About this tool
A free, browser-only student ID card generator for groups that need identification cards but have no school information system to print them. Paste a roster, pick a layout, click Build cards, and the preview fills with one CR80-sized card per student. Add a photo per card if you have one, or print empty photo frames and glue photos on later. Click Print / Save as PDF and the sheet prints with cut marks at both ends of every cut, ready for a paper cutter.
The roster, the photos, and the ID numbers stay in the current tab. Close it and they are gone. There is no account and no server.
It is aimed at homeschool co-ops, clubs, sports teams, camps, tutoring centers, after-school programs, and small private schools. If your district already issues ID cards that scan against the library, lunch, and gradebook systems, keep using those. This fills the gap for everyone else.
How it works
- Fill in the school or organization name and, optionally, the year or term. Both appear on every card.
- Pick a layout. Horizontal is the default: 8 cards per US Letter page, two columns by four rows. The lanyard-badge layout stands the same card upright and fits 6 per page, three across and two down. Both use the exact CR80 size.
- Paste a roster, one student per line, with columns in the order name, grade, ID. Only the name is required. Separate columns with commas, or paste rows straight from a spreadsheet. Rows without an ID are numbered from the auto-numbering start,
00100 by default. Any prefix and the digit length are kept, so S1001 continues as S1002, and IDs already used in the roster are skipped.
- Decide whether to print a QR code of the ID number. It encodes the plain ID and scans with any phone camera.
- Click Build cards. The preview shows the full sheet, page by page.
- Add photos if you have them. Click the camera button on any card and pick a JPG or PNG. To fix a name or grade, edit the roster and rebuild; photos you already added stay with their students.
- Click Print / Save as PDF to send the sheet to a printer or save a PDF to keep or email.
Printing: paper, cutting, lamination
The cards print on US Letter in portrait orientation, with 0.4-inch margins. Set the print scale to 100 percent (not "Fit to page") and every card comes out at the exact CR80 size.
Paper. Copier paper works, but the cards feel flimsy. For an ID that survives a lanyard, print on 65 lb or 80 lb cardstock, and set your printer's paper type to match so it does not jam or smear.
Cutting. A rotary paper cutter is the most reliable tool. Line each cut up with the ticks printed around the grid. Scissors work too; each card has a faint outline to follow. Cards sit with no gap between them, so one cut separates two cards.
Lamination. 5 mil business-card pouches fit CR80 almost exactly. Trim the card, slide it into the pouch, run it through a pouch laminator, and punch a lanyard hole.
Photo sizing. Square or 3:4 portrait photos read best. Each photo is scaled to fill the frame without stretching, so an oversized phone photo just gets cropped. For paper photos glued on, the horizontal layout's frame prints about 0.9 inches wide at a 3:4 ratio.
Who this is for — and who it is not
Real school ID cards are usually a byproduct of a student information system. The district issues them, and the barcode pulls up the student's record at the library, the lunch line, and the gradebook. If that is your situation, keep using those cards. A parallel ID that does not match the SIS is a liability, not a help.
This tool is for everyone else. A homeschool co-op with 40 kids and no SIS still wants students to show a card at pickup. A soccer club running summer camps needs IDs for 60 kids and would rather not pay a vendor. A tutoring center wants numbered IDs for each session. A small private school with a few dozen students needs a printed card with a name, grade, and ID number, and nothing more.
None of those cases need SIS linkage. They need a card that looks professional and prints eight to a sheet without a card printer.
Browser-only. Photos never leave your device.
Student photos are the most sensitive data a classroom tool could touch. Here the photo picker uses the browser's File API: FileReader reads the image locally as a data URL, and the card preview in your tab displays it. There is no upload step, no server, no cloud storage, no account.
Photos and names never leave the browser. The page loads its own scripts, fonts, and images, and uses cookieless analytics that counts page visits and never sees roster data. Open your browser's Network tab while adding a photo or pasting a roster and you will see nothing carrying them.
Close the tab and every photo, name, and ID number is gone. There is no autosave, so the tool starts empty on your next visit.
Frequently asked questions
Who is this student ID generator for?
Homeschool co-ops, clubs, sports teams, camps, tutoring centers, after-school programs, and small private schools — the groups that need printable identification but do not have a student information system that already prints cards. If your district already issues SIS-linked IDs that scan against the library and lunch system, keep using those. This tool fills the gap for everyone else who just needs a clean printable card.
What size are the cards?
Standard CR80: 3.375 inches wide by 2.125 inches tall — the same dimensions as a credit card or driver's license, so cards fit standard badge holders, lanyard sleeves, and card wallets. The default horizontal layout prints eight cards per US Letter page in portrait orientation (two columns, four rows), with cut marks at both ends of every cut so you can trim the sheet with a paper cutter or scissors. A lanyard-badge layout stands the cards upright and fits six per page.
Where do photos go — are they uploaded anywhere?
Photos are read entirely in your browser using the File API, shown in the card preview, and sent to your printer. Nothing is uploaded, stored on a server, or transmitted anywhere. Open your browser's network inspector while adding a photo and you will see no outbound requests. Close the tab and every photo and name is gone — there is no cache, no account, no sync. Student photos are the most sensitive data this tool touches, so the browser-only guarantee is the whole point, not a side note.
Can I leave the photo blank and glue one on later?
Yes. If you do not add a photo, the card prints with an empty framed photo box in the same position — a clean rectangle sized for a passport-style trimmed photo. Many camps and co-ops prefer this: print the sheet of blank-photo cards, hand them out, let families glue a photo on at home. The card still carries name, grade or group, and ID number.
Does the QR code scan against a real system?
The QR code encodes the plain ID number — nothing more. It will scan with any standard QR reader (phone camera, inventory app, library barcode app) and give back the same digits the ID shows. That is useful for simple check-in or attendance workflows where you want to type the number once and scan it afterwards. It is not an SIS linkage: there is no database on the other end of the code. If you need a card that scans against your district's gradebook or lunch system, use the card your district already issues.
What paper and printer should I use?
For a card that holds up in a lanyard sleeve, print on 65 lb or 80 lb cardstock. For a cleaner finish, print on cardstock and run the trimmed cards through a pouch laminator — 5 mil pouches sized for business cards fit CR80 almost exactly. Any inkjet or laser printer that handles cardstock works. Set the print scale to 100 percent (not "Fit to page"), choose portrait orientation, and the sheet comes out at the right physical size. There is no need for a dedicated card printer.
How many cards fit on one page?
Eight CR80 cards on a US Letter sheet in the default horizontal layout (two columns, four rows). Six cards in the lanyard-badge layout (three columns, two rows). The sheet is paginated for larger rosters — paste a list of 30 students and the tool prints 4 pages in the default layout, or 5 in the badge layout. Cards never split across pages.