Personalized completion certificates from Typeform to Canva to Gmail

The moment someone finishes a course or event registration in Typeform, generate a personalized certificate in Canva and email it as a PDF.

Agentic Task
TypeformCanvaGmailSlackMarketingOperationsContent GenerationEmail Automation
PromptCreate

When a new form response comes in from Typeform (webhook on new form response), generate a personalized completion certificate in Canva and email it to the respondent as a PDF attachment. Ask me up front which Typeform form ID to listen to, which Canva brand template to autofill, which Gmail account should send the email, and which Slack channel should receive failure alerts.

The Typeform webhook payload carries the respondent's name, email, and any custom answers I've collected (typical fields: course title, completion date, cohort or session name). Extract those values from the payload and validate that name, email, and any fields the certificate template requires are present. If a required field is missing, do not try to generate a broken certificate — instead post a Slack message (Send a Message) to the ops channel I picked, with the form response ID and which fields were missing, and stop there.

When the payload is valid, call Canva's Autofill Brand Template operation with my chosen brand template ID and the extracted values mapped to the template's named data fields. Poll the autofill job until it completes. Then call Canva's Export Design operation to render the resulting design as a PDF and poll the export job until it returns a download URL. Download the PDF bytes right away in the same execution — Canva's export download URLs expire after 24 hours, so I do not want the URL persisted for later delivery.

Then use Gmail's Send a Message operation to email the certificate to the respondent. Attach the downloaded PDF and write a short, personalized cover note in the body: greet them by first name, reference the specific course or event title they completed, and match the tone to the event (warm and celebratory for a course completion, professional for a certification, casual for a community event). Keep it two or three sentences plus a signoff — no boilerplate.

If the Canva autofill job fails, or the Canva export job fails, or downloading the PDF fails, do not silently drop the certificate. Post a Slack Send a Message alert to my ops channel with the respondent's name, email, the form response ID, and the failure reason so someone on the team can follow up manually. Only send the email when the certificate PDF is genuinely ready.

Additional information

What does this prompt do?
  • Fires the instant Typeform receives a new form response, pulling the respondent's name, email, and custom answers (course title, completion date, cohort).
  • Feeds those values into your Canva brand template to auto-generate a fully designed certificate, then exports it as a PDF.
  • Downloads the PDF and emails it from Gmail with a personalized cover note the agent drafts to match the tone of the course or event.
  • If a required field is missing or Canva's autofill or export fails, posts a Slack alert to your ops channel instead of dropping the certificate silently.
What do I need to use this?
  • A Typeform form that collects at least the respondent's name, email, and any completion details you want on the certificate (course title, date, cohort).
  • A Canva Enterprise account and a certificate brand template with named fields matching your Typeform questions.
  • A Gmail account to send the certificate from.
  • A Slack workspace and an ops channel where you'd like failure alerts to land.
How can I customize it?
  • Point the workflow at any Typeform form and any Canva certificate template you like.
  • Change the Gmail sender and tweak the tone of the cover note (formal graduation, casual bootcamp, celebratory conference, etc.).
  • Pick which Slack channel receives failure alerts and edit what the alert should say.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a paid Canva plan?
Yes. Canva's Autofill Brand Template feature is only available on Canva Enterprise. If you're on Free or Pro, the workflow won't be able to generate the certificate.
How fast does the certificate arrive?
Typically within a minute of the Typeform response. Canva generates the design and exports the PDF asynchronously, and the workflow waits for both to finish before sending the email.
Can I use a different email tool instead of Gmail?
Yes. Swap Gmail for another supported email service when you set the workflow up. The rest of the flow (Typeform, Canva, Slack alerts) stays the same.
What happens if a Typeform response is missing the name or email?
The workflow won't try to generate a broken certificate. Instead it posts a Slack alert to your ops channel with the details so someone can follow up manually.
Does the certificate link expire?
Canva's export download link expires 24 hours after it's generated. That's why this workflow downloads the PDF and emails it inside the same run, so recipients always get an attachment they can keep.

Stop hand-making certificates one by one.

Let every course finisher and event registrant get a designed, personalized PDF the moment they hit submit.