Print Set up for sets of cards in InDesign

[NickiSorensen1]

I work on a grocery store ad that comes out every other week. As part of the ad, I create small sign cards (4.25"w x 2.75"h so they fit 8 up on an 8.5x11 sheet) for each item that is on the sale so they can hang those by the items in their stores. Currently we do not have a great cutter so I just print them out in sets and cut them. We are getting a new stack cutter so I would like to have them print out so I can cut them and they are in stacks of the right order.

So basically right now they print out 1-8 on page 1, 9-16 on page 2 etc.

I would like them to print so that page 1 has 8 of the first card, page 2 is 8 of the second card. etc.

Hopefully this is making sense. I am looking for suggestions of how to set this up.

Thanks!

{Renamed by MOD}

[Srishti Bali]

Hi Nicki,

Thanks for reaching out. Are you trying to make cards for grocery items?

Here is a tutorial which might help you: Demo: Creating an 8-UP Business Card Template - YouTube

Let us know if that helps or if you need any further assistance.

Regards,

Srishti

[NickiSorensen1]

Here is a better explanation of that I am looking to do

[Srishti Bali]

Thanks for sharing the screenshots. This is probably possible through scripting, you can check out our InDesign Scripting​ forum. I will also check and update you if get any information on this.

Regards,

Srishti

[NickiSorensen1]

Would love to see what scripts you find! Thanks!

[Randy Hagan]

If you don't want to go through the whole scripting thing, you can refine the process to make this work pretty slickly.

1) Design your labels like your top example. This makes it easy to design your labels, and if they have to undergo review – proofing, price checking, barcode checking (more on this later) – and approval, make things much more manageable.

2) When final review and approval is done, Plug them into templates with appropriate cut marks and ruler guides to position one label perfectly in upper-left corner of your grid. Build them on the template layer, so you can safely copy/paste everything on the page without worry. There needs to be a safe margin between the print area and the cut sheet, both before and after you finish it on the stack cutter.

3) Copy one label at a time from the approved Design file. Paste it in that upper-left octant (just looked that up; it's like a quadrant, if you divide it into eighths) of your Production Form template and align it perfectly to your grid.

4) Use InDesign's Edit>Step and Repeat... menu command to create your production form. If you've got your measurements spot on, you can enter 7 in the Count: edit box, select the Create as a grid check box to align 'em and use a Vertical: offset of 2.75 in and a Horizontal: offset of 4.25 in to position everything perfectly on the Production Form file. Check your work by selecting the Preview: check box. Adjust as necessary, then click OK and save the production form.

It's not automatic, but once you get the system down I'll bet it doesn't take more than 60 seconds a production form. With absolute control on your part.

There are even better tricks of the trade you can use to improve these labels even more. Since you've got the stack cutter, it doesn't cost anything but nominal paper costs to run your labels on legal sheets and use a slugline/document information/job ticket to track the job up to the point where you make one extra cut to make it go away. And UPC bar code fonts which could let you use hand scanners to track where things go.

Good luck. I think you could do some really helpful things for your client.

Randy

[NickiSorensen1]

Thanks Randy. My initial thought is to make the signs each individual pages of a document, then export it to a pdf. I would then have a template that would have page one repeated 8 up on a page, page two repeated 8 times on a page and so on... then I don't have to copy and paste or do any step and repeats. I would just have to relink the pdf. I'm interested to see if there's a script with a more efficient way?

Thanks again!

[Randy Hagan]

If you don't mind me asking, how are you printing them? And on what kind of stock? We may be able to save you a step or two here ...

Jus' sayin'

[NickiSorensen1]

They're printed on a 65lb cardstock?

[Randy Hagan]

OK. A couple of ideas ...

1) You don't have to go through creating a PDF, then placing it. You can just copy/paste the elements from the original InDesign file and save that extra step. It really doesn't matter if you design one label to eight on 8-up sheets like your top original example. As long as you design each label with identical, correct dimensions the net effect is the same. Copy one at at time, and place 8-up using steps 3 and 4 outlined above.

2) If you explore Illustrator, as Jeff Witchel suggests, you can place the native .ai file within InDesign and don't have to go through the extra step either.

3) So it's a relatively hefty stock. printing Ink on paper is no big deal on heavy stock. Laying down toner with digital printing might be more problematic. But for smaller quantities and short turnarounds, digital printing may still make more sense.

Sounds like you've got a fun project. Good luck. Hope it pays off handsomely for you.

[NickiSorensen1]

Thanks, they're is usually around 70-100 different items so copy and pasting is what I am trying to stay away from. But thanks for the advice!

[rob day]

My initial thought is to make the signs each individual pages of a document, then export it to a pdf.

You don’t have to export a PDF, you can place an InDesign file the same way you place a PDF.

Something like this, where there is an editable content file set up as 4.25"x2.75" pages for the cards, placed in an 8.5"x11" step and repeat file for the printing:

If I edit page 1 the step and repeat document shows the links as modified

It can be then updated. This avoids the editing problems you would inevitably run into with a cut and paste workflow

[NickiSorensen1]

Great! I really don't want to use copy and paste as it leaves too much room for error, I like the step and repeat template idea. I think I would like to use the data merge to create the initial document, then create the print ready file like this.

[SJRiegel · Accepted solution]

NickiSorensen1  wrote

Great! I really don't want to use copy and paste as it leaves too much room for error, I like the step and repeat template idea. I think I would like to use the data merge to create the initial document, then create the print ready file like this.

If you are setting this up with Data Merge, there is no need for doing step-and-repeat separately afterwards. Set up your initial merge template as the full page with 8 instances of the card with placeholders on the page. This way, your merged result will have eight of the same card on each page, just as you want.

[NickiSorensen1]

This is the way I chose to go with, just trying to figure out the 8 instances of the same item on one page. I made my template using place and link. It works great! However it gives me pre-flight/link errors since it's trying to duplicate the first box on all the pages. Any ideas of a better way to duplicate the instances on the page? Technically it works just fine, I just don't want pre-flight errors.

TIA!

[SJRiegel]

You can break the links on the duplicates in the template before running the merge.

They will still each be populated with the data from the placeholders they contain.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Actually, this is easier to do in Illustrator.

Here's a video about how to set up labels in a grid in seconds using the Transform Effect.

http://www.jeffwitchel.net/2012/01/quick-set-up-a-page-of-labels-with-crop-marks/

[NickiSorensen1]

Thanks Jeff, Looks like this is for a repeated label, each sign card is a different item so this wouldn't work for what I am looking for. It's similar to place and link in inDesign, a feature that comes in handy!

[Laubender]

Hi Nicki,

what are the variables in your cards?

The number?

That could be an automatic page number.

Other texts?

Look into InDesign's data merge feature.

Have one template document for data merge where all non-variable elements are on master A.

All variable elements are on page 1, even if they are repeated like in your layout of reply 2 stacked on top.

Note: Do not try this with a facing pages document. Just one page as template.

The data set, a text file with tab delimited fields, will hold the data for all your variable text.

More on this:

Merge data to create form letters, envelopes, or mailing labels in Adobe InDesign

Regards,
Uwe

[NickiSorensen1]

I use data merge for a few other projects, didn't really think to use it for this, I will look into this! Thanks!