Adding individual guest names to a wedding invitation in illustrator
Question
I have designed a wedding invitation in illustrator (CS6) that I need to add about 60 individual guests names to the invitation and get the printer to print for me.
I am after a suggestion on how do do the names and how to get all the files print ready for the printer with the usual bleeds and trim marks. I have limited experience in coding etc.
The document I have with the names is saved as a excel document.
Popular Answer
Illustrator can do this, no problems, its just easier in inDesign. You need to use variables to modify the text. See the manual for a more in depth discussion of how this works. Do this:
Load the data
First the hard part, reading the data from the excel file. Unfortunately, Adobe Illustrator does not support CSV files for a data source. They do, read XML though. Fortunately, Prepression has been kind enough to write a Illustrator script that does this for you. The script is called VariableImporter. With this tool at hand let us begin:
- Save your excel table as a CSV or TSV file.
- Read the data in with VariableImporter.
The script is a bit temperamental but test a few things first.
Make the image dynamic
- Open the variables window from Window → Variables.
- Select your text object that you want to change.
In variables window click the make text dynamic button with suitable data column selected.
Image 1: Make text dynamic on selected text.
You can now test the different record in action.
Image 2: Test dataset.
Repeats 1-3 steps until you have all you want to change.
Export each variable as a PDF.
To export the data sets into multiple pdf files do this:
- Make a new action where you save a pdf document.
From the menu in Actions window corner, select Batch...
Image 3: Export the data sets to individual PDF files.
Set the source to Data Sets, Override save commands, and a folder.