- Do I need any special software to use this site?
- Do I need a special printer to use your award certificates?
- What is the difference between the PDF award files versus the DOC certificate files versus the PPT award certificate templates?
- Make-A-Cert gives me the border and watermark just fine, but the text doesn't show up. I get little boxes instead of text. Help!
- When I try to view the pre-made certificate templates I cannot edit the text. What's wrong?
- How do I customize a certificate template with the recipients name?
- I don't think I understand how to use the Make-A-Cert. Can you help me?
- How do I print an award?
- I only see a few dozen certificates in your free areas. How many do you really have to offer me?
- I saw a certificate I liked in your free area a few weeks ago and now it's not there anymore. What gives?
- The certificates seem to take awhile to open in my browser. Is something wrong?
- I'd like to give awards to my call center operators, but your certificates will take up too much space in their cubicles. Can I get half-sized awards?
- Do I have to use a special type of paper?
- Do your awards support international and other paper sizes?
- When I print a certificate it is not centered correctly and extra white space appears on the right side of the award. Can I fix this?
- Help! I've forgotten my password!
- It's been fun, but I want to cancel my subscription. How do I do that?
Do I need any special software to use this site?
To maintain the best quality and satisfy cross browser/operating system concerns the certificates are all made with Adobe Acrobat and saved as PDF files. So the Acrobat Reader is a requirement if you're going to make use of the PDF-based awards. Most people already have the Acrobat Reader on their computer. If you don't or need to upgrade the version you have you may download it for Free by clicking this link to Adobe's web site.The free Adobe Acrobat Reader software is a requirement to use both our revolutionary Make-A-Cert award certificate maker and our free award certificates.
Do I need a special printer to use your award certificates?
No, any standard color printer will work just fine!
What is the difference between the PDF award files versus the DOC certificate files versus the PPT award certificate templates?
The main difference it the type of software you'll need to have installed on your computer to use the various types of award templates available.As a general rule we advise using the PDF versions of the award templates. Not only is the software needed to print them (Adobe Acrobat Reader) 100% free, but the PDF files tend to produce the most consistent prints across multiple types of computers and printers. The PDF files are also typically the smallest in size and do not require you to download the files to your desktop to work with them. They'll work right from your browser if you have a reasonably recent, fully functional version of the free Acrobat Reader software installed on your system.
The only drawback with the PDF awards is that you cannot save your edits with the free version of Acrobat. To save edits you would need to have the Full (paid) version of Acrobat available.
PPT certificate templates are designed to be used Microsoft's Powerpoint software, which is available as part of their Office bundle.
This format will allow you to make and save edits, change font styles, sizes and colors, etc. PPT format gives you a bit more flexibility, but as a general rule can be more difficult to work with if you're not already familiar with Powerpoint. These PPT templates tend to be approximately 3 times larger than file size of the PDF files, and do require you to download the file to your computer to make and save changes, however they do offer greater flexibility.
We have chosen to make the PPT versions available because of requests we have received from Powerpoint users over the years.
The DOC format files are designed for use with Microsoft's Word software. It is also part of the Office bundle, but many others also have a scaled down version of Word available to them to use.
The DOC award certificate templates are by far the largest file sizes, checking in at approximately 10-15 times the size of the PDF format. They also require you to download the file to your computer in order to make and save edits, and are somewhat less likely to produce a consistent final print across multiple types of computer systems and printers.
On the positive note, more people have access to some form of Microsoft Word and the DOC templates do allow a very high level of flexibilty if you're familiar with using Word. Much like the Powerpoint versions you can change and save font styles, sizes, colors, etc. You can also add new text fields to any template, delete any text fields, etc. It's a very flexible and ubiquitous file format, with the downside being the size of the files and the erratic final prints that may require you to set up a custom paper size.
Make-A-Cert gives me the border and watermark just fine, but the text doesn't show up. I get little boxes instead of text. Help!
We have had a few reports of this one, and the solution is quite simple thankfully. The short answer is that you need to download and install the free Acrobat Reader directly from Adobe's web site. Even if the Acrobat Reader version which came with your computer already says it is a newer one.The longer answer is... apparently the Acrobat Reader software which is pre-installed on some Microsoft Windows computers has some functionality either crippled or disabled. Namely, the ability to display some embedded fonts if you do not already have those fonts installed on your local computer. We have verified this on new installs of Windows XP and NT, though other flavors and even Operating Systems may also be affected. The quick (and only) fix is to install Acrobat Reader directly from Adobe.
When I try to view the pre-made certificate templates I cannot edit the text. What's wrong?
Chances very good are you either have an older version of the free Adobe/Acrobat Reader software installed, or perhaps you have a version that was pre-installed by the computer manufacturer.Some of the things we do to make the certificates as flexible as possible make use of Acrobat's advanced functions. Older versions of Acrobat Reader, and the seriously scaled down versions being installed by some computer manufacturer's, do not support everything we do with the awards. Installing the current version available directly from Adobe's web site should cure the problem.
How do I customize a certificate template to add the recipients name?
Click on the first editable line of text in the certificate you have chosen. You will see that this puts a little cursor in that line. Delete the placeholder text we have put there to identify that the line is indeed editable and type in the information you would like. If there is a second editable line simply hit the Tab key to move to that next line. If not, hit the Enter key. Now you're ready to print!
I don't think I understand how to use the Make-A-Cert. Can you help me?
A full description of this revolutionary technology can be found here. Though the actual Make-A-Cert page also has some short instructions and a link you can click on for visual help.The long and short of it is you simply choose different graphics and/or type in the text you want to appear in each section of the award. Also, you can choose among different font styles and colors, etc when customizing your award. When you think you've got it all ready, click the Create button and the software will do the rest!
If you want to change something, you can simply go back to the data entry form again. As long as you allow us to set a cookie on your computer, Make-A-Cert will even remember the information you typed in during your last visit.
For those trying out the public preview of the Make-A-Cert technology, please realize that the public version is a very scaled down version of the version members use. Not only are their five different MAC versions with five different themes, but there are also a lot more choices in the frames, header, watermark and other graphics; more font choices; and if you want you can even upload your own logo or other graphics to use as your own Personal Watermark.
Simply click on the link to view the award certificate template you would like to print. Or alternately create your own custom award with the Make-A-Cert. Once the full-sized award is loaded in your browswer window follow the very simple steps to customize it, then click on File and Print, or click the icon that looks like a little printer. What could be easier!?!
I only see a few certificates in your free area. How many do you really have to offer me?
We only put a handful of our certificates out in the free area. As of this writing there are about 5,000 pre-made award certificates of varied designs covering dozens and dozens of subjects. Of course within a week this information will become dated and there will be more.You see, we are constantly adding new certificates. Sometimes the additions are new design concepts in existing categories, sometimes we add entirely new categories. Many times these additions come at the request of our members. Suffice it to say that there will always be new award certificates added each month.
I saw a certificate I liked in your free area a few weeks ago and now it's not there anymore. What gives?
We rotate awards in and out of our free areas all the time. Generally speaking, a given certificate will spend a month or two in the free area before being replaced by another. There is no hard and fast rule as to when these changes will take place.For instance, if we are receiving a lot of requests from visitors for a Baseball Award Certificate we are likely to include one of our many designs in that particular sports theme and leave it there for a longer period of time so that it is available throughout the baseball season.
You can rest assured that any certificate you have previously seen in the free area is still available inside the members area once you become a subscriber.
The certificates seem to take awhile to open in my browser. Is something wrong?
Not at all.
One of the main goals we strive to maintain is to have absolutely top quality certificates with vibrant colors and intricate detail. Because of this some of the certificate file sizes can become rather large. This can become especially noticeable if you are using a dial up connection for your Internet browsing. We do optimize the file sizes as much as possible, however we will never go to the extreme of over-optimizing a certifcate so that the quality suffers.
I'd like to give awards to my call center operators, but your certificates will take up too much space in their cubicles. Can I get half-sized awards?
Sure! It's not only easy to do, but you can print out any of our certificates in half-sized dimensions! Here's how to do it:
- Open up the Acrobat (PDF) version of the certificate in your browser
- Click on File and then Print
- In the new window that pops up make sure "Shrink oversized pages to paper size" is checked
- Just below that Uncheck "Auto-rotate and center pages"
- Click the "OK" button to begin printing
Do I have to use a special type of paper?
No you don't. Our professionally designed certificates will look great with any type or stock of paper!Of course if you use a better printer and high quality paper the certificates will be even clearer and more professional looking. Here's a tip if you want to produce an Ultra High Quality award... Use your printer's highest DPI (dots per inch) setting and load in a piece of Picture or Photo Paper. You'll be amazed at the quality of certificate this method will produce for you!
Do your awards support international and other paper sizes?
Yes they do.The award certificates will automagically scale themselves to whatever paper dimensions you have set in your printer. So if you want to use something other than 8 1/2 by 11 paper, it's easy to do! Some choose to use 8 x 10, so there awards can be put into a standard picture frame; Some choose to print on 11 x 17 paper to make a big impact; Some use A4 paper sizes; And some create their own custom paper size. They all work quite well since the certificates are designed to scale themselves to whatever size you need.
When I print a certificate it is not centered correctly and extra white space appears on the right side of the award. Can I fix this?
There are two reasons why you may experience this issue. First, you may be using a printer driver which came with Windows, instead of the drivers which are made for your specific printer. Some generic Windows-supplied printer drivers do not take advantage of the full functionality of your printer, most notably the ability to adjust the bottom margins of a printed page.You may also experience this problem if your printer is built in such a way that it forces a certain amount of white space at the "bottom" of the page. We have seen this specific behavior with some Hewlett Packard and Lexmark printers, though there may be others which are affected.
The fix is to download and install the latest driver for your printer directly from the manufacturer. Then you will want to set a Custom Page height of Eleven and one-half inches, leaving the page width at Eight and one-half inches. Once this new value is set simply choose the new Custom Page size when you're printing a certificate and it should be perfectly centered.
Here's how we set these values for the HP printers we've tested:
- Select the Start button
- Select Settings
- Select Control Panel
- Select the Printers icon (on Windows 95/98/ME) or the Printers and Faxes icon (on NT/XP)
- Right Click on the icon for your Hewlett Packard printer
- Select the Printing Preferences option
- Scroll down the Paper Size field and select the Custom option
- Change the Length so that it reads 11.50 inches
- Click the OK button all the way back out to accept the changes
- You are now ready to print. Just make sure Custom is chosen before you start printing an award certificate.
Here's how we set these values for the Lexmark printers we've tested:
- Select the Start button
- Select Settings
- Select Control Panel
- Select the Printers icon (on Windows 95/98/ME) or the Printers and Faxes icon (on NT/XP
- Right Click on the icon for your Lexmark printer
- Select the Printing Preferences option
- Scroll down the Paper Size field and select the Custom option
- Press the Custom Paper Size button
- Change the Length so that it reads 1150 (1/100ths of an inch)
- Click the OK button all the way back out to accept the changes
- You are now ready to print. Just make sure Custom is chosen before you start printing an award certificate.
Help! I've forgotten my password!
Not a problem! Our automated system can retrieve it for you and send it to your registered email address.Simply visit the following page: http://www.aaacertificates.com/lostpass.php, type in your username or email address and hit the Get Password button. Our system will send your password to you immediately.
If for some reason that doesn't work; if you cannot remember your username; or if you no longer have access to your registered email address, please use our Contact Form including as much information as you can, most importanly the email address you used when registering and your name. Our staff will research the subscriber database manually and email you the details.
It's been fun, but I want to cancel my subscription. How do I do that?
Simply use our subscriber contact form located at http://www.aaacertificates.com/members/contact.php to request cancellation of your account and we will do so immediately. We will send you confirmation when the cancellation has been completedPlease include as much information as possible about your account, most importantly your name, your username, and your email address.
