Practical guide · Reviewed 23 October 2026

Turn an Affinity certificate merge into separate, named PDFs.

Your merge is finished. Now you need one PDF per certificate, with a filename that matches the person and certificate ID inside it. This guide explains three ways to finish that job, including free options.

For the current unified Affinity desktop application and an already-generated document with one certificate per page. Older Affinity versions can have different controls. By Kakulu.

Start with a correct merge.

Check that the generated document has the expected page count, resolved recipient names and IDs, and no clipped text. Each page should contain one complete certificate. An exporter cannot repair incorrect source records or an incorrect merge.

If you still have the template, connect your recipient source through the Data Merge panel, insert genuine data fields, then generate the merged document. Typing a column heading as ordinary text does not connect it to a field. Affinity’s Data Merge panel guide explains that stage.

Our recommendation: use one data row per certificate, give each certificate a stable unique ID, and save CSV data as UTF-8 when it contains accents. Check the actual accented values in Affinity; the file format alone does not prove that they render correctly. Keep the original template for the next batch. The recipient CSV guide includes a reusable worksheet, quoting examples and source-refresh checks.

Before choosing an export route, check the longest names, accents and text overflow. If a digital portal or printer specifies a PDF format, use the digital-versus-print PDF settings guide.

If names, fields or page contents are already wrong, use the merge and export troubleshooting guide before selecting an exporter.

Separate pages and separate files are different.

A six-page PDF is still one file. Affinity’s PDF export controls include pages, spreads and a page range. Selecting pages determines what goes into an export; you still need a route that produces each separately named file. Official export controls.

Put the certificate ID in the filename.

Two recipients can share a name. In this fictional six-record example, the ID keeps both Alex Rivera certificates distinct.

This is Kakulu’s example convention, not an Affinity default. Spaces become underscores and apostrophes are omitted from filenames; the printed name stays unchanged and accents remain. Other tools can use spaces or apostrophes and still produce useful files. Check your receiving system’s requirements.

Download this expected filename mapping, or open either Alex Rivera PDF above to compare its ID with the name in the file.

Route A: export selected pages manually.

For a small, occasional batch, the built-in export controls may be enough.

1. With the generated document active, open PDF export and choose a PDF preset for the intended destination.
2. Set the area to All Pages, then enter one page number in the Pages control.
3. Choose Ask for Location and save that PDF with the matching ID-and-name filename.
4. Repeat for the other pages, then open the resulting files to check the contents.

These controls are described in the current export documentation. We have not timed a complete manual batch. Reusing a PDF preset keeps settings consistent; the repeated work is selecting the page and checking its filename.

Route B: export one PDF, then split and name it.

Export a combined PDF with the certificates as individual pages. The following naming approaches work differently, so choose one that matches your document.

Extract names and IDs from the PDF itself.

PDF Split & Rename can use selected text regions from each page to construct filenames. It is free. Its documentation and source describe browser-local processing, duplicate and empty-name checks, previews and saved configurations.

1. Load your combined PDF and choose a one-page-per-file split for this certificate layout.
2. Select the text regions containing the certificate ID and recipient name.
3. Use those regions in the filename pattern, then review the proposed names and preview the outputs.
4. Download the resulting files or ZIP, unpack it if necessary, and inspect the actual PDFs.

This approach does not inherently require a CSV or separate name list. The layout and extracted text still need checking, especially if the template changes. A saved configuration may reduce setup for the next batch.

Our earlier local execution of this tool’s original processing functions produced six correctly paired PDFs from a representative synthetic fixture. That was not a complete live-browser test, did not use the later native Batch A output, and did not measure human time.

Supply filenames from a list or CSV.

SheetRender’s free mail-merge splitter documents pasted names and CSV-pattern naming. GetKorai documents a matching CSV with a prepared filename column; its advertised free trial exports the first three outputs, with an offline edition listed at US$19 once.

For these list-based routes, keep the name list in exactly the same order as the PDF records. Six names and six pages can still be paired incorrectly. Sorting the CSV after generating the PDF can change who is matched to each page. Preview the pairing and inspect files, rather than trusting equal counts.

These competitor features and prices are from their documentation rechecked 23 October 2026. We have not independently checked generated files from these two tools. A published price does not establish that customers buy.

Route C: keep the finishing step in Affinity.

Kakulu is developing a native exporter for an already-valid, compatible merge. It is designed to read each page’s resolved name and ID, show the proposed filenames, then export individual PDFs from Affinity. The potential benefit is skipping the intermediate combined PDF and external splitting pass.

The development target is unified Affinity 3.3.1.4940 on macOS. The additional setup is specific: one certificate per page and one page per spread, no artboards, and separate, unlinked Frame Text objects labelled kakulu_name and kakulu_id. These are Kakulu’s document requirements, not general Data Merge rules. See the version-specific setup and limits.

Proposed price: US$19 once. The product is in development; no payment is being collected. A configured free tool may already finish your job well. We have not established customer time savings or willingness to pay for the native route.

Check the files, not only their names.

The certificate filename and delivery checklist shows why equal counts can hide an incorrect name-to-page pairing, and includes a printable check for the files you will actually deliver.

1. Count and open the outputs. Confirm each PDF has one intended certificate and compare the actual recipient and ID with the mapping.
2. Check repeated names separately. Open both Alex Rivera files; distinct filenames alone do not prove correct contents.
3. Inspect the design. Check accents, long names, fonts, cropping and the certificate artwork at a readable size.
4. Use a fresh batch folder. Avoid mixing older outputs into the delivery, and check existing-file behaviour before relying on it.
5. Check the destination. Confirm the receiving system accepts the filenames and PDF settings before distributing the batch.

Fictional recipients, real native output from the original probe. These files are not proof that the reconstructed preview or your own template exports correctly. No email is needed to inspect the example.

Certificate resources, in workflow order

Start at the stage you need. Every guide and synthetic download is free to use without an account; you do not need Kakulu’s exporter to follow them.

Sources and verification limits

Affinity Help Center pages are undated. Current official indexed text was used where the live page returned navigation without its article. Source checks are listed below. No new native run, customer test, payment or human timing was performed for this guide.

1. Affinity — Data Merge overview — checked 23 October 2026.
2. Affinity — Data Merge panel — checked 23 October 2026.
3. Affinity — export dialog — checked 23 October 2026.
4. PDF Split & Rename — documentation and source — checked 23 October 2026.
5. SheetRender — free mail-merge PDF splitter — checked 23 October 2026.
6. GetKorai — mail-merge PDF split and rename — checked 23 October 2026.