cardPresso 1.6

cardPresso is intended for designing and printing various types of plastic ID cards. Fortunately, it incorporates modern technologies to automate the process of identification by supporting various types of codes (barcode and QR) as well as magnetic strips and contactless chips.

The tool has a very attractive interface, which allows you to access the various features from not only the menu but also the upper and horizontal toolbars. It is excellent that there is a welcome menu to help you find your way. In this regard, you have the opportunity to continue editing a previous project or start a new one either from scratch or a template. Besides, you can also decide to use a wizard. If you do not have much graphic design experience, the best idea is to start from any of the multiple beautiful templates available.

No matter how you decided to start your project, you can take advantage of the program’s drawing tools. This way, you can use them to insert new objects or edit the existing ones. These tools include text labels, print counter, date and codes. Images, in turn, can be imported from files or acquired from a camera, a scanner or a database. It is good to point out that there is also a built-in graphic editor.

Some objects, such as texts and images, can be linked to a database. Good news is that the program supports connecting to Access, Excel and SQL databases as well as through Open Database Connectivity. Luckily, you can create your own database from the program without needing an external tool, and there is even a wizard to help you create the necessary tables and fields. As to this, I was really impressed by the support of face detection from a photograph.

cardPresso also includes various security features. For instance, it can prevent unauthorized access to the database, forbid changes to the card design and even lock printing. There is even a USB key solution that makes the program portable, with the additional advantage of supporting both Windows and Mac operating systems.

To conclude, cardPresso is an excellent choice if you want to design your own ID cards, which can be used to control access to your facilities and register attendance. The product is available in various versions (XXS, XS, XM, XL, XXL), with different features and prices. Its demo can be tried at no cost, but you are not allowed to save a project more than once. Besides, there will be watermarks on the images and frequent nag screens.