README.md

Automated Certificate Generator & Emailer

Usage instructions:

📝 NOTE: Please follow the below instructions properly to avoid any errors.

• Install the necessary Python packages by running pip install -r requirements.txt command in the command line, in the root directory.

• In the root directory, create a .env file and add the following environment variables, which are needed for sending emails.

email="USE_TURING_HUT_OFFICIAL_EMAIL"
email_app_password="USE_APP_PASSWORD_FOR_THE_PRESENT_DEVICE"
email_host="smtp.gmail.com"
email_port="465"

In the above environment variables, make sure you replace values of email and email_app_password.

• Create a certificates folder. All the generated certificates will be stored here.

• Inside the data folder, make sure to keep the following 2 files:

  • Participant's excel sheet (make sure it has a .xlsx or .xls extension).
  • Certificate template (make sure it has a .png extension).

• In data/input_data.json file, mandatorily fill in the following with the correct details:

{
    "participants_excel_file_name": "FILE_NAME_WITH_EXTENSION",
    "email_subject": "EMAIL_SUBJECT_GOES_HERE",
    "email_body": "EMAIL_BODY_GOES_HERE",
    "certificate_template_filename": "TEMPLATE_FILE_NAME_WITH_PNG_EXT"
}

For the email body, seperate new lines with a \n. Note that in the participants_excel_file_name field, the filename should be the one present inside data folder and only specify the file name with extension, not the file path. Similar rule applies for certificate_template_filename field.

• The participants excel file must have atleast Name and Email columns. Note that these column names are case-sensitive.

Generating Certificates & Sending Emails:

• Run main_script.py file using the following command in the command line at the root directory: python main_script.py.

• A window with the certificate template will appear, do the following:

  • Double click for the first time. The place where you double clicked will indicate the top left corner for the NAME on the certificate.
  • Double click for the second time. The place where you double clicked will indicate the top left corner for the DATE on the certificate.
  • Now, hit ENTER.

• The script will then generate the certificates and send emails. For the first generated certificate, a new window will open to show that. Make sure you close it to continue generating the remaining certificates.

• Open the excel sheet and you will now see two new columns: Email Sent and Remarks. To run the script again with the same excel sheet, delete these columns and follow the same above steps. If Email Sent column is present and is set to Yes, email wont be sent to that mail id. Also, make sure to delete the certificates folder while re-running to avoid any naming conflicts.

• Before running the main script, make sure the excel sheet is not open in your system.

Steps to generate app password for gmail:

• Follow this link: Create and use app passwords.

• Note that this is a one time setup for each unique device.