Bulk Blue Card printing only allows for “date started”. We typically print for all MB that have been completed since the last COH and desperately need to have a “date completed” option.
Why do you bother printing blue cards for completed Merit Badges? If the data is recorded in Scoutbook, the unit should have either
- Been Counselor approved in Scoutbook by the Merit Badge Counselor (MBC)
- A physical Blue Card, signed by the MBC turned in to the unit
- A spreadsheet or other proof from a Merit Badge event (ex: summer camp) been provided to the unit.
In any event, once the MB is approved in Scoutbook, it is official and a Blue Card is not required.
I will ask for a Completed date be added to the search. I cannot say if or when this will be scheduled for developer time. Watch Scoutbook - Scoutbook Plus Change Log - Scouting Forums for an announcement of a feature..
I second this. Date Started is pretty much irrelevant and using it instead of Date Completed makes it impossible to select only the merit badges earned since the last COH. That ability to filter by Date Completed was in regular Scoutbook; not sure why they’d take it away. My unit prints out the blue cards so that the Scout has a physical, permanent record. BSA systems, especially Scoutbook+, are kinda jenky, so it’s also nice for the Scout and the Unit to have the paper backup just in case.
This is my first time sitting down to print blue cards and Merit Badge cards from Scoutbook+, and I am encountering problems with Unit Leader signatures on both:
For Blue Cards, some are printing with my signature on the Unit Leader line (I am Advancement Chair), some with other adult leaders’ names, and one even printed with a former Scoutmaster’s name (he hasn’t been listed as SM since 2024). None printed with the current (2024-present) Scoutmaster’s name.
For Merit Badge cards, I selected the toggle for “Include E-Signature”, but none of the cards are printing with the Scoutmaster’s signature (or any signature at all).
Is the SM signature box checked in the MB itself for the scout(s) effected?
Which name appears might depend on which scouter marked off the “initial discussion” toggle, and in which interface. Classic SB (I think) listed the name of the scouter who clicked the Unit Leader Signature box, whereas the newest version of SB+ lists the name of the scouter who clicked the box, unless you select the “on behalf of the SM” box before you click “Save Date”.
Thanks for the quick reply!
I went back to each MB and made sure the “I am entering date on behalf of the Scoutmaster.” box was clicked, and both the blue cards and Merit Badge cards now print with the current Scoutmaster’s signature.
Also, I found that the blue card printing feature is still available in legacy Scoutbook. As long as that doesn’t get removed, we can still go there to search by Date Completed and print the blue cards.
We are in the same boat. We print and distribute blue cards at the court of honor with the merit badge patches so the Scout has a record of the advancement for themselves. Only being able to bulk print by date started instead of by date earned in Scoutbook Plus is going to be a problem for us.
Most of our merit badges (nearly all of them) the Scouts never use a physical blue card when earning the badge. The badge is done at summer camp and bulk imported into Scoutbook Plus -or- earned with a merit badge counselor who is part of our troop and signed off directly in Scoutbook Plus as the work is done. The ONLY time we use blue cards when earning a badge is when a scout goes to a local merit badge day / event sponsored by our council.
We print the blue cards and staple the merit badge to them for COH so that we have a sorted group of badges tagged with the scouts name (instead of loose patches floating around) and so the Scout has a paper record (blue card) of their merit badge in case there is ever a question later.
Sorting to bulk print by date started is a problem for us. Right now, we’re trying to prepare for Monday’s COH, and we have some merit badges that were completed in the last six months but that were started at summer camp 2+ years ago. If I print based on (date started in the last six months), only 38 of my 92 MBs print. If I go back 2 years to summer camp 2024, I get 400+ MBs instead of 92.
Is there really no way to print blue cards for just the merit badges on the PO I generated for the COH?
Short answer… no idea. That’s the way the troop has done it. A blue card for each merit badge at COH, from original card if they have one, otherwise printed. Personally, I’m good going all digital and will probably bring it up to the committee.
i did find it in legacy so that got me through this COH and will work till it doesn’t.
thank you
This is correct, there is no way to print Blue Cards for MBs on a PO. There is an item in the backlog to add a search by completion date. Watch the Change log forum for an announcement.
It can still be done in Scoutbook Legacy, the same way we’ve always done it.
Please ask the developers not to remove that functionality from Scoutbook Legacy before it is fully working in Scoutbook Plus.
Thanks @edavignon – In the meantime, we’ve figured out we can use the feature for “Print Pocket Certificates” from the PO in Scoutbook Plus. We never used pocket certificates before, but this seems good enough // similar result. We’ll order some BSA SKU #654936 sheets to print on, but in the meantime (since our COH is Monday) we also mocked out a PPT to print on cardstock to BYO pocket cards in case our order doesn’t arrive in time. (attaching it here in case anyone else is in the boat with us)
Merit Badge Pocket Certificates (reproduction of BSA SKU 654936) 2026.pptx (749.0 KB)
@WilliamBowen3 The legacy Scoutbook feature isn’t working for me. It looks like it only gives me results up until early March. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m guessing maybe when we cut merit badges over to Scoutbook Plus maybe something broke. (?) I have 92 MBs done and the legacy Scoutbook blue card feature is only returning me 10 MBs in my date range for some reason.
Whoops, apparently I was logged in as my Scout when I made that last reply.
Scoutbook Legacy was still accessible last week and I was able to print blue cards through it.
But today when I click on Scoutbook Legacy in Scoutbook Plus, it redirects to advancements.scouting.org/roster.
@JohnBowen - I would do a hard refresh on the scoutbook plus page then click on the link for legacy
Thank you. Hard reset and logging out got the Scoutbook Legacy link to work properly.
