merge large quantity of names to 1 artwork; Ai/Omega 6

[TSC1985]

Hello,

We need to merge a large quantity of names from excel onto one artwork file, think of a donor wall. Anyone have a how-to or any tips and tricks for how to merge 400+ names to (1) file?? We use AI and Omega as our design software.

 

[bannertime]

Hmm. You could possibly use the Area Type tool in Illustrator and copy and paste it. Area Type can make columns and rows.

 

[GAC05]

Data merge in Illustrator is the normal go-to answer for this:
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/data-driven-graphics-templates-variables.html

But... if this is a one-off and you are short for time it might be faster to just type it in.
Multiple artboards could also be a help with this. The "copy object on all artboards" feature is a big time saver for me.

 

[James Burke]

I also run Omega and have totally given up on Composer's merge feature. I use SignLab to do our stencils for donor bricks, and with a few clicks of a mouse I can literally have thousands of customized layouts instantly on the screen merged from Excel or a tab delimited text file.

I've yet to figure out why software companies are not incorporating the "best of" features into their own products...so I guess that's why I continue to run Omega, SignLab, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, PhotoShop, and AutoCAD. I'm still waiting for a single program that combines the top-gun strengths of each but it won't ever happen.

Your best bet might be to have somebody set it up in SL and export it to file you can use for your application.


JB

 

[ewded]

It's called data merge InDesign, spend 10 minutes on YouTube and 2 minutes creating your files in InDesign

 

[RICHARD SIMMONS]

I you use Roland Versa Works, there is a tab where you can do it.
Check it out here:

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

It's super easy in Illustrator CC. We did 951 Names on a nested sheet for yard signs. Took about 10 mins to set the file up and the spreadsheet.

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/data-driven-graphics-templates-variables.html

And if you have images: https://www.howtoexcel.org/tips-and...list-of-file-names-from-a-folder-without-vba/

If you have coreldraw it's even easier:

 

[RICHARD SIMMONS]

Very good !! Thanks !!

 

[bannertime]

I'm not sure how Variable Data would work for OP. How would you set it up to take all that data and put it onto one panel or even a handful of panels? In my mind I'm picturing OP describing something more like a wall of names and not individual signs on a wall. I don't go much further than the most basic variable data use cases so I'm curious how it'd be used in this purpose.

 

[TSC1985]

I'm not sure how Variable Data would work for OP. How would you set it up to take all that data and put it onto one panel or even a handful of panels? In my mind I'm picturing OP describing something more like a wall of names and not individual signs on a wall. I don't go much further than the most basic variable data use cases so I'm curious how it'd be used in this purpose.

Yes this, I am looking for 400+ names on (1) sign not one name on (400) signs. Although these responses have been great learning tools for that kind of data merge.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

You can do the same thing with variables and data merge, you just have to set your spreadsheet data up as columns (instead of rows) and then copy and distribute all the variables. Rename all the variables 1 - 400+