EZVolunteer lets you print name badges for your volunteers so they can scan-in and out of your school without having to remember their username and password. Name badges make a big difference in tracking who is on campus as a volunteer; what activity they are working on; and how long they stay at your school.
If you are using Firefox as your browser, as of July 2016 the most current version of Firefox is Release 47. Don’t sweat the numbers to the right of the decimal point, but you should make sure you are in the same major release of the browser. To check the version go the HELP > ABOUT FIREFOX and you will see the current version. You should be able to update (if your settings are not set to automatically update), by going to TOOLS > OPTIONS > ADVANCED > UPDATE.
Once you have installed and/or updated your version of Firefox you will want to make the following further adjustments to your browser settings -
Open Windows In New Tab - Go to TOOLS > OPTIONS > GENERAL and in the TABS section of this page check the box ‘Open New Windows in a New Tab Instead’
Use PDF Previewer - Go to TOOLS > OPTIONS > APPLICATIONS and search for PDF. On the record for Portable Document Format (PDF) choose the action ‘Preview In Firefox’.
Select Volunteers
You need to select which volunteers for whom you want to print badges. We swapped out the data-grid used on your Volunteer List page for a newer and more flexible tool, that also makes it easier to choose your volunteers.
You can use the Register Date and sort your list by the most recently registered volunteers so you can print badges for your newbies. You can also search inside the data-grid for the volunteers who need a new badge printed.
To do this, type the last name of the volunteer you’re looking for just below the column header for LName. This will pull up their record, which you can the select by checking the box next to their name. Repeat this for the next volunteer and you will see the Volunteers Selected count go up.
Choose Print Badges
After you have selected the volunteers you want to print a badge for you need to choose the Print Badges action from the Action drop down menu. This will pop-up a dialog box asking
Do you want to print a separate badge for each school on a volunteer(s) profile? Choose NO if you want to print a badge only for the current school…
This new feature allows you to either print separate badges for each school on a volunteer’s record [YES], or only print a badge for your school [NO]. Most times you will choose NO and proceed with badges at your school.
Download Badges
After you choose to print badges for your school a new tab in your browser should open up with a PDF preview of your selected volunteers. By default, each badge will have the school district’s logo (if setup by your district admin) and the name of your school at the top of the badge.
To avoid problems with the barcode printing correctly you should NOT print directly from your browser, but instead download the PDF to your computer and print from there.To download, use the icon in the upper right corner of your browser window with an downward arrow. This will store the file in your target download folder (usually .../downloads, but you can change the default settings in Firefox).
From your File navigator/explorer application navigate to the download folder and open your badge print file. From whatever desktop PDF viewer program you are using you should then print to your local/network printer to get the best results.
Adding Photos
A new feature was added with the 2015 summer release that allows you as a volunteer coordinator to add a photo of a volunteer to their record. This photo, if present when you print a badge for a volunteer will be used in place of the district logo.
There are two options for adding a photo to a volunteer’s record.
Option 1 - Webcam capture
This option requires that the computer you are using as a built-in or an attached webcam. You start by finding and then editing the volunteer’s record. Underneath the silhouette image in the top section of their record choose the CAMERA option.
This will take you to a page that has a camera display in the middle of your screen. You will probably have to ALLOW the program to use the Flash features of your browser and then you will see a display of what is being viewed through your webcam.
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Center the volunteer in the picture, make sure the lighting is good and choose CAPTURE and SAVE. This will save the image and return to your volunteer record with the photo of the volunteer displayed in place of the silhouette image. If you’re not happy with the result use DELETE and then repeat the process.
Option 2 - Upload from disk
This option assumes you took a photo of the volunteer previously, or they provided you with one and you can upload it from your disk or shared/cloud drive.
There are a couple of limitations to this option. First, the file must be in a JPG, GIF or PNG format to upload. Second, it must be 100 Kb or smaller in size. This means you cannot upload a 4 or 8 megapixel image. You either need to take the photo in low resolution on your phone or you will need to downgrade the resolution in any of the free image processor programs available on the web (Note: We use pixlr.com).
Once you have the image in the correct format and size use the Upload button on the volunteer’s record to browse to and then upload the photo, which will replace the silhouette on their record.