Google Forms Certificate Generator: Send a PDF Certificate on Submit

A certificate generator on Google Forms is three pieces: a form that collects the details, a Google Docs certificate with blanks, and something that joins them and emails a PDF. This guide walks through making each piece so the certificates come out right the first time.

Decide what goes on the certificate

List every piece of text that changes from person to person. For a course completion certificate that is usually:

• The person's name, exactly as it should be printed
• The course or event name (a fixed value if you run one form per course)
• The date
• Optionally: hours completed, a grade, or a certificate number

Everything else (logo, signature image, wording, border) stays in the template and never changes.

Build the form

1. Create a Google Form with one question for each changing item. Name the questions plainly: Name, Course, Date.
2. For the name, write the question as "Full name as it should appear on your certificate". This single sentence prevents most complaints about misspelled or half-typed names.
3. Add an Email question and switch on Response validation, Text, Email.
4. If people should only get a certificate after passing, put the form behind your own check (for example, only share the link at the end of the course, or use a quiz and only share it with people who passed).

Design the certificate in Google Docs

1. Create a new Doc. Open File, Page setup and choose Landscape, with margins of around 1 cm.
2. Add a border by inserting a 1x1 table, setting a thick border and making its height fill the page. It is the most reliable way to get a frame in Docs.
3. Set the title ("Certificate of Completion") in a serif font at 36 to 44 pt, centered.
4. Add a line such as "This certifies that", then the placeholder {{Full name as it should appear on your certificate}} in a large size. Short question titles make cleaner placeholders, so you can title the question Name and put the guidance in its description.
5. Add the course line ({{Course}}), the date ({{Date}}) and a signature image above a line.
6. Set every placeholder's alignment and size now, because the filled text takes on the formatting of the placeholder.

Connect and send

With the form and template ready, use either approach:

• FairSign Forms to PDF (no code). Start the add-on in your form, choose the email question, select the certificate Doc, set a subject like "Your certificate" and a file name such as "Certificate - Name", then submit a test response. There are starter certificate templates in English, Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese if you would rather begin from one.
• A free Apps Script. The PDF guide includes a working script you can adapt: it copies the Doc, fills the placeholders, exports a PDF and sends it.

Tips that save redoing

• Test with the longest name you expect. A name that wraps to two lines can push the layout. Give the name line some spare room, or reduce its font a size.
• Test with non-Latin names. Chinese and Vietnamese names need a font that has the characters. Pick the font in the template and check the output PDF, not only the Doc.
• Use title case consistently. People type names in capitals, lowercase or mixed. Either ask for the right capitalization in the question text, or accept it as typed.
• Decide how to handle the date. A fixed date in the template suits a one-off event. For ongoing courses, ask for the date in the form or use a line like "Issued in 2026".
• Mind the daily email limit. Google limits how many emails an account can send per day. For a class of hundreds, spread submissions out or use a Google Workspace account, which has a higher limit.

When a certificate must be trustworthy

A PDF anyone can generate by filling in a form is a convenience, not proof. If the certificate has to stand up to scrutiny (professional licensing, employment, regulated training), add a check before the form is shared, keep a record of who received one, and consider printing a unique certificate number you can look up later. The form's response sheet gives you that record automatically.

FairSign Forms to PDF has a free plan with 20 PDFs a month, which covers a small class.