on the left to ensure that the placeholders text are correctly added onto the template source.
2. Images are not coming up correctly in the template source file
Issue: Adding images as placeholders in the template don't generate images as required.
Solution: When you are adding the placeholders of images into the document make sure to add the placeholder \{\{imagefield\}\}\_\{\{20\*20\}\}.
Notice here the placeholdertext \{\{imagefield\}\} is the field name from Notion Database and using the "\_" allows you to define the image dimensions in terms of inches in width and height.
3. PDF file is not generated as per correct format expected
Issue: The pdf file created is not showing up in the correct formatting of the document as expected.
Solution: This problem happens when the template file has a complex layout that includes elements not supported by Google Document on its own.
When you are adding elements that are not natively supported by Google Document it can lead to formatting issues connected with how the design and layout of the document looks like.
Using a simple template and avoiding any use of complex layout and formatting of the template that's not natively supported in Google Document helps to create PDFs that are generated as expected.
Start Automating certificates from Notion today
If you are consistently creating the certificates doing things manually which takes a lot of your valuable time and is also error prone it's high time to change your working style.
Setting up an automation workflow helps you produce PDFs on demand right inside your Notion Database.
So, stop doing manually that includes copying and pasting every element one by one, but rather setup a PDF automation workflow in PDFOutput that generates professional branded certificates matching your brand style which complies with industry standards and gives you the best automated solution.
It will take you less than 10 minutes to setup everything one time and you will enjoy the automation to run forever.
If you have any more questions, please reach out to me at notionformyuse@gmail.com for further assistance.
FAQ's on how to use PDFOutput
Can I use PDFOutput to produce PDFs in batches at once for Certificates?
Yes, you can produce PDFs in batches at once for the Certificates.
If you click on the 3-dots icon next to the active automation setup on your dashboard, you will be able to find an option for Batch PDFs.
Click on the Batch PDFs and it will start producing PDFs in batches of 100 PDFs at once for your use case directly inside Notion Database.
Can I specify a name for the PDF files generated?
Yes, you can always define a field name reference which would help to provide a name for your PDFs.
All you need for this to make sure you have one Notion field as a reference field which will be used to name the PDF files.
> Example: If you have a field by the name of Certificate ID, and you select that field for naming the PDFs and generate the PDFs it will produce the PDFs with the Certificate ID values.
Can I use multiple certificates template source on the same Database?
Yes, you can select more type of certificate templates and setup automation on the same Database.
It will save the automation with the new template source selected each time and you will be able to select the template from Choose Document field in the Notion Database.
Selecting a particular template source in the Choose Document field in the database will automatically generate the certificate as per that template as required.
Can I produce Certificates PDFs on demand?
Yes, PDFOutput allows you to produce certificates on demand whenever required.
Simply set your record to "Ready to Generate" under GeneratePDF field and it will start producing the PDFs on demand directly within the Notion Database.
If you want to create a Preview document before generating the PDFs you can choose to select Preview… and it will create a preview of the document inside the Notion Database as well.
Ready to automate your certificate generation? Get started for free and create your first automation in minutes.