How to Create a Certificate With Google Slides

Learn to send your customers a Certificate of Completion with Google Slides and Zapier. Create a seamless experience for your customers with Zapier by automatically sending a customized certificate of completion when a customer completes your Course Product in Kajabi.

In this article:

• Step 1. Prepare your site
• Step 2. Create a Certificate of Completion template in Google Slides
• Step 3. Set up a Zap to automatically create certificates
• Step 4. Modify your Zap to send to your customers
• Customer experience

Step 1. Prepare your site

In this Guide, we will walk you through the process of:

• designing your Certificate of Completion in Google Slides 
• building a Zap with Zapier
• creating an Automation in your site to help you streamline the Course completion process

First, set up your site in Kajabi by creating an Automation to add a Tag.

When your custom Tag is added to a customer's Profile, Kajabi will notify Zapier that your customer has completed a course and Zapier will send a personalized Certificate of Completion to your customer's email inbox.

Create an Automation to add a Tag when your customer clicks Mark as Complete in the Lesson or Passes an Assessment:

• Open the Product tab from the Dashboard.
• Select the Course your Certificate of Completion will be connected to.
• Click the Lesson that will trigger the sending of your certificate.
• Navigate to the bottom of the Editor.
• Click + Add Automation.
• Select Add a tag in the Then dropdown.
• Enter your Tag name. We recommend naming your Tag with keywords to help you easily identify the meaning of your Tag.
• Click Save to apply your changes:

Read Automations in Course Lessons to learn more.

The next step depends on your Kajabi Plan and your vision for your Certificate. Read Basic vs. Advanced Automations to learn more about Automations in Kajabi.

If you have a Kajabi Basic Plan:

Your Automation will add a Tag when a customer completes the Lesson. Click Save to keep your changes and skip to Step 1 to create your certificate.

If you have a Growth or Pro Plan, you have the option to:

Automatically add a Tag when your customer completes the Lesson:

• Click Save to keep your changes and skip to Step 1 to create your certificate.

Or automatically add a Tag when your customer passes or completes an Assessment:

• Click Add Condition.
• Open the Select filter dropdown menu.
• Select your desired conditional filter: Completed or Passed any of these assessments(s).
• In the next field, select your Assessment and click Apply.
• Click Save to keep your changes:

Learn to create an Assessment and add it to your Course Lesson.

Step 2. Create a certificate of completion template in Google Slides

The first step to creating a Certificate of Completion with Google Slides is to create and design your Certificate Template.

For the purpose of this Guide, we will use a standard template:

• Open the standard template from Google Slides here. 
• Follow along with this template by clicking USE TEMPLATE in the top right corner of the screen:

Edit the template 

Next, customize the design of the certificate template to fit your brand and language. Then, specify the information you want added to your certificate. Typically, certificates include:

• Student name
• Course name
• Issuing date

For Google Slides to recognize your specifications as variables and not simply text, wrap each variable name with two curly braces. For example, {{name}}.

After customizing your certificate, title your Google Slide to easily identify later. Simply click on the title in the top left corner and enter your title. 

Step 3. Set up a Zap to automatically create certificates

Make a Zap with Zapier to automatically create and send certificates of completion based on your students' actions on your site. Read How to Use Zapier with Kajabi for details. 

• Create a new Zap by clicking Make a Zap:

First, select the Trigger App: Kajabi

• Select Kajabi for the App.
• Then, select Tag Added for the Trigger Event.
• Click Continue:

Zapier will ask you to connect your account in the next step if it isn't already connected. Read How to Use Zapier with Kajabi for details. 

After selecting your account, complete the Customize Tag step:

• First, select your Site in the second dropdown menu or you will receive an error that your Tags are not available.
• Then, select the Tag created with your Automation.
• Click Continue.
• Then, click Test & Continue:

Next, configure the Action App: Google Slides

• Select Google Slides for the App.
• Select Create Presentation From Template for the Action Event.
• Click Continue:

Zapier will ask you to connect your Google Slides account in the next step if it isn't already connected. Select Sign in to Google Slides. Then, select your account from the popup. Click Continue to set up your Google Slides.

Set up Google Slides Presentation:

• Give your certificate a unique name in the Title of New Presentation field. This title will display for your customer. Tip: Personalize the title with a combination of the Contact Name variable and custom text for the title. To do so, click the field and select Contact Name. Then, enter your remaining title text.
• If you wish to allow your customers to download the Certificate, select yes in the Is Shared? field.
• In the Template Presentation dropdown, select your Certificate of Completion title.

Now you will see all the variables you defined in Step 1. Proceed by matching each variable to the appropriate Kajabi data:

• In the Name field, select Contact Name.
• In the Course_name or custom variable created in the Google Slide, enter your Product Title.
• In the Issuing date field, enter {{zap_meta_human_now}} into the field to pass the date to your certificate. If you wish to modify it, check out Zapier's Guide. 
• After matching each variable, click Continue.

After completion, your setup should look similar to the screenshot below:

• Once you have completed the setup, click Continue.

Zapier will create a new certificate in your Google Slides account as a test. The Test Certificate will pull data from the Trigger App test according to your Google Slides setup. Navigate to your Google Slides account and access All Slides to view the Test Certificate:

Step 4. Modify your Zap to send to your customers

After creating your certificate in Google Slides and setting up your Zap with Zapier, modify the Zap to automatically send to your students upon completion of the Course.  

In the same Zap you created, add another Action App, Email by Zapier:

For the Additional Action step:

• Select Email by Zapier for the App:

• Keep the default setup Send Outbound Email as the Action Event.
• Click Continue:

Then, set up the email template:

• Pass the customer's email address from your Trigger App into the To field. 
• Enter your desired Subject Line in the Subject field.
• Complete the Body of your Email Template. Tip: Use variables to personalize your email.
• Then, copy and paste Export Links Application/pdf  into the Attachment field.
• Select the matching file object: Export Links Application/pdf. This will provide a PDF copy of the certificate to your customer.
• Complete the additional optional fields if desired.
• Click Create & Continue to test your Zap. 

If your email address was used for the To field, you should receive an email from your site through Zapier Mail.

If your email address in the To field contains a customer's email address, it will send a test email to that customer's email inbox.

Create a test account in the Contacts tab of your site with your test email address and read Zapier's Guide to change the sample data in the Trigger App step to receive your Test Certificate Email:

After successfully testing your Zap, be sure to turn your Zap On:

Remember, you can always return to the Zap to modify your certificate template and email template.

Customer experience

With your Zap turned on, Zapier will create and send an automated certificate to your customers upon completion of your Course.

Now, when your customer clicks Mark as Complete in the Course Lesson you specify or passes the Assessment you set, the Tag you created will be added to your customer's profile on your site.

Once added, Kajabi will notify Zapier to trigger your Zap and send your Google Slide Certificate of Completion to your customer's email inbox:

Your customer can now download, print, view the Certificate as with any PDF file:

And that's how you can create a certificate with Google Slides! Please vote below and let us know if you found this article helpful. We value your feedback. Thanks for being the best part of Kajabi!