Incorporate dynamic text fields that can be customized for each individual recipient.
What are Dynamic Text Fields?
Dynamic text fields are used to manage dynamic information in your certificates. In other words, the information displayed inside those fields can be different for each one of your recipients.
The most traditional example of a dynamic field in a certificate is the name of the recipient, but any other information can also behave dynamically.
There are 2 types of dynamic fields:
- Pre-defined dynamic fields: These fields are automatically populated by Virtualbadge.io when you send your certificates. The pre-defined dynamic fields are: Issue Date; Expiration Date (if enabled); and Certificate ID Number;
- Custom dynamic fields: Custom dynamic fields are used to manage any other dynamic information in your certificates. The information displayed in each of those fields must be mapped by you when adding the recipients (read more).
How to add Dynamic Text Fields?
By default, dynamic fields are not present in the templates from the Virtualbadge.io template gallery. Hence, these field has to be manually added to certificates.
Inside the editor, visit the tab "Text" on the navigation menu on the left. There, you will see a list of all pre-defined dynamic fields, and an option to create new custom dynamic fields:
Adding Pre-defined Dynamic Fields
You can simply hover your mouse on one of the pre-defined dynamic fields, and click on the "+" icon.
Attention: The dynamic fields will show up, by default, in black colored font, so it might be difficult to identify it in certificated with dark backgrounds.
Adding custom dynamic fields
To create a custom dynamic field, just press the button "+ Add Dynamic Text". A new dynamic text field will be displayed on the list, and you can name is as you wish. For our example, the custom dynamic field will be named "Grade". The name that you give the custom dynamic field will also be used to identify it when mapping the columns from your CSV file/ integrations.
Once you have renamed the field, you can add it to your certificate background by clicking on the "+" icon
Text Behavior in Dynamic and Custom Fields
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Pre-set Dynamic Fields (e.g., Recipient Name, Issue/Expiration Date, ID Number):
Text will stay within the defined area. If the text is too long, the font size will automatically reduce. If there's enough space, the text will wrap to the next line. This can happen if the height of the text element is increased or if the font size is reduced too much. -
Custom Dynamic Fields & Mixed Text Fields (which include a combination of dynamic elements and static text):
Text will expand vertically up to the maximum height based on the alignment. If there’s still too much text, the font size will be reduced to fit.
Test - then publish :)
How to add placeholder texts
Using placeholder texts is a great way to change the information displayed on the certificate preview images for your recipients.
The dynamic texts will appear in the editor as texts between curly brackets, such as and .
To change the placeholder texts of any dynamic field, just hover your mouse above the field and select the three vertical dots. Please note that the placeholder functionality is not available for all pre-defined dynamic fields:
To view your certificate with the placeholders, just enable the toggle on the left side menu:
Additionally, you can also mix dynamic fields with fixed fields in one single paragraph. To learn more about that, visit this article.
How to map information to Dynamic Text Fields?
Now that you have added Dynamic Texts to the design of your certificate, you must map the information that will be displayed in those fields for each one of your recipients.
You can prepare the CSV file with your recipient information and add one extra column for each dynamic field of your certificate:
Now upload the CSV file to the Recipients tab. Other alternatives: You can manually add each recipient or use Zapier or our API to automate this workflow.
Now you can map each column on the CSV file to the correct column on your certificate. The name of the columns will be the same as the names that you have given the custom dynamic fields on the tab "Designer".
And that is it! Now you can proceed with sending your digital certificates. Each person will receive a link to claim their certificate via email.
Deleting dynamic fields
Please note that once recipients have been added to a certificate, dynamic fields cannot be added or removed. To make changes, you will need to delete the recipients first.
To delete a dynamic field, navigate to the Designer and open the Text tab. Click on the three dots next to the dynamic field you want to remove, then select the trash icon.
(image)
Once deleted, the system will no longer request this field when adding recipients via single entry, CSV upload, or API.