Badges are essential for in-person events. They are an attendee's identification card to which you can add relevant information about your event. With Accelevents, you can design and print your badge.
Important Notes:
Zebra "ZD" series thermal printers are the most compatible printers for badge printing. We have integrated the Zebra “Link-OS Multiplatform SDK” into our Admin Mobile App. Click here for more information about the SDK with the list of supported printers.
✅ Printing from an iPad is the recommended way to print. When printing through a mobile phone, the badge design enlarges when printed; we are working on improving this feature on phones.
⚠️ If you're printing badges for your event, we highly recommend to turn on the feature that allows attendees to register only once with a unique email address as having a unique email address is required to access the event. The email address is the attendee's identifier. If attendees are sharing an email address, they will have issues as they are sharing a profile. They may have incorrect names when they check in and claim their badge and when they log in to the app. Learn how to restrict attendees to register only once with a unique email.
Enable Collect Both Ticket Buyer and Ticket Holder Information and make sure that the fields you want to show in the badge are active in the holder fields.
If you're looking to set conditions on the badge, like dynamic text, hide or show elements, and other tips and tricks, check out this other article on tips and tricks for badge design.
Downloaded / printed badges has about 150 DPI, so the resolution may not be the best, we are improving this to be able to print at least 600 DPI. Stay tuned for updates!
Our Badge Designer is for simple designs and is not intended to replace professional graphic design tools like Photoshop or Canva. If our designer cannot produce the graphics you need, you may work on the graphics on another platform and then upload the image to your design.
Please ensure you install the latest app version to see the latest updates.
This feature is not available for the Starter Plan.
Which Printers Have Worked with Accelevents?
The printers below are printers that we have worked with:
Zebra ZD420 - thermal printer
Zebra ZD500 - thermal printer
Zebra ZD620 - thermal printer
Zebra ZD621 - thermal printer
Zebra ZC10L - colored printer, connected to a Windows laptop where PrintNode is installed, and using PDF file type
Epson C3500 and C4000 colored printer, connected to a Windows laptop where PrintNode is installed, and using PDF file type
Evolis Primacy CR80 - colored printer, connected to a Windows laptop where PrintNode is installed, and using PDF file type
Note: Our badge printing is designed and compatible with Zebra "ZD" Thermal Printers, but may also work with the "GX" series, please consult us if it's not working; it may require a different SDK to integrate with our Admin App. Colored printers and other non-zebra thermal printers may work too if the printer is compatible with PrintNode.
1. Create a Badge
Go to Registration > Badges
Select Custom Badge or one of the templates
Enter the Badge Name
Associate the badge with one or more Ticket Types.
If you selected a custom badge, enter the dimensions for your badge.
Click Create
Notes:
Your badge size should be 3.47 x 5.51 inches for ZC10L printers.
Custom badge designs support a maximum height and width of up to 15 inches.
You can still change the dimensions after creating the badge by clicking Edit Details.
2. Add Elements to the Badge
Use the left-side navigation menu on the Badge Designer page to start customizing items visible on your badge.
Widgets - event and attendee information that can be added to the badge. This includes order form answers, even from custom fields. The fields available are the active buyer and holder fields in your order form.
Note: Use the buyer fields only if you're collecting buyer information only and attendees are allowed to buy only 1 ticket per order.
Shapes - choose and adjust different shapes, sizes, colors, and border weights.
Text - add customized text and change the font, size, colors, and alignment.
Images – Upload images that will appear on your badges. You can also choose to print images in black and white.
Click the element once to add it to the template. If the element is selected in the template, you will see the options to customize it on the left side menu. To delete an element, click the trash icon or drag it outside the template.
To learn how to customize the settings of your widgets and other design options, read this article:
click here to know how to check the badge design changes history
click here to know how to check the badge design changes history
Badge Designer History Log
The badge history log will show a list of team members that made changes to the badge design. A log is added every time the system automatically saves an action in the badge designer. When you click the details, you'll see 2 columns to compare the previous and current settings.
Go to Registration > Badges
Click the 3 dot menu on the badge
Click View Logs
3. Preview Your Badge
To see what your design would look like, click the Preview button. In the Preview page, you can also choose which attendee to preview and print. You can choose an attendee from the dropdown if you assigned a ticket to the badge in step 1.
click here if you forgot to assign a ticket to the badge
click here if you forgot to assign a ticket to the badge
Assign a Ticket to a Badge
In the first part of creating your badge, you were asked to select which ticket types will have this badge. You may not have created ticket types yet or completely skipped this part when you started designing. Make sure to go back and check.
Exit the badge designer
Click the 3 dot menu
Select Edit Details
Select the ticket type
Click Save
If you're unsatisfied with how items look in the badge preview (e.g., the content breaks into 2 lines or truncates), check out our tips and tricks to improve your design.
4. Download the Admin App to iPad
Now that your design is ready, you're almost ready to print, but first you need to download the Accelevents Admin App to an iPad. As mentioned earlier, printing from an iPad is the most recommended method.
4. Connect Your Printer
✅ Print from iPad
Check the articles below on how to print from an iPad. When using an iPad, you should have a "kiosk mode" in the admin app that allows attendees to check in and print their own badge. The steps would depend on the type of printer you have.
✅ Print from iPad Using Other Printers
If you're having difficulty connecting your printer to the Admin App or want to print colored badges, downloading PrintNode to your laptop may be your answer. This feature works for admin app printing in the iPad. You may need to check PrintNode's list of compatible printers to see if your printer will work with Accelevents.
✅ Print from Computer
If you're not using iPads to print badges on the day of the event, you can connect the printer to your computer.
🚫 Print from Phone
Badges will also print from iPhones and Androids through the admin app; however, the badge size enlarges, and we are improving this phone feature. For now, we do not recommend this method.
Frequently Asked Questions
What printers do you recommend for badge printing?
Our badge printing is designed and compatible with Zebra Thermal Printers such as Zebra ZD420, 500, 620, and 621 thermal printers.
If you're using a Zebra printer of the "GX" series, please consult us if it's not working; it may require a different SDK to integrate with our Admin App.
If you're not using the recommended Zebra Thermal Printers, you may still print through an iPad by installing PrintNode on your computer and integrating PrintNode into your event to make it work. Just make sure that your printer is compatible with PrintNode. We have worked with these compatible printers:
ZC10L
Epson C3500 and C4000 connected to a Windows laptop where PrintNode is installed, and using PDF file type
Evolis Primacy CR80
What printers do you recommend for printing wristbands?
The Zebra printers mentioned above can handle wristband-size media.
I want to print a badge sheet using a standard printer. Is that possible?
Yes, it is possible to print it on a standard printer. However, the system is designed to print a single badge per page, unlike labels for an envelope.
If you plan on using a standard printer and want badge sheets that hold multiple badges on one sheet page, we recommend using a label printing tool to print your badges.
An Epson printer will not work using our Mobile App, but it should work using your laptop via the web interface.
If you have a thermal printer, it will use a thermal transfer ribbon, allowing it to print any kind of media just like a standard ink printer because the ribbon just transfers the ink onto the paper/media.
Is printing multiple badges on one sheet via a standard printer possible? Or will it only be one badge per page?
Our badges will print only one badge per page when using a standard printer. Our badge printing is designed for a Label Printer such as a Zebra ZD420, 500, 620 or 621 thermal printer.
We don't want to buy a printer, can you provide one?
We don't provide them. However, you can rent them from Choose2Rent, where most of our clients borrow printers.
What can I do if the printed result is not as precise as my design?
Label printers can vary in the precision of their prints, both horizontally and vertically. Some variation is expected.
You can use the printer's built-in print adjustment settings to dial in the location of the print.
Does the printer have to be on the same network as the iPad when checking in attendees?
Yes, it needs to use the same wifi network as the iPads you will use.
Does the printer need to be Wifi ready?
It doesn't necessarily need to support Wifi printing. It will work if the printer is plugged into a cell router via Ethernet.
What is DPI?
DPI stands "for "Dots Per "Inch" and is a measurement of the resolution of a printer. Lower resolutions print faster and can use less ink. Higher resolutions are slower but result in a higher-quality printout.
Can Accelevents bulk print badges?
Accelevents does not have a direct bulk print button within the platform. However, you can download all badges in Attendees > Check In Attendees.
Can I see which attendees have already had their badges printed?
Yes. You can now see this information in Ticket Holder report's "Badge Printed" column.
How long does it take to print?
For Zebra direct thermal printers, it can finish printing a badge in about 7 seconds.
For other colored printers connected through PrintNode, it may take 20 seconds or more to print a badge, depending on the model of the printer and design of the badge.
We recommend pre-printing your colored design on the badges, and then on the event day, you can print the attendee information during check-in. This way, printing would be faster.
What's the recommended internet speed when printing badges onsite?
While onsite, the recommended minimum internet speed per device is:
Download: 10 Mbps
Upload: 5 Mbps
Wired Ethernet is highly preferred for stability and speed for printers.If using Wi-Fi, ensure:
Strong signal strength at each kiosk
Dedicated network with minimal interference
No bandwidth-sharing with other high-traffic activities (like livestreams)
Each kiosk device should have dedicated bandwidth, so if you’re using 5 kiosks, you should ideally have at least 50 Mbps down and 25 Mbps up available in total.