Generate ID Cards

The Generate IDs feature lets you produce professional ID cards for every student in a section or every staff member in a department. You configure the card size, paper layout, badge colours, and spacing, preview the cards at any zoom level, then download a print-ready PDF — all without leaving the platform.

Who can generate IDs?

Action	Required permission
View the Generate IDs page	`students:list`
Generate student IDs	`students:list`
Generate staff IDs	`students:list` (same page, staff tab)

Permissions are granted through Positions. If the Generate IDs entry is missing from the sidebar, ask your school owner to check the permissions attached to your position.

Navigate to Generate IDs

From your school dashboard, look for Generate IDs under the People section of the sidebar. Clicking it opens a two-panel layout:

Left panel — all settings (ID type, selection, colours, print options)
Right panel — live badge preview with zoom controls and a Download PDF button

Generate student ID cards

Select ID type
Section titled “Select ID type”

At the top of the settings panel, make sure Students is selected in the ID Type toggle.
Pick an academic year
Section titled “Pick an academic year”

Choose the academic year from the Academic Year dropdown. The section list below will update to show only classes in that year.
Pick a section
Section titled “Pick a section”

Choose the class or section from the Section / Class dropdown. The preview panel on the right immediately populates with an ID card for every enrolled student.

If a section has no students, the preview shows an empty state message. Go to the Sections page and ensure students are enrolled before generating IDs.
Adjust settings if needed
Section titled “Adjust settings if needed”

See Customising cards and Print settings below for the full list of options.
Download the PDF
Section titled “Download the PDF”

Click Download PDF in the top-right of the preview panel. The button shows live progress as it renders each card (for example, Fronts 10 / 35 then Backs 10 / 35 then Building PDF…). The download starts automatically when complete.

Generate staff ID cards

Select ID type
Section titled “Select ID type”

At the top of the settings panel, click Staff in the ID Type toggle.
Pick a department
Section titled “Pick a department”

Choose the department from the Department dropdown. The preview populates with ID cards for every active staff member in that department.

Staff cards show the person’s position name (e.g., Head of Mathematics, Class Teacher) rather than a generic role label.

If your school has more than 100 staff in a department, the platform automatically fetches all pages so every member is included in the PDF.
Adjust settings and download
Section titled “Adjust settings and download”

Follow the same steps as for students — configure options, preview, then click Download PDF.

Customising cards

Badge colours

The Badge colours controls (in the settings panel, below the section/department picker) let you match cards to your school’s brand.

Control	What it changes	Default
Background	The accent strip at the bottom of the card front — the wave curve and the school info bar	White `#ffffff`
Text	The person’s name printed on the curve and the role label in the school strip	Near-black `#111111`

Click the colour swatch to open the browser colour picker. The preview updates live as you drag.

Only with photo toggle

The Only with photo toggle filters the list to people who have a profile photo uploaded. When enabled, anyone without a photo is excluded from both the preview and the PDF.

This is useful when you want to print photo IDs in one batch and handle the remaining students or staff separately once their photos are uploaded.

Print settings

Click Print settings in the settings panel to expand the group. These settings control the physical layout of the PDF — they do not affect the on-screen preview zoom.

Card size

Field	Default	Notes
Width (cm)	5.8 cm	Standard CR80 card width. Range 2 – 30 cm.
Height (cm)	8.2 cm	Range 2 – 30 cm.

Paper size

Choose the sheet size to print onto. Available options:

Option	Dimensions
A4 (default)	210 × 297 mm
A3	297 × 420 mm
A2	420 × 594 mm
A5	148 × 210 mm
Letter	216 × 279 mm
Custom	Enter width and height in mm (50 – 1200 mm each)

The info bar at the top of the preview panel shows how many cards fit per page and the total page count.

Spacing between IDs

Padding in millimetres added around each card. You can set each side independently:

Field	Default
Top	4 mm
Bottom	4 mm
Left	4 mm
Right	4 mm

Reducing spacing fits more cards per page. Increasing it leaves a visible gap between cards which makes cutting easier.

Preview controls

Zoom

Use the − and + buttons above the preview grid to zoom in and out. Zoom runs from 25 % to 150 % in 25 % steps. At 100 % you see the cards at their natural screen size; at 75 % (the default) three or more cards are visible side-by-side on most screens.

Zoom only affects the on-screen preview and does not change the PDF output.

Preview limit

The Preview limit setting (below the print settings group) controls how many cards are rendered in the preview grid. The default is 20. Reducing this number makes the page feel faster when working with large sections. The PDF always includes every person regardless of the preview limit.

Accepted range: 1 – 100.

Understanding the PDF output

The downloaded PDF contains two sets of pages:

Pages	Content
First half	All card fronts — photo, name, and school strip
Second half	All card backs — ID number, section or department, academic year, and school details

Each page is laid out using the configured paper size, card size, and spacing. A fixed 8 mm margin is kept around the page edge. The number of cards per page and the total page count are shown above the preview grid before you download.

Tips for best results

Profile photos — Upload a clear, front-facing photo for each student or staff member before generating IDs. Cards without photos show initials instead. Use the Only with photo filter to separate the two groups.
Card size — The default 5.8 × 8.2 cm matches a standard CR80 ID card (same as a credit card). If you have a standard card-size cutter or laminator pouch, keep the defaults.
Colours — Test your colour choices with 2–3 cards at 100 % zoom before committing to a full batch. Dark accent colours with white text and a subtle shadow produce the clearest result after lamination.
Large batches — For sections over 100 students, the platform fetches and renders all cards in background batches of 10. Watch the progress indicator on the Download PDF button; do not close the tab until the download starts.
Paper — Print on 160–200 gsm cardstock for rigid, long-lasting cards. Standard 80 gsm office paper will work but the cards will be flimsy without lamination.

Troubleshooting

No students appear after selecting a section

The section exists but has no active enrolments. Go to Sections → Roster and enrol students before generating IDs.

Staff list is empty after selecting a department

The department has no active staff assigned to it. Go to Staff, open each staff member’s profile, and confirm their department assignment.

Profile photos are missing on the cards

Photos must be uploaded to each person’s profile. Navigate to the student or staff profile, upload a photo, and then re-open the Generate IDs page. Use the Only with photo toggle to confirm how many people have photos before downloading.

The PDF download does not start

The browser blocks the automatic download on some strict content security policies. If the download does not begin within 30 seconds, try a different browser (Chrome or Edge recommended) or disable any download-blocking browser extensions.

Cards are cut off or overlapping in the PDF

The card size is larger than the available space on the selected paper size. Either reduce the card size in Print settings, increase the paper size, or reduce the spacing values.