Administrator Documentation

Manage Award icons and templates

Add new icons to the Award Icon Library

The Award Icon Library contains icons that you can use to create Badges. A default library of badge icons is available with the Awards tool. You can delete these default icons or add new icons to the library.

To add icons to Award Icon Library

Within the course, on the navbar, click Awards.
Click Award Icon Library.
Click Upload New Icon.
Browse to the location of the image file that you want to upload.
Click Open.

Add new Certificate Templates

The Awards tool contains a default certificate template. You can delete this default template or add new templates to the repository. You can also edit an existing template.

Within the course, on the navbar, click Awards.
Click Certificate Templates.
Click Upload New Template.
Browse to the location of the new template.
Click Open.

Create a custom certificate that uses replace strings

If the default templates provided with Awards do not meet your needs, you can create your own certificate templates from which administrators or instructors can create certificates for their courses.

Build a reusable, accessible certificate that automatically fills in learner and course details. Design a PDF once, map fields to Brightspace replace strings (for example, {FullName} and {AwardDate}), and generate branded certificates from Course Awards with a single click.

Why this matters

Save time – Automatically populate data from awards. No manual edits before printing or sharing.
Stay on brand – Control fonts, layout, and logos using your custom PDF template.
Ensure accessibility – Use meaningful tooltip text and a logical reading order for screen readers.

What you need

A PDF editor that supports AcroForm text fields (for example, Adobe Acrobat Pro).
Permission to create awards in your course.

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Note: To prevent plagiarism and protect an organization's intellectual and branding copyrights, all earned certificates downloaded from the Awards tool are password-protected from editing. Each certificate is generated with a random password that is not displayed to users, preventing anyone from editing the certificate in Adobe® Acrobat® or Adobe Reader®. This makes it unnecessary to manually add password-protection to uploaded certificates.

Prepare your template

Using an application, such as Adobe Acrobat Professional, create a form.
Add images, branding, and static text to complete your default design. Keep labels like Awarded to as static text outside fields.
Save the form as a PDF document.

If you need to add blank spaces prepared as a field for a name or date to appear then proceed to step 4.
If your certificate has blank spaces prepared as a field for a name or date to appear then proceed to step 5.

Open the PDF file in your preferred PDF editor and use the Text Field or Add a Text Field option, usually found in the form or editing tools, and place it where you want it to appear on the certificate.

Open the form editing or form preparation tool in your PDF editor. Existing form fields may be automatically highlighted on the page.

Note: In Adobe Acrobat Pro, go to Forms and Signature > Prepare Forms to view and edit form fields.

Right-click the field and select Properties.

Enter the replace string in the Name and Tooltip fields. You can only use one replace string per form field.

Tip: When designing your certificate, place static text, anything that is not a replace string, outside the form field.
For example, to display “Congratulations Jillian Student,” enter Congratulations as regular text on the PDF, and use {FullName} in the form field.
 A full list of replace strings that can be used with the Awards Tool appears follows these instructions in this article.

Supported text strings include:
{CourseName} – Inserts the name of the course. Example: “ACCT 101: Introduction to Accounting”
{OrgUnitCode} – Inserts the Org Unit Code of the course. Example: “2025-ACCT-101”
{UserFirstName} –Inserts the user's first name. Example: “Christopher”
{UserLastName} – Inserts the user's last name . Example: “Johnson”
{FullName} – Inserts the user's full name (first and last). Example: “Christopher Johnson”
{UserEmail} – Inserts the email address of the user to whom the certificate was issued. Example: “christopher.johnson@school.edu”
{UserName} – Inserts the username of the user to whom the certificate was issued. Example: “cjohnson”
{OrgDefinedID} – Inserts the Org Defined ID of the user to whom the certificate was issued. Example: “8675309”
{AwardName} – Inserts the name of the award. Example: “Certificate of Achievement”
{AwardDescription} – Inserts the description of the award. Example: “This certificate is awarded to those of...”
{AwardEvidence} – Inserts the evidence of the award completion. Example: “This certificate is awarded to those who complete the following...”
{IssuerFirstName} – Inserts the first name of the user who issued the certificate. Example: “Stephen”
{IssuerLastName} – Inserts the last name of the user who issued the certificate. Example: “Patel”
{IssuerName} – Inserts the Issuer Name as set from the award. Example: “Brightspace”
{IssuerContact} – Inserts the Issuer Contact as set from the award. Example: “Brightspace@d2L.com”
{AwardCreditValue} – Inserts the credit value of the award. Example: “3 credits”
{CertificateID} – Inserts the unique Certificate ID of the issued award. Example: “882246467913”
{CourseStartDate} – Inserts the Start Date of the course as a full verbose date. Example: “Wednesday January 1, 2020”
{CourseEndDate} – Inserts the End Date of the course as a full verbose date. Example: “Tuesday December 31, 2024”
{AwardDate} – Inserts the Issue Date of the award as a full verbose date. Example: “Friday March 18, 2022”
{AwardExpiryDate} – Inserts the Expiry Date of the award as a full verbose date. Example: “Saturday April 1, 2023”
{CourseStartDateShort} – Inserts the Start Date of the course as a numeric short date. Example: “2020-01-01"
{CourseEndDateShort} – Inserts the End Date of the course as a numeric short date. Example: “2024-12-31"
{AwardDateShort} – Inserts the Issue Date of the course as a numeric short date. Example: “2022-03-18"
{AwardExpiryDateShort} – Inserts the Expiry Date of the course as a numeric short date. Example: “2023-04-01"

Note: The following considerations apply to the {IssuerFirstName} and {IssuerLastName} replacement strings:

For manually issued certificates, the issuer name utilizes the name of the user that issues the certificate. In cases where a certificate using these replacement strings is conditionally released, the issuer name areas of the certificate utilize the name of the account set by the d2l.Tools.Awards.AwardUserId configuration variable.
The replacement strings use preferred names if they are configured at the organization level.

If the issuer updates their name, the name that displays on the certificate reflects the current name setting at the time of issuance. Previously issued certificates do not update.
Depending on the certificate template, the inserted text may extend beyond the text box borders. Administrators and instructors may need to adjust the template layout to ensure issuer names appear correctly.

If you're creating a form field that might contain a long value (for example, a full name), ensure the field is sized to fit the text. You have two options:

For certificates viewed online: Enable multi-line support in your PDF editor. This allows users to scroll within the field if the text exceeds the visible area. Note: This option may not print cleanly.
For certificates intended for printing: Use auto font sizing. In your PDF editor’s text or appearance settings, set the font size to Auto so the text adjusts to fit the field.

Save your file as PDF.

In Brightspace, access the course, in which you want to create certificate templates.

Navigate to the Awards tool and click Certificate Templates.

Click Upload New Template.

Browse to the location of the PDF form that you created.

Create a certificate and then associate the new template you created with the certificate.

Publish a few test certificates to confirm that the layout appears as expected.

Add a unique identifier

You can use the replacement string {CertificateID} when creating certificate templates to add an automatically-generated numeric ID. This ID uniquely identifies the issued award. A unique ID is generated and populated into the replacement string {CertificateID} on an ongoing basis when released.

The unique generated ID is 12 numeric characters long and is stored in the Brightspace database as CertificateID, along with other data for the issued award.

To control whether learners can view the CertificateId when sharing their awards, use the d2l.Tools.Awards.DisplayCertificateId configuration variable. It can be set at the organizational level and overridden for specific organizational units.

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Important: The API call for IssuedAward returns CertificateId based on the d2l.Tools.Awards.DisplayCertificateId setting:

ON: The API returns the corresponding CertificateId and Certificate ID displays in the PDF certificate.
OFF: The API returns a null value and Certificate ID is not displayed in the PDF certificate.

Manage the Award Earned Notification email template

You can edit the Award Earned Notification email template and customize the email message that is sent out to learners when they earn an award. To learn more about the necessary configuration variables to manage email templates, refer to Mail configuration variables.

From the Admin Tools menu, click Mail Template Management.
In the list of mail templates, click Award Earned Notification.
Edit the Template Properties and click Save.

Manage the Award Expiry Notification email template

You can edit the Award Expiry Notification email template and customize the email message that is sent out to learners when their award is expiring. To learn more about the necessary configuration variables to manage email templates, refer to Mail configuration variables.

From the Admin Tools menu, click Mail Template Management.
In the list of mail templates, click Award Expiry Notification.
Edit the Template Properties and click Save.