Absorb LMS uses the Portable Document Format (PDF) format for Certificates. To configure your Certificate, you will need Adobe Acrobat or another PDF form editor. If you would like to have the Absorb Design team customize your Certificates, please inquire about our Fully Tailored Design option.

Absorb references Dynamic Fields included in the .PDF Certificate so information can be populated correctly when the Certificate is opened. At the right hand side of this article is an attachment that includes the Absorb Custom Certificate Fields and examples of the Dynamic Fields.

Note that the Credit and Instructor fields listed in this document are unique Dynamic Fields that are designed to display multiple field values in a flexible way. These fields function as follows:

1. Instructor: If there are multiple Instructors assigned to the ILC it allows to display the name of each Instructor on the Certificate, based on their order specified in the ILC configuration.
   • Instructor1 - displays the name of the first ILC Instructor on the list.
   • Instructor2 - displays the name of the second ILC Instructor on the list.
   • Instructor3 - etc…
2. Credit: If there are multiple Credit types awarded to the Course, it allows to display each Credit type and its value based on the order specified in the Course configuration.
   • Credit1 - displays the type and the value of the first Credit type awarded by the Course.
   • Credit2 - displays the type and the value of the second Credit type awarded by the Course.
   • Credit3 - etc…

The functionality of the existing Instructors and Credits fields remains unchanged.

Adding a Dynamic Field to a PDF Certificate

Please advise the following method for creating your own Certificate:

1. Create your Certificate's design and layout.
   • You can create the initial design in various programs (Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, etc.) if the size remains 8.5 x 11 inches (215.9 mm x 279.4 mm).
   • Be sure to leave room for the dynamic fields populated by the LMS such as Course Name or Learner Name.
2. Save the Certificate as a PDF file.
3. Open your new PDF in Adobe Acrobat PDF writer to add dynamic fields.
4. Use the Prepare a form tool.
   
    
5. Add the form component type text field.
   
    
6. Continue adding as many text fields as needed on your Certificate.
   
    
7. Once all text fields are added, double click one to change the name.
8. Change the names to reflect the dynamic field you want to be applied from your Portal. Copy the dynamic fields exactly as-is from the Absorb LMS Custom Certificate Client PDF attached to this article.
   
    
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9. Once the names of the dynamic fields have been applied it will look something like this. At this point, save and export the PDF.
   

Adding Text Field Example

The following GIF showcases adding a text field to a form in Adobe Acrobat and applying the dynamic field name.

Modifying the Appearance of a Dynamic Field

In the above example, without modification, the text field will use a default appearance once generated as a Certificate:

To modify how the text in a text field appears, you can edit the form in Adobe Acrobat, double click the text field and navigate to the appearance tab. Use the formatting options present here to modify the size and appearance of the text in the text field.

Make sure to save, and re-upload the Certificate so the changes are applied.

Dynamic Field Values and Sources

When adding a dynamic field to a Certificate, the value that is added to the Certificate when it is generated depends on the content awarding the Certificate itself.

An example may be that if an Online Course awarded a Certificate and that Certificate includes the CourseId or DateEnrolled dynamic fields, the Course ID of that Online Course, or the date the Learner enrolled into that Online Course will be added to the generated Certificate.

Some fields are based on values associated with the Learner such as LearnerAddress, LearnerEmail or LearnerUsername. These values will be based on the information configured for the Profile of the Learner themselves.

Some dynamic fields are used less frequently such as Issuer, which is only populated if you're using a Course Upload. Make sure not to include a dynamic field that won't be relevant for the content awarding the Certificate, such as including Instructor for an Online Course Certificate.

Custom Fields

Absorb LMS allows you to configure Certificates with Custom User Fields. The data in these fields can also be passed to your PDF Certificate using the LearnerCustomFieldName form field.

Where the Dynamic Field FieldName is located will populate with the name entered into Portal Settings > Custom Field (with the spaces within the Custom Field name stripped out of the form field). For example, if Custom Field Company Name needs to be added to a Certificate, that would need to be included as LearnerCustomCompanyName to populate as expected.

• If changes are made in the LMS to that Custom Field name, your Certificates will need to be updated to reflect them.
• For the Custom Field to be mapped correctly, all capital letter formatting must be respected (if any).
• Custom Fields marked as Hidden will not dynamically populate on a Certificate.
• Currently, the LMS does not support customizing the fonts of Dynamic Fields in PDF certificates. If the LMS does not recognize a font or font character, it will add substitution fonts, such as Arial.

Adding a Custom Form Field

To add a Custom Form Field to the a Certificate, you will need to determine the correct name of the Custom Form Field first, for this example we will use the following:

Similar to the steps above for adding a text field, we will need to apply a text field with a specific name to the Certificate PDF. In this case we will have to modify the name of the text field to include the LearnerCustom snippet alongside the name of the Custom Field from our example.

Our example Custom Field has the name Favourite Pizza Topping so we'll merge this with the Dynamic Field name to create: LearnerCustomFavouritePizzaTopping

When preparing the form, it will look like this:

If the Custom Field has been applied correctly, when a Certificate generates and there is a value on the side of the User associated with it, that Custom Field value will populate.