Automate Certificate Generation with Pabbly Connect: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to automate certificate generation using Pabbly Connect with Airtable and Google Slides. Detailed tutorial for HR managers. Explore systematic approaches to creating efficient automation solutions that convert technical concepts into practical, implementable instructions.

Watch Step By Step Video Tutorial Below

1. Accessing Pabbly Connect for Automation

To begin automating the process of generating certificates, you need to access Pabbly Connect. This platform allows for seamless integration between Airtable and Google Slides, making it ideal for HR managers.

Visit the Pabbly Connect homepage by typing the URL in your browser. Once there, you can either sign in if you are an existing user or click on the ‘Sign up for free’ button to create a new account. After signing in, you will gain access to all the features offered by Pabbly Connect.

2. Creating a Workflow in Pabbly Connect

After accessing Pabbly Connect, you need to create a new workflow. Click on the ‘Create Workflow’ button located at the top right corner of the dashboard. This action will prompt you to name your workflow.

• Name your workflow, for example, ‘Create Presentations from Airtable and Google Slides’.
• Select a folder to save your workflow.
• Click ‘Create’ to finalize the setup.

Now, you will see two sections: Trigger and Action. The trigger indicates what event will start the workflow, while the action specifies what happens as a result. In this case, the trigger will be Airtable and the action will be Google Slides, facilitated by Pabbly Connect.

3. Setting Up the Trigger in Pabbly Connect

For the trigger, select Airtable as the application. Then, choose ‘New Record’ as the trigger event. This setup means that whenever a new record is created in Airtable, it will trigger the workflow.

Click on ‘Connect’ to establish the connection between Airtable and Pabbly Connect. You can either add a new connection or select an existing one. After granting access, choose the base and table from Airtable where you will input employee details.

• Select the base named ‘Employee Achievements and Recognition’.
• Ensure you have a field named ‘Created’ set to type ‘Created Time’.

Once you have set this up, click on ‘Save and Send Test Request’ to capture the latest record from Airtable. This indicates that your trigger setup is successful, allowing Pabbly Connect to receive data whenever new records are added.

4. Generating Certificates in Google Slides

After successfully setting up the trigger, the next step is to generate certificates using Google Slides. In the action step, select Google Slides as your application and choose ‘Create Presentation from Template’ as the action event.

Connect your Google account to Pabbly Connect to allow access. Once connected, select the template presentation you created for certificates. You need to map various fields such as employee name, achievement, and authorized name from the previous step’s response.

Map the employee’s name to the new presentation title. Fill in other details like achievement and date of certificate creation.

Click on ‘Save and Send Test Request’ to create the presentation. This confirms that your integration between Airtable and Google Slides via Pabbly Connect is functioning correctly, allowing automatic generation of certificates.

5. Sending Certificates via Email

Once the certificate is generated, the final step is to send it to the employee via email. To do this, you will first need to convert the presentation into a PDF format using Google Drive.

Set up another action step in Pabbly Connect by selecting Google Drive and choosing ‘Share a File with Anyone’ as the action event. Map the presentation ID received from the previous step to ensure the correct file is shared.

Use the employee’s email address from the Airtable record as the recipient. Compose the email content, including the PDF link of the certificate.

Finally, set up the Gmail integration in Pabbly Connect to send the email. Click ‘Save and Send Test Request’ to confirm that the email is successfully sent to the employee, completing the automation process.

Conclusion

This tutorial demonstrates how to automate the process of generating and sending certificates using Pabbly Connect, Airtable, and Google Slides. By following these steps, you can efficiently manage employee achievements and recognition without manual intervention.