Free digital business card, QR code and printable cards

How to make a digital business card in four steps

1. Fill in your details. Add your name, company, phones, email and website. Leave out anything you do not want people to have.
2. Save the contact. Download the contact file, or let people scan the QR code. Either one saves your details straight into their phone's Contacts.
3. Print the cards. Choose a layout, a colour and English or Spanish labels, then download the sheet of ten and print it on card stock.
4. Share the link. Copy the share link for texts and email. The page it opens shows your card and a button to add you to contacts.

What a digital business card is here

A digital business card puts the details from a paper card into something a phone can use: a contact. Here that means a contact file with the .vcf ending, a QR code that holds the same contact, and a web page that shows it. All three are made from the details you type, in your browser.

Many card services keep your details on their servers and send people to a page there. That is why their codes stop working when a subscription ends. A card from this tool is different. The details are written into the file, the code and the link, so they do not depend on us.

Why a static card does not expire, and where it falls short

The QR code on your card is a picture of your contact details, not a link to a service. Nothing sits behind it that could be switched off, so there is nothing to renew. It stays readable as long as the print is clear.

The same fact is the trade-off. A static card cannot be edited after it is printed. If your number or email changes, make and print a new one. If you expect to change details often, put the details on paper that is cheap to reprint, and keep your share link handy to send people.

Short or full: what goes in the QR code

A QR code with more text has more dots, and dots get smaller as the code shrinks. On a 3.5 x 2 in card the code is about an inch wide, which is fine for a short contact and tight for a full one with a job title and a street address.

Short holds your name, company, phones, email and website. Full adds the title and the address. If you print the code large, on a flyer or a van door, choose Full. If it goes on a small card, choose Short and put the address in plain text.

Printing the sheet

The sheet is a US letter page with ten cards, two across and five down, each 3.5 x 2 inches, with crop marks in the margins that show where to cut. Print it at 100%, called Actual size in most print windows. Fit to page shrinks the cards.

• Use card stock or perforated business-card paper made for your printer, not plain paper.
• Home printers cannot print to the very edge. The Classic, Centered and Minimal layouts leave a white border and look fine. The full-colour layouts can show thin white edges unless a print shop trims them with bleed.
• To put the QR code on the back, choose On the back. The second page has the codes with the columns mirrored, so printing on both sides and flipping on the long edge lines each back up with its front. Test on one plain sheet first.
• Cut on the crop marks with a paper trimmer for straight edges.

The share page and its limits

The share link holds your whole card, packed into the part after the # sign. Browsers keep that part on the device and never send it to a server, so we cannot see or store it. The page it opens reads the card from the link and shows it with an Add to contacts button.

Because the card is in the link, the link is long, and anyone who has it can read the card. Do not put anything in a card that you would not put on a paper card. Also remember that anyone can build a card with any details, which is why the page reminds people to check who it is from.

Saving the contact on a phone

On an iPhone, open the camera, point it at the code and tap the banner that appears, then choose Create New Contact. Or open the .vcf file from Files or Messages and tap Add to Contacts. On most Android phones the camera or the Google Lens button reads the code and offers to add a contact. The .vcf file opens in Contacts.

Contact files use the vCard 3.0 format, which phones and computers have read for many years. Phone makers decide how they show some fields, so a title or a second web link may appear in a different place than on the card. Test your own code on an iPhone and an Android phone before you print a hundred cards.

Two surnames, titles and accents

Many Spanish speakers use two surnames, and many people use a title before their name, such as Ing., Lic., Dra. or Dr. The form handles both. Put both surnames in the last name box. Put the title in the prefix box. The contact file then files the person under the right letter and shows the title, and the printed card puts it before the name.

Accents and the letter ñ are saved as they are. The contact file is written in UTF-8, which every current phone and computer reads, so José Peña-García stays José Peña-García. Test your own code once on an iPhone and an Android phone, and look at a name with an accent, before you print a hundred cards.

Saving the card for the next reprint

A static card cannot be edited after it is printed, but you do not have to retype it. Press Save card file to keep a small file on your own device. The next time your number or address changes, press Open card file, edit what changed and print again. The file holds only what you typed, it is not uploaded, and you can delete it whenever you like.

Privacy

Everything on this page runs in your browser. Our code does not upload your details and does not keep them. When you close the tab they are gone, unless you saved the contact file, printed the cards or shared the link. Those are yours to keep or hand out.

Frequently asked questions