CertificateMaker FAQ

Questions and answers about the certificate generator. Everything it does happens in your browser.

Last Updated: October 6, 2026

1. General Questions

Q1: What is CertificateMaker?

A1: CertificateMaker is a free tool for designing certificates in your browser. You pick one of five templates, write the title, the recipient's name, a description, the issuer and the date, choose fonts, colours, a border and the paper size, add a logo and a signature, and the certificate takes shape in the preview as you type. PDF and PNG save it; Print sends it to a printer; Bulk makes a certificate for every name in a CSV file. There is no server: nothing you type or add is uploaded.

Q2: How much does it cost?

A2: Nothing. There are no plans, no watermark and no limit on the number of certificates. Like every page on ZeroDataUpload, the tool is supported by advertising.

Q3: Do I need an account?

A3: No. There is no registration and no login. Open the page and start. Because there is no account, there is also no copy of your certificates on a server (see section 2).

Q4: Who is it for?

A4: Teachers and trainers who hand out course completion certificates, clubs and schools with an award to present, event organisers who want a certificate of participation for everyone who came, employers who thank a team member, and anyone who needs one good-looking certificate without a design program.

Q5: Can I make a diploma or a school certificate with it?

A5: No. CertificateMaker is for certificates that you or your organisation issue yourselves: courses you teach, events you run, awards you give. Do not use it to imitate a certificate, diploma or qualification of a school, university, employer or awarding body.

Q6: Does it work on a phone?

A6: Yes. On narrow screens the preview sits above the editor and is scaled to fit the width; the PDF and the PNG are still made at full size. The signature pad takes a finger. Designing is more comfortable on a desktop, where the preview and the editor sit side by side.

2. Where Your Data Lives

Q7: Where are my certificates stored?

A7: Nowhere but your device. The certificate is drawn in the page as you type; the PDF or the PNG is made in your browser and downloaded to your device. Nothing is sent to a server.

Q8: Are my logo and my signature uploaded?

A8: No. The logo and signature images are read by the browser and placed on the certificate on your device. They become part of the PDF or the PNG you download and of nothing else.

Q9: What does the tool keep between visits?

A9: Two things, both in your browser's storage on this device: the designs you save with Save Template (template, border, paper, text, fonts, colours, logo and signature settings) and a history of the last twenty certificates you exported (the recipient's name, the template and the time; no images). They are tied to that browser on that device and are never uploaded.

Q10: What happens if I clear my browser data?

A10: Clearing site data, cookies or "browsing data" for zerodataupload.com removes the saved templates and the history, because they are part of that data. The certificates you downloaded are files on your device and are not affected.

Q11: Does the page use cookies or analytics?

A11: The tool itself stores only its own records in the browser. The page, like every page on this site, loads Google advertising and analytics code; the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy explain what those services collect and how the cookie banner controls them. Your certificates are never part of it.

3. Designing a Certificate

Q12: What do the five templates change?

A12: Each template sets a title (Certificate of Achievement, Certificate of Course Completion, Award Certificate, Certificate of Participation, Certificate of Appreciation), a title colour and an accent colour, and tints the paper lightly: cream for Achievement, sky blue for Course Completion, amber for Award, mint for Participation and lilac for Appreciation. Everything a template sets can be changed afterwards.

Q13: What are the six border styles?

A13: Classic (a thick double rule with an inner line), Modern (a plain rule with a thin inner line), Elegant (a dark band with a thin accent line inside), Minimal (a thin rule), Ornate (a wide ridged frame) and None. The borders are drawn in your accent colour; Classic and Elegant use the title colour for their inner line as well.

Q14: Which fonts can I use?

A14: Georgia, Times New Roman, Palatino, Book Antiqua, Arial and Segoe UI for the title; Georgia, Times New Roman, Arial, Segoe UI and Helvetica for the body; Brush Script, Lucida Handwriting, Cursive and Segoe Script for a typed signature. They are the fonts installed on your device: a device that lacks one shows the nearest substitute, so check the preview on the computer you export from.

Q15: How do the four colours work?

A15: Title colours the title; Text colours everything else on the certificate, including the recipient's name and the lines; Background is the paper colour (white keeps the template's tint, any other colour replaces it); Accent is the border colour. Each has a picker and a hex field; type a value such as #c9a227 and press Tab or Enter.

Q16: Which paper sizes are supported?

A16: A4 and US Letter, each in landscape or portrait. The preview keeps the paper's proportions, the PDF is made at that page size, and Print sets the page size and orientation to match.

Q17: Where does the logo go, and what size should it be?

A17: Above the title, shown at up to 120 by 80 pixels on the preview (a little larger on paper). Any image works; a PNG with a transparent background looks best on a tinted paper. The file must be under 4 MB.

Q18: What are the date formats?

A18: Long (January 1, 2026), short (01/01/2026), ISO (2026-01-01) and European (1 January 2026). The date itself comes from the date field, which starts at today.

Q19: Can I align the text to the left or right?

A19: Yes. Text Alignment under Typography moves the title, subtitle, name and description to the left, the centre or the right. The footer with the signature, date and issuer stays spread across the bottom.

4. Signatures

Q20: How do I sign the certificate?

A20: Three ways, chosen with the tabs in the Signature section. Draw: draw on the pad with the mouse or a finger and click Use Signature. Upload: choose an image of a signature (a PNG with a transparent background looks best). Type: type a name and pick one of four script fonts. The signature sits above the left-hand line, and the label beneath it ("Authorized Signature", "Principal", "Director") is yours to change.

Q21: Can I remove a signature?

A21: On the Draw tab, Clear wipes the pad and takes a drawn signature off the certificate. For an uploaded one, switch to Draw and click Clear, or upload a different image. For a typed one, delete the text.

Q22: Why did my drawn signature disappear from the pad?

A22: The pad is redrawn when the window changes size, and a drawing made before that may be lost. Click Use Signature as soon as the signature looks right; once it is on the certificate it stays there.

5. PDF, PNG and Printing

Q23: How do I get a PDF?

A23: Click PDF (or press Ctrl+Shift+F). The certificate is drawn at double resolution and placed on a page of the chosen size and orientation, and the file is downloaded, named after the recipient. The PDF is a picture of the certificate, so it looks exactly like the preview on any device.

Q24: What is PNG for?

A24: The same drawing saved as an image, for a slide, a web page, a social post or a messaging app. It is made at double resolution, about 1,700 pixels wide for a landscape A4.

Q25: How does Print work?

A25: Print (Ctrl+Shift+P) opens the browser's print dialog with only the certificate on the page, and sets the page size and orientation to match the design. Choose a printer, or "Save as PDF" for a second route to a PDF. If the border or the paper tint is missing on paper, tick "Background graphics" under the dialog's More settings.

Q26: Why does the preview look smaller than the paper?

A26: The preview is scaled to fit the window; the note above it says so. The PDF, the PNG and the print always use the full page size, whatever the window.

6. Bulk Certificates

Q27: Can I make certificates for a whole class or event at once?

A27: Yes. Design one certificate, then click Bulk (CSV) and choose a CSV file whose first column holds the names, one per line. Every name becomes a page of one PDF with the same template, text, logo and signature.

Q28: How should the CSV file look?

A28: One recipient per line, the name in the first column. Other columns are ignored, quotes around a name are removed, and a first line that says "Name", "Names", "Recipient" or "Recipient Name" is skipped as a header. A plain text file with one name per line works too. Save it from a spreadsheet with "Save as CSV".

Q29: How long does a batch take?

A29: About a quarter of a second per certificate on a desktop, so a hundred names take under half a minute. The window shows the progress; keep the tab in front until the PDF downloads.

7. Saved Templates, History and Shortcuts

Q30: Can I save my design and reuse it?

A30: Yes. Save Template (Ctrl+S) in the Templates section keeps the template, border, paper, text, fonts, colours, logo and signature settings under a name in your browser; Load Template brings a saved design back, and Delete removes one. Duplicate copies the current certificate with "(Copy)" after the name, ready for the next recipient.

Q31: What is the History panel?

A31: The last twenty certificates you exported, with the recipient's name, the template and the time. Click one to put its name and template back on the certificate; the other settings stay as they are.

Q32: Are there keyboard shortcuts?

A32: Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Y redo, Ctrl+S save template, Ctrl+Shift+F PDF, Ctrl+Shift+E PNG, Ctrl+Shift+P print, Ctrl+D the page theme, Escape closes a window. On a Mac use Cmd instead of Ctrl. The Shortcuts button in the toolbar shows the same list.

Q33: Can I use a dark theme for the page?

A33: Yes. The moon button at the top right switches the page between light and dark, and the choice follows you to every page on ZeroDataUpload. The certificate keeps its own colours whichever page theme is on, so the PDF and the PNG are the same either way.

8. Troubleshooting

Q34: The certificate looks different on another computer.

A34: The fonts are the ones installed on the device you are using. A PDF or PNG made here keeps the look you saw; opening the tool on a device without, say, Palatino shows a substitute. Export where you designed it.

Q35: "Choose an image file" appears when I add a logo.

A35: The file is not an image (a PDF or a document, for example). Save the logo as a PNG, JPG, SVG or WebP and choose it again. An image over 4 MB is refused too; resize it first (UltraCompress Pro on this site does that in the browser).

Q36: The PDF or PNG button does nothing.

A36: Reload the page; the image maker loads with it. If a toast says the file could not be made, the certificate may contain an image the browser cannot draw; remove the logo or signature and try again, then add a different image.

Q37: The printed certificate has no border or tint.

A37: The print dialog's "Background graphics" option is off. Tick it under More settings and print again, or use PDF, which always includes them.

Q38: My saved templates disappeared.

A38: Cleared browsing data, a different browser or device, a new profile or a private window: saved templates live in one browser profile on one device. They cannot be recovered; save the design again.

9. Support

Q39: Where can I report a problem or suggest a feature?

A39: Through the contact form. Say which browser and device you use and what you did before the problem appeared. The help documentation describes every part of the tool in order.