Free Blank Certificate Templates

Using blank certificate templates have become a very popular way to give employees, students, and even employers, easily customizable training or educational session. These certificate templates are typically available on the internet in various file formats including PDF, PostScript, HTML, and Microsoft Word. In addition, they may be emailed to you or downloaded directly from the website.

A blank certificate template gives you the design — border, layout, and structure — and leaves the words to you. That’s what you want when the occasion doesn’t match a standard title: an in-house training course, a club award, a classroom prize, a volunteer thank-you, or anything you’d rather word yourself. The templates below are free, editable in Microsoft Word, and print on standard letter or A4 paper. Below them you’ll find how to customize a blank certificate in Word, what to write on it, and a directory of ready-worded certificates by type if you’d rather not start from blank.

For example, blank certificate templates with a pre-printed template have limited flexibility and can’t be customized. On the other hand, there are several websites that offer professionally designed templates that allow you to change fonts, colors, and text to customize your own presentation. Some of these sites require you to pay a minimal fee to download these templates. Others are completely free. Regardless of where you get your templates, there are certain important tips that will ensure that you make the best decision.

Free Blank Certificate Templates in MS Word

Each design below comes with placeholder text you replace with your own — organization name, recipient, reason, date, and signature lines.

Blank Certificate Template with Ornate Border

Here is the download button for this wonderful certificate template.

Blank Award Certificate — Landscape

Download this Blank Diploma Certificate Template 03 here,

 

Here is download link for this Blank Diploma Certificate Template 02,

 

Download link for this Blank Diploma Certificate Template 01 is here,

How to Customize a Blank Certificate in Word

1. Replace the placeholder text — click into each line and type over it. Keep the recipient’s name in the largest text on the page; it’s the element people look at first.
2. Add your logo or crest — Insert ? Pictures, then set text wrapping to “Behind Text” or “In Front of Text” so you can position it freely without pushing the layout around.
3. Switch orientation if needed — Layout ? Orientation ? Landscape. Most formal certificates are landscape; portrait suits text-heavy citations.
4. Change or add a border — Design ? Page Borders ? Art, then pick a style and set the width. This is also how you swap a border you don’t like for one you do without leaving Word.
5. Pick fonts deliberately — a serif or script face for the recipient’s name, and something plain and readable for everything else. Two fonts is the limit; three starts to look like a party invitation.
6. Save a master copy before you fill in any names, so the next award starts from a clean file rather than the last recipient’s details.

What to Write on a Certificate

Blank certificates have three text lines that matter, and they’re always in the same order:

• The title — what kind of award this is: “Certificate of Achievement,” “Certificate of Completion,” “Employee of the Month,” or your own program’s award name.
• The presentation line — “is hereby presented to,” “is awarded to,” or “this certifies that,” followed by the recipient’s full name.
• The citation — the “in recognition of…” line explaining what earned it. This is the line people stall on, and the one that decides whether the certificate gets kept or filed. Name something specific: not “for excellent work,” but “for leading the volunteer team through the March flood response.”

Then the date and one or two signatures with names and titles typed beneath. If you want ready-made wording, our certificate of recognition page has citation examples for employees, students, volunteers, and service milestones, and the scholarship certificate page has award wording for academic honours.

Certificate Templates by Type

If your award has a standard name, one of these pre-worded sets will be quicker than starting from blank:

Workplace and recognition
Award certificates  •  Certificates of recognition  •  Certificates of excellence  •  Certificates of honor  •  Merit certificates

Education and training
Training certificates  •  Scholarship certificates  •  Experience certificates

Clubs, membership and organizations
Membership certificates  •  Sports certificates  •  Best mom certificates

Business and employment
Certificates of employment  •  Salary certificates  •  No objection certificates  •  Certificates of origin

Or browse the full collection of 250+ printable certificate templates.

Printing Certificates

Print on cardstock between 200 and 250 gsm — weight is most of what makes a certificate feel like an award rather than a page from a printer. Use white, cream, or light parchment; heavily coloured stock fights with decorative borders. Switch off “fit to page” in the print dialog so the border isn’t scaled down or clipped, and always run one test copy on plain paper to check alignment and spelling before printing a batch. If your printer leaves a white margin you don’t want, either accept it as a frame or have the file printed at a local print shop for full-bleed edges.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make a certificate in Microsoft Word?

Start from a blank template above, replace the placeholder text with your title, recipient, and citation, add your logo via Insert ? Pictures, and adjust the border under Design ? Page Borders. Set the page to landscape if the design calls for it, then print on cardstock.

What size is a certificate?

Standard letter (8.5 × 11 in) or A4, most often in landscape orientation. Both templates and frames are widely available in these sizes, which is why it’s worth staying with them rather than using a custom size.

What should I write on a blank certificate?

An award title, a presentation line with the recipient’s full name, and a citation beginning “in recognition of…” that names something specific. Add the date and one or two signatures with names and titles. See the wording section above, or the recognition page for ready-made examples.

Where can I get a certificate template with a border?

Every blank template on this page includes a decorative border, and you can change any of them in Word under Design ? Page Borders ? Art without leaving the document.

What paper should certificates be printed on?

Cardstock of 200–250 gsm in white, cream, or parchment. Test-print one copy first, and disable “fit to page” so the design prints at full size.