Creating a Student ID Card Template

This guide walks you through designing a template with dynamic fields completely online to generate student ID cards.

Before You Start

1. This guide assumes the cards are printed using the standard CR80 (credit card) size.

2. Confirm the printable area supported by your card printer, as some printers may not allow edge-to-edge printing and may require additional margins.

3. Decide what information you want to include on the card, such as the student’s name, date of birth, and other key details.

4. Make sure you have the necessary permissions assigned. If unsure, contact your system administrator for assistance.

Step 1 - Create the Template

You can create a Student ID template under either the Students or Enrolments object. The best option depends on the information you want to include and where you plan to generate the cards. If you need to include enrolment details like course dates, or you want to create the cards from the enrolments page, use the Enrolments object for your template.

If you prefer to start with a ready-made option, download the HTML template file from our templates repository and get it ready to import.

1. Log into the Next Generation app.

2. Go to Utilities > Templates

3. Click New Template in the header bar.

4. Select the initial template options as follows:

   1. Object: Select either Students or Enrolments depending on what information you are planning to include in the cards.

   2. Channel: Document

   3. Do not, select the Word Document Template option as we will design the template online.

   4. Type: Template

5. Click Next

You will now enter the details for the template:

1. Enter clear and meaningful values for both the name and API name.

2. If you use template categories, select the one that best fits.

3. For the file name, enter a meaningful name. This will be the name of the file when generating a student card. For example:
   {{students-student_number}} - {{students-first_name}}, {{students-last_name}}

4. Choose the following options for the page configuration (adjust as needed):

   • Page Size: CR80

   • Orientation: Portrait

   • Margins: 15 on each sides

   • Header/Footer Offset: 0

5. If you have an HTML file with the template content, you can import it directly from the editor. See the "Import HTML file" section in this article for more details.

6. Use the editor to add or update the template content.

7. When you're finished, click Save and Exit.

Step 2 - Test Template

1. If you added the student’s picture on the template, make sure to pick a student that has a picture (view this article for details)

2. Go to the student or the enrolment (depending on what object you selected when creating the template) details page.

3. Click Merge Document in the header. A pop-up window will appear.

4. Select the Template you have created.

5. Ensure the ‘Add to document store’ option is not selected. As this is only a test, there’s no need to save the file in the student’s document store yet.

6. Click Merge to download the document.

7. Review the content to ensure everything appears as expected. If any changes are needed, update the template and try again.