Automated Certificate Generation with Zapier & Google Sheets

Learn how to automatically generate personalized PDF certificates and collect e-signatures using Google Sheets, ComposeIt, DocuSeal, and Zapier.

1. Create the Certificate Template

Start by creating a new template inside the editor dashboard. Select Document as the type and pick the Certificate starter layout.

2. Design and Dynamic Placeholders

You can see the full template and it has dynamic data for recipient, signature field and QR code for verification.

3. Data Collections

There is a sample schema for certificates and signers with some sample data.

Certificate Collection

A certificate collection containing fields id, signer, issue date, qr code url, and recipient name.

Signers Collection

A relational signer collection to store signature authority details like id, name, and email.

4. Preview Document in the Editor

You can trigger a real-time preview directly from the editor toolbar with the play button or by clicking the Preview button inside the collection table row.

The in-editor PDF modal renders a live document preview along with the JSON data payload used to populate the fields.

5. Prepare the Google Sheet

Create a Google Sheet named Certificates with a recipients tab. Include columns for id, recipient name, and status (pending, completed).

6. Build the Zapier Automation

Step A: Set Up Google Sheets Trigger

In Zapier, create a new Zap and select Google Sheets as the app with Updated Spreadsheet Row as the trigger event.

Step B: Configure Spreadsheet and Worksheet

Connect your account and select:

Spreadsheet: Certificates
Worksheet: recipients
Trigger Column: status

Step C: Add Filter Step

Add a Filter by Zapier action step set to only continue if status (Text) Exactly matches completed.

Note for Testing: Ensure at least one row in your Google Sheet has its status set to completed prior to testing this step, otherwise the filter test will not pass.

7. Configure ComposeIt Document Generation

Step A: Get an API Key from ComposeIt

In your ComposeIt workspace dashboard, navigate to API Keys. Click Add + to generate a new key named Zapier or something. Assign the scopes:

templates.read
documents.write

The above are the only scopes required for this example even though we assigned everything.

Step B: Add ComposeIt Action Step in Zapier

Add a new action step in your Zap, choose ComposeIt as the App, and select Generate as the Action event. Authenticate using your API key.

If the ComposeIt integration is not yet publicly listed in the Zapier Directory, click the link below to add it to your Zapier account:

👉 Click here to accept the ComposeIt Zapier Invite

Step C: Basic Template Configuration

Select your template and output parameters:

Template ID: Certificate
Formats: pdf
Data Input Mode: Field Mapper (Simple)

Step D: Map Dynamic Data Fields

Map fields from previous steps into your template inputs, they do not need to be exact as this is data from previous steps, and for the signer name and email you can change to yours or get this data from other apps:

Signer Name: Brendon Ngirazi
Signer Email: brendon@composeit.app
Issue Date: today
QR Code URL: https://example.com/verify/ + 1. id: CERT-2026-103
Recipient Name: 1. recipient name: Amara Okafor

Step E: Test and Preview Generated PDF

Run a test on the ComposeIt action step. Copy the generated PDF URL from the test output and open it in a browser to inspect the rendered certificate document.

8. Configure DocuSeal E-Signature Request

Step A: Add DocuSeal Action Step

Add a final step in Zapier and choose DocuSeal as the app with Create Signature Request From PDF as the action event.

Step B: Configure Document & Submission Settings

Set up the submission details:

Submission Name: Certificate- + 1. id
Send Email: Yes
Send SMS: No
Select number of documents: 1
Document #1 File: Pass the 3. PDF URLoutput variable from the ComposeIt step.

Step C: Configure Signer #1 Settings

Set up the recipient signing details. These can be set to you details or come from an app in a previous step:

Signer role: Brendon Ngirazi
Signer name: Brendon Ngirazi
Signer email: brendon@composeit.app
Send Email: Yes

Performance Tip: Set tag removal disabled / remove tags set to false when utilizing embedded text tags to improve document processing speed.

Step D: Test and Receive Signature Invitation

Run the test in Zapier. An automated email invitation will be sent to the signer with a link to review and sign the document.

Step E: View and Sign Document

Clicking Review and Sign in the email opens DocuSeal's interactive document viewer. The signer can enter required fields directly on top of the generated certificate before completing the signature request.

9. Full Automation Overview

Here is the complete end-to-end automation pipeline assembled inside Zapier:

Summary of Workflow Steps

Google Sheets: Triggers whenever a row status column updates.
Filter by Zapier: Verifies status matches completed before proceeding.
ComposeIt: Ingests recipient data and generates a high-resolution certificate PDF.
DocuSeal: Receives the PDF URL and creates a signature request sent via email.

Note on Cross-Platform Support:
The ComposeIt integration operates identically across other workflow automation engines like n8n and Activepieces. You can recreate this exact pipeline using the same API keys, field mapping schema, and template configurations on your preferred platform.