How to Print ID Cards, Loyalty Cards, and Gift Cards

AccuArk's Card Printer is a built-in tool for designing and printing professional identification cards, loyalty membership cards, gift cards, and custom cards. It supports front and back design, photos, barcodes, color customization, and reusable templates.

Opening the Card Printer

To open the Card Printer, navigate to Tools > Card Printer from the main menu bar. This tool requires the TOOL_USE_PRINTERS permission. If you do not see the Card Printer option in the Tools menu, contact your administrator to have this permission assigned to your role.

The Card Printer can also be launched pre-populated from other areas of AccuArk. When opened from an employee record, customer record, or gift card record, the card fields are automatically filled with the relevant data, saving you from manually entering information.

Four Card Types

The Card Type dropdown at the top of the form offers four options. Selecting a type changes the field labels and data expectations to match the card's purpose.

Employee ID

Employee ID cards are designed for staff identification badges. The front of the card displays the employee's photo, full name, position or job title, employee ID number, and hire date. These cards are commonly used for building access, time clock identification, and general workplace identification. When printed with a barcode, they can be scanned at badge readers and time clock terminals.

Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty cards are designed for rewards and membership programs. The front displays the member's name, company affiliation, membership number, and join date. These cards allow customers to identify themselves at the point of sale for reward tracking, VIP discounts, and loyalty program benefits. The barcode enables quick scanning at checkout.

Gift Card

Gift cards display the current balance, card number, and expiration date (if applicable). Unlike the other card types, gift cards are not personalized to a specific individual. The card number barcode is essential for POS scanning, allowing cashiers to look up and apply the gift card balance during checkout.

Custom

The Custom card type provides freeform fields that you can use for any purpose. All text labels become generic (Line 1, Line 2, Line 3), giving you complete flexibility. Common uses include visitor passes, vendor badges, membership cards for clubs or organizations, event credentials, and any other card that does not fit the three predefined types.

Front Side Design

The front of the card is the primary display side. It contains the following elements:

• Title — A heading displayed prominently at the top of the card (for example, “EMPLOYEE ID”, “REWARDS MEMBER”, or “GIFT CARD”). The title text is fully editable regardless of the selected card type.
• Full Name — The cardholder's name, displayed in the main text area. For gift cards, this field is typically left blank since gift cards are not personalized.
• Detail Line 1 — The first detail line below the name. Depending on the card type, this might show position, company, or balance.
• Detail Line 2 — The second detail line. Typically shows an ID number, member number, or card number.
• Detail Line 3 — The third detail line. Often displays a date such as hire date, join date, or expiration.
• Photo Zone — An optional rectangular area that displays a loaded photograph. The photo zone can be positioned and sized using X, Y, Width, and Height fields. Enable or disable photo display with the Show Photo toggle.
• Front Barcode — An optional CODE_128 barcode zone that encodes a value such as an employee ID, member number, or gift card number. The barcode can be positioned and sized independently of other elements. Enable or disable with the Show Barcode toggle.

All text fields on the front side are editable. Even when data is auto-populated from an employee or customer record, you can modify any field before printing.

Back Side Design

The back of the card provides space for supplementary information, typically company contact details or terms and conditions. It contains:

• Back Line 1 — Usually the company name
• Back Line 2 — Usually the company address
• Back Line 3 — Usually the phone number or email address
• Back Line 4 — Usually the website URL or a tagline
• Back Barcode — An optional barcode on the back side, positioned and sized independently from the front barcode. Enable or disable with the Show Back Barcode toggle.

Click the Load Company button to automatically fill the four back lines with your company's information from AccuArk's company settings. This pulls the company name, address, phone, and website. You can edit any of these fields after loading.

Front and Back Toggle

The preview panel on the right side of the form shows one side of the card at a time. A toggle button switches between the two sides:

• Click Show Back to switch the preview to the back side of the card
• Click Show Front to switch back to the front side

Both sides are always stored and configured simultaneously. Switching the preview does not discard your work on the other side. When you select Print Both Sides from the print options, both the front and back are sent to the printer.

Basic Workflow

The typical card creation process follows these steps:

1. Select the card type — Choose Employee ID, Customer Loyalty, Gift Card, or Custom from the Card Type dropdown. This sets up the field labels and default title.
2. Enter or auto-load data — Type the cardholder's information into the text fields, or let AccuArk auto-fill the data when the Card Printer is launched from an employee, customer, or gift card record.
3. Load a photo (optional) — Click Load Photo to select an image file for the card's photo zone. This is most commonly used for employee ID cards.
4. Customize colors and layout — Set the background color, title color, text color, and accent color. Choose a card size preset and border style. Adjust font family and sizes as needed.
5. Check the back side — Toggle to the back view. Click Load Company to auto-fill company details, or enter custom text. Enable the back barcode if needed.
6. Save a template — If you plan to print more cards with the same layout, save the current configuration as a template for future reuse.
7. Print — Open the print dialog, select your printer, and print the card. Choose Print Both Sides if your printer supports duplex printing, or print front and back separately.

Permission Requirements

The Card Printer requires the TOOL_USE_PRINTERS permission. This is the same permission used by the Barcode Printer, Label Maker, and other printing tools. Users without this permission will not see the Card Printer option in the Tools menu. Contact your administrator to request access if needed.