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A
Anonymous
February 20, 2011
Question

Can Illustrator increment labels?

  • February 20, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 26602 views

Hi, we'll be getting a laser engraver, and have been considering Illustrator to format the designs. Some of our engravings will include serial numbers. So I was wondering (having never used Illustrator) if I could create a file containg, say 10 identical engravings - except for an automatically incrementing serial number (I would set the first serial number, and the 9 others would follow). The 10 engravings would be applied to 10 similar parts simultaneously.

Am I looking into the right kind of software?

Thanks!

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    2 replies

    JETalmage
    JETalmage
    Inspiring
    February 20, 2011

    This page describes two AI Javascripts that can be used to create serial numbers.

    Of course, it's also a trivial matter to use the Fill Down command of whatever spreadsheet program you already have on your computer (Excel, etc.) to generate a list of serialized numbers, select the column, copy, and paste into Illustrator:

    JET

    A
    AndreNgo
    Participant
    May 3, 2012

    Thanks for the response. Are those scripts hosted anywhere else by chance? I've tried looking and can't seem to find them anywhere. We are running a charity event and would like to add serially incremented numbers to the tickets.

    Thanks.

    Andre

    rcraighead
    rcraighead
    Legend
    May 3, 2012

    If you have access to InDesign, you might find it's Data Merge feature much easier to use. Just place your AI graphic in InDesign and setup a variable based on a spreadsheet.

    _scott__
    _scott__
    Legend
    February 20, 2011

    Illustrator does not do auto-incrementing.

    You may be able to implement something using variables and scripts. But by default, there's no mechanism in Illustrator for what you're seeking.

    W
    Wade_Zimmerman1
    Inspiring
    February 20, 2011

    A variable of that nature would require a data base that generates the sequence and a script to update the variable in Illustrator.

    However you could set up the numbers manually save it as a data set do the same for the next sequence of 10 numbers and save that as a data set and so on then when you load the art which can also be a variable, then load the data sets but this is worthless if the sequences differ from art to art and when printing you will have to do ten at a time oose the data set and print again.

    You can script this but it takes a very good script creator to do this. I am sure it would not be cheap.

    There might be a plug in.

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