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lefaai
Participant
May 7, 2018
Question

Combine basic layout and multi page PDF

  • May 7, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 709 views

Hi all,

I have been searching though the forum but can't find what I’m looking for.

We work a lot with Adobe Illustrator to create labels with a basic layout and an unique dataset. Our current work is taking a lot of time and I figure it should be able to make this a lot faster, maybe with an existing script.

This is the way we create the files now:

  1. Create a basic label design
  2. Copy this design to and artboard with the correct size for the material that will be used, this can be anywhere between 2 and 500 labels per artboard (or sheet)
  3. Outside of illustrator we use a label software to create PDF files with content like barcodes, serial numbers, production dates, etc. in a page size that is correct. This file can contain anywhere between 1 and 16 pages or sheets.
  4. We place the first page of the created PDF file from the labelsoftware in the artboard of the basic layout and save this to an PDF file.
  5. We reopen the file and change the placed file from page 1 to page 2, save as “same filename”(2), we repait this until all pages are done.
  6. We create a second PDF file from the label software and save this while replacing the file that has been placed.
  7. We open all PDF files that we created in step 4 and 5 and resave these files in a second folder
  8. Steps 6 and 7 are repeated server times until all labels have been digital produced so we can start the print job.

So basically we want is an easy and fast way to combine the basic lay-out (from step 2) and the multi-page PDF with the unique data and save these to 1 file per page.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Kurt Gold
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 7, 2018

Which version of Illustrator are you using?

Based on your description, I'd recommend to explore all capabilities of Illustrator's variables (see Variables palette). Particularly with regard to dynamic linked files.

lefaai
lefaaiAuthor
Participant
May 8, 2018

Hi Kurt,

Thats a good one, i forgot no mention.

We are using Illustrator CC 22.1 (64-bit) and always try to update to the latest version.

lefaai
lefaaiAuthor
Participant
May 8, 2018

Hi Kurt,

thanks for the tip regarding the dynamic linked files.

It was not the sollution but with these key words I have found a quicker way. We now do the following:

Open new InDesign document in the correct paper size. place the basic lay-out from step 2 as "Stramien page". Then use the build in script "PlaceMultipagePDF". This way InDesign makes all needed pages and we just export it to PDF.

Would be great if this script works in Illustrator with an auto save per page.

Myra Ferguson
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 7, 2018

I'm not sure I followed all your steps completely, but it sounds like ultimately you want to combine PDFs. Here's some info about using Acrobat for that Combine or merge files into a single PDF, Adobe Acrobat DC

lefaai
lefaaiAuthor
Participant
May 7, 2018

Hi Myra,

Thanks for the responds, it comes close but not quite what I meant.

I want to us the basic lay-out (from step 1/2/3) as background and paper size for the multi-page PDF with variable data.

In the past I tried to place the layout as background in to the PDF with variable data and cut down the white areas. But somehow the RIP software for our production doesn’t like a file of for instance 10 pages, I prefers 10 files of one page.