How to Make Certificates from Google Forms

Can Google Forms make certificates?

Not on its own. Google Forms can grade a quiz and show each person their score. It has no certificate template, and it can't create or send an e-certificate.

So every Google Forms certificate comes from somewhere else. It might be an add-on, a mail merge from the linked Google Sheet, or a template you fill in by hand. The add-on route is the quickest, and it's free for small groups.

How to automatically generate certificates from Google Forms

The easiest way is Certify'em, the most installed certificate add-on for Google Forms. It grades the quiz. When someone reaches your pass mark, it emails them a PDF certificate with their name on it.

1. Open your form, click the three dots at the top right, then Get add-ons.
2. Search for certificate.
3. Click Certify'em, then Install and Allow.
4. In Settings, turn on Make this a quiz and set Collect email addresses to Verified or Responder input.
5. Make the first question a Short answer for the full name, worth 0 points.
6. Add your quiz questions with an answer key.
7. Click the puzzle-piece icon at the top, choose Certify'em, then Show Controls.
8. Pick a passing percentage and a certificate template, then click Turn ON.

The pass mark starts at 80%. Set it to what your course or exam needs. Certify'em also keeps a sheet called "Certify'em Records" with each person's score, pass or fail, and certificate ID.

New to quizzes? Our guide to making a quiz in Google Forms covers the answer key and points.

Is Certify'em free?

Yes, for up to 60 certificates a day. The free certificates carry a "Made for free with Certify'em" line.

Prices come from Certify'em's own pricing page. The higher daily limits also depend on your Google account, because Gmail caps how many emails an account can send.

Make certificates of participation with Autocrat

Certify'em needs a quiz. For a webinar, a workshop or a course where everyone gets a certificate, a mail merge works better. Autocrat is the free, most used one, with 83M+ installs. It runs from the Google Sheet linked to your form.

1. Design the certificate in Google Slides. Where the name goes, type a tag such as <<Full name>>.
2. In your form, open the Responses tab and click Link to Sheets.
3. In the Sheet, click Extensions → Add-ons → Get add-ons and install Autocrat. Open it and click New job.
4. Choose your Slides template and match each tag to a column of answers.
5. Set the file type to PDF and pick a Drive folder.
6. Turn on email and send the PDF to the email address column.
7. Turn on Run on form trigger so each new response gets a certificate, then save.

Autocrat can also check a condition before it merges, such as a score column. That makes it a pass-only option for quizzes too. It takes longer to set up than Certify'em. In return it's free, with no branding, and the design is all yours.

Smart Certificates add-on for Google Forms

Smart Certificates, from GW Add-ons, is a newer choice with 182K+ installs. It works for quiz results and for plain sign-up forms, so it covers both pass certificates and certificates of participation.

• Free plan: 30 certificates a day, on one form, with up to 2 placeholders such as name and course.
• Paid plans: up to 400 or 1,500 certificates a day, on any number of forms, without the add-on's branding.

Install it the same way: three dots, Get add-ons, then search for Smart Certificates. The limits come from its own pricing page.

Google Forms certificate add-ons compared

These are the most installed add-ons that make certificates from Google Forms. Installs and labels are the ones the Marketplace shows.

Other kinds of add-on, from timers to payments, are in our guide to Google Forms add-ons.

Which method should you use?

Example: a webinar with 200 attendees

Say 200 people finish a webinar and take a short quiz for their certificate.

• Certify'em free plan: it covers 60 certificates a day, so 140 people miss out that day. Gold raises the limit to 400.
• Autocrat: every response gets a PDF from your own Slides design, with no daily plan limit. Gmail's own sending limit still applies.

Fix common problems with Google Forms certificates

Tips for certificates people keep

• Send yourself one first. Submit the form once and check the name, spacing and date on the PDF.
• Leave room for long names. A box sized for "Ana Li" cuts off longer names.
• Add a certificate ID. A unique number lets an employer or school check that it's real.
• Say what it's for. Put the course name and date on the certificate, not only "Certificate of completion".

Where Google Forms certificates stop

Every Google Forms certificate depends on an add-on and its daily limit. FormNX has quiz grading and a PDF builder in the same tool.

In FormNX you design the certificate once in the PDF builder, with the person's name and answers. Each submission gets it by email, with their score and grade in the message.

There's no add-on to install, no Slides template to merge and no Gmail sending limit, because FormNX sends the email itself. The quiz, the grading and the certificate all live in one form.

For timed tests with grades, see the online quiz maker page.