Employee ID Card Templates: Make One Online (PDF)

Someone new starts on Monday and needs a badge. You don't need design software or a print shop for that. You need a name, a photo, a job title, and a card that comes out the right size when you print it. This guide covers what to put on the card, how to make one, and how to do a whole team at once.

What to put on it

The basics are the person's name, a photo, and their job title or department. Add an employee number if anyone will check it against a list, and the company name or logo so the card is recognizable from across a lobby.

If the badge will be scanned at a door or a time clock, you'll want a QR code or barcode as well. Before you print fifty cards, ask whoever runs that system which format it reads. Barcode scanners are often set up for one symbology and quietly ignore the others. The ID Card Maker can print QR codes and Code 128, Code 39 and EAN-13 barcodes.

The back of the card is a good place for the details people only need occasionally: a return address in case the card is lost, an emergency contact, or a short note on how the badge may be used.

Size

Most ID badges are CR80, the same size as a bank card (54 × 86 mm), and that's the default in the editor. It also has CR79, CR90, CR100 and larger visitor and event badge sizes. If you already have badge holders or a card printer, check which size they take before you start designing.

Making a card

1. Open the ID Card Maker and filter the templates by Employee. There are portrait and landscape designs, plain and patterned.
2. Pick a template and type in the name, job title, department and ID number.
3. Add the photo and, if you have one, the company logo.
4. Turn to the back and add a QR code, a barcode, or any text you need there.
5. Download the card as a PNG image or a PDF.

A whole team at once

Doing forty cards one by one gets old quickly. Bulk mode takes a CSV file (which you can export from Excel or Google Sheets) with one row per person. You can download an example CSV from the editor to see which columns it understands. For photos, add a column with each person's photo file name, then upload the photos. The editor matches them to the right rows by file name.

You get the cards either as a ZIP of PNG files or as an A4 PDF with several cards on each sheet, ready to print and cut out. Check a few cards in the preview first. A long job title that fits one template can overflow on another.

Photos

Badges look much better when the photos match: same background, same framing, heads roughly the same size. If you're working from phone photos, Passport Photo Maker crops each one to a fixed size, which keeps a batch consistent. A plain light wall and daylight from a window beat most office lighting.

Printing

Print at 100% or "Actual size". "Fit to page" shrinks the card slightly and it will rattle around in the holder. Measure the first card with a ruler before you print the rest. On an office printer, thick card stock and a laminating pouch hold up well for everyday use. A PVC card printer looks more professional if you make badges often.

Two things to keep in mind

A printed badge is a picture of an ID, not an access credential. A QR code or barcode on the card only works with a door or time-clock system that already has that number registered. For key cards that open doors on their own, your access-control provider has to encode them.

Photos and details stay in your browser while you work; they aren't uploaded to a server. The editor does save your design in the browser so you can come back to it later. If you're on a shared computer, clear the site data for pilotpdf.com in your browser settings when you're done.

For codes that aren't on a badge, such as asset tags or a link on a notice board, the QR Code Generator and Barcode Generator make them on their own.