How to Give Certificates in Google Classroom (2026)

Google Classroom has no built-in certificate feature — you cannot create, generate, or issue a certificate anywhere in Classroom itself. But teachers issue them all the time by adding one piece: a Google Form quiz attached to a Classroom assignment, connected to the CertifyAll add-on. When a student passes the quiz, they automatically receive a personalized PDF certificate by email, and a copy is saved to your Drive. This guide shows the exact setup, end to end, in about 15 minutes.

Why Google Classroom can't issue certificates on its own

Classroom is built to distribute assignments, collect work, and return grades. It has no template engine, no PDF generation, and no email-with-attachment automation — so there is no menu anywhere that produces a certificate. Teachers who want to recognize course completion, a passed safety quiz, or a reading challenge have to bring that capability from elsewhere in Google Workspace.

The cleanest way is the tool Classroom already integrates with for quizzes: Google Forms. A Form can be attached to a Classroom assignment, it can grade a quiz automatically, and — with a certificate add-on — it can turn a passing score into a certificate. That closes the loop entirely inside the Google tools your students already use.

The workflow in one picture

Here's the whole chain, so the steps make sense before you start:

Step-by-step setup

1. Create a Google Form quiz. In Google Forms, open Settings and turn on Make this a quiz. Add your questions and point values, and enable Collect email addresses so certificates can be delivered.
2. Attach it to a Classroom assignment. In Google Classroom, go to Classwork → Create → Assignment, then attach the Google Form. Students will complete it without leaving Classroom.
3. Design the certificate in Google Slides. Make a one-slide certificate with your school's branding and add placeholders where the details go: {{name}}, {{score}}, {{date}}. (Full design walkthrough in our Google Slides certificate template guide.)
4. Connect CertifyAll. Install CertifyAll from the Google Workspace Marketplace, open it from your Form's add-ons menu, paste the Slides URL, map the placeholders, and set a passing score (e.g. 70%).
5. Let it run. Every student who passes automatically receives their certificate by email; students who don't get an encouraging retry email. A PDF copy of each certificate lands in a CertifyAll Certificates folder in your Drive — your record for the term.

Completion vs achievement certificates

The passing-score setting lets you choose what the certificate means:

• Achievement certificate — set a meaningful threshold (say 80%). The certificate then certifies mastery, and the {{percentage}} placeholder can show the score they earned.
• Completion / participation certificate — set the threshold to 0%. Everyone who submits gets a certificate, which suits reading challenges, attendance, or end-of-unit recognition where finishing is the goal.

You can run both from the same class by using two Forms — one graded, one open — each with its own CertifyAll template.

Tips for issuing to a whole class

• Use verified email collection when your students are in your Google Workspace for Education domain — it guarantees the right address with no typing.
• Allow resubmission (leave Limit to 1 response off) so a student who just misses the threshold can re-study and re-earn the certificate automatically.
• Reuse one template across sections with the {{form_title}} placeholder, so the same Slides design names each course correctly.
• Watch your monthly count. A class of 30 across several quizzes can pass 20 free certificates quickly — Pro ($5.99/month) lifts the cap and removes the watermark for a professional finish.

Frequently asked questions