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MW Design
Valorous Hero
MW Design
Valorous Hero
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‎May 20, 2017
04:06 PM
Morty, you would export a PDF and that is what Staples (or elsewhere) would use to print.
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‎May 15, 2017
11:09 AM
You can also likely copy the spreadsheet and paste into a text editor and obtain a tab-delimited file. That's how it works using Windows anyway. Then save as a .text file and you should be good to go. Do make sure of the encoding when saving, though.
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‎May 13, 2017
08:00 AM
Without a sample of the data, we're both flying blind. If it were me, I would have them send a sample Excel file so I can see the structure and begin the design(s) required. As for the "tabs" (sheets) you can specify the sheet desired in the merge. If the data is in ranges in the same sheet, you can sort by the company name field, then by the last name of the participant. Then select one company's section and export that selection to a csv (and I always use tab delimited, UTF-8, .txt type of export). Or copy paste each company into a new sheet, naming the sheet for the company. In lieu of obtaining a sample ahead of time, make one. And use more than one sheet to understand how it works. Also, I hardly ever use ID's in-built merging. It an create a mess. I use Em Software/s Xdata (inside QXP) but InData works the same. Again, without seeing the data or understanding the design requirements, and not knowing what the client wants back, take the following with a grain of salt. I have done a similar job and I set up Master pages for the design variables. Then in XData, I apply the appropriate master page as the, in your case, company name changes. And one can do all sorts of other fun stuff during merging that goes far beyond this. I don't know if I would try learning InData at the last moment, though. Mike
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‎May 13, 2017
07:48 AM
It is an interesting problem. One can export to PDF, in Acrobat, Save as Other, save as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet, open and copy the text and paste into a frame in ID and convert text to table as well.
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‎May 11, 2017
08:28 PM
2 Upvotes
PDFs themselves can go much larger. The 200" x 200" limit was lifted with PDF 1.6 if I recall. It was raised to 15,000,000 inches...also if I recall. It's just that Acrobat was never updated to display such a thing without a bodge. Which is why I posted above that the Illy team needs to get the Acrobat team on-board and raise this artifical limitation of Acrobat for viewing. Most other decent PDF viewers do not have this limitation. They just don't work properly in a press-workflow and are in no way a replacement for Acrobat. The above PDF is 400" by 100" and is viewable in Acrobat. but it is a bodge, though some RIPS will accept it. So what I do in CorelDraw when I don't know where it will be printed, is design at 100% scale, then group everything and scale down and change the page size that an unknown RIP can handle along with instructions to scale up X percentage.
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‎May 11, 2017
12:38 PM
800 pages that are design heavy? The largest ID file I have done was a 400+ page catalog. Lots of images, of course. I don't recall it taking near as long. Same with a very graphic-intensive book that was in the couple hundred page range recently finished. Its pdf was very large due to the images and it took about 10 minutes. But that is all apples and orqnges. It would really take someone using your merged file to see what it takes them for a comparison. I don't know if splitting the merge up into say half or thirds would be any faster in total. So I don't know what to say. Sorry. Mike
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‎May 11, 2017
11:54 AM
If you just create a non merged document with as many pages and place the design elements on these pages, does it still take so long? I would suspect so as there isn't anything special about the merge text frames themselves. What are the design elements? Types of files, native ID elements, or ? Mike
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‎May 10, 2017
10:47 PM
Sounds like you are merging direct to PDF? Try just merge to a new document, PDF that new document. You don't need to save the new document unless you want to. I hardly ever use ID's native merge, except for helping around here. I do merge a lot using Em Software's data merge plug-in, though. I wouldn't be without it (as well as the XTags plug-in). Far more extensible and it doesn't build the merge in a single frame per record. Mike
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‎Apr 24, 2017
05:48 AM
1 Upvote
Yep. At a certain scale it no longer makes sense to do it oneself. Talk to your printing company about their VDP (variable data processing) capabilities. It will not only be sorted, but route sorted. They can handle the postage (which is less expensive once route sorted), etc. At least if this all gets mailed... Otherwise, break it into chunks and go to PDF, print PDFs. Mike
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‎Apr 19, 2017
01:17 PM
1 Upvote
I mainly use CD for large format because of size limitations in Illy and other software. However, working at a 1:1 scale over 200" really doesn't mean a lot if you cannot get the Acrobat people on-board and lift the 200" PDF viewable (and artificial) limitation. I can produce PDFs that are viewable in Acrobat larger than that (>400" isn't uncommon for me). But it would be better if I didn't have to do what I do.
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‎Apr 09, 2017
12:11 PM
1 Upvote
Sounds great, Obi. I don't have such a script. I haven't had this need for years, either. But the OP might be interested and so do point the OP to where this script can be bought/downloaded. Else it is just meaningless to show it off.
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‎Apr 09, 2017
10:43 AM
Yes, a script might work. Might not, either. I have had to do what the OP is doing and I don't think a script would be of benefit. One doesn't know until walking through the layout where the frame will need broken for making sense with the surrounding text or the layout needs.
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‎Apr 09, 2017
09:16 AM
Assuming they are flowing with the text, you can just copy/paste back into the text flow in the new spot. If they do not flow with the text, alt-drag to make a copy.
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‎Apr 09, 2017
08:56 AM
If I am understanding the issue properly, you are going to need to just layout the publication with the images, then do a final run-through or two or three to adjust image frames to display only what is needed, duplicate and adjust that version to pick up the remainder of the image in its own frame. Mike
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‎Apr 08, 2017
07:05 PM
I have some of my clients using WordPress and other CMS systems. They create/edit "stories" in the systems and I have the IT people (and/or I) export the MySQL databases to output plain text that strips and wraps the text with codes. I do the same with MS Word submissions, but use macros to tag paragraph and text attributes with tags. The below is a sample I did for someone else that shows the tagging: And once imported, all paragraph and character styles are automatically applied like so (here in QXP): We use XTags from Em Software for a few reasons, one of which is the simpler tagging style as can be seen from the tagged text screen shot above. It is available both for ID and QXP. It is made for such automation and likely would be of benefit to you if I am understanding your situation. Xtags » Em Software Otherwise, InCopy may meet your needs. There are videos on Lynda.com you can watch, as well as some articles on InDesignSecrets.com about InCopy (I think there is also a web site dedicated to it). I don't use it and so cannot speak to how well it may work for you. Mike
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‎Mar 14, 2017
10:42 PM
3 Upvotes
Oh, well if the data has to remain in its present order, there are alternatives. One involves adding a couple columns as first and second columns. Then filling the first column with consecutive numbers. In the second column you test for data to the column on its immediate right using a formula. Another method is to select all the data, hit the Filter button. Now to the right of the Filter button (depends on version I suppose), there is a remove duplicates. Once that Remove Duplicates button is clicked, there should remain only one blank row and you can select it and delete it. This works fine if there is not data that truly repeats for a reason. I just searched, and here is one post about using the formula as well: macos - How do I delete empty rows in excel but not empty cells in rows with information in them? - Ask Different I have used both methods and the sorting. When I have to keep pre-sorted mailing address, for instance, I generally just use the second method above. Mike
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‎Mar 14, 2017
09:37 PM
1 Upvote
Looks like you have blank rows, and some rows have blank cells. True? Do one of the columns always have entries in the cells? Just do a sort, it'll move the rows in their entirety without the drawbaks of the Blanks command. Mike
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‎Mar 13, 2017
03:43 PM
Without seeing a proposed design file and if this were my job, I would try to convince the client to forego an Adobe product and either use Access or FileMaker Pro. But it would depend on the designs desired. Or just develop a bespoke data-driven application (whether server-based or web-based doesn't matter). If a company was bent on using a layout application--for which each person in the company using the system would need a license and more importantly, training--I would use a combination of a database for the sales force access and the choices to be made, the database would output tagged text (not ID's tagged text type) and build the design using Em Software's XTags. Mike
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‎Mar 10, 2017
04:43 PM
Aside from Em Software as a source for help, I would need to see screen shots of what you would like to accomplish as I cannot picture it. I would suggest using some dummy data and manually positioning and formatting it so a screen shot would be representitive of the desired layout.
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‎Feb 24, 2017
08:08 AM
1 Upvote
I have targeted 36 dpi effective resolution for billboards in the past, though I often go higher depending upon the images I require. Your 2000 px wide image will hit 36 dpi effective resolution at about 1/8 of the artboard size. This may be fine for the image and design, I dunno. The below is a screen shot from the spreadsheet I use for large format work. You can probably figure out what it is reporting for image sizes to hit the target effective resolution for the min/max dpi it calculates. And sorry, I still haven't gotten around to making a switch for metric versus the inches I use. But it's close enough of a conversion for this purpose.
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‎Feb 16, 2017
07:27 AM
1 Upvote
Flatplan software is generally used in larger (and some smaller) newspaper and magazine publicaiton. For instance, this link looks at some they consider the best--and please note I have never used any... Best Publishing and Subscriptions Software | 2017 Reviews of the Most Popular Systems Some smaller newspapers I have been involved with use a spreadsheet to keep track of advertising and what is on what page.
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‎Feb 15, 2017
12:31 PM
You can use a character style that will simultaneously change the point size to a smaller size on text set in caps, add a bit of negative horizontal scaling and also add tracking to pull those scaled caps together. It is a bit of a cludge, but it does work. However, depending upon the font used, you may also need to swap out a regular for a semi-bold or even bold to equalize the weight a bit. Mike
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‎Feb 15, 2017
11:17 AM
If the fonts you have tried actually have small caps, the percentage does nothing. ID simply then uses the small caps as designed by the font designer. The percentage thing only applies to fonts without small caps in the font(s). At least, I think that is how it works in ID.
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‎Feb 13, 2017
05:59 PM
Further to what Bob's saying, most people leave the default browser reader set to as installed. Which means Chrome uses its own, FF uses its own, etc. In my somewhat limited experience for interactive PDFs for the world at large such as you may be making (I have made them for interwebs wherein the PDF reader is set in stone), many/most of those readers do not handle interactive PDFs well. Now, for something as simple as page navigation they may well work, though. They (interactive PDFs) rarely (if ever) work on a mobile device. Do test in a variety of browsers where the browser uses its built-in reader.
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‎Feb 13, 2017
02:41 PM
Have you tried just making the Navigation directly in Acrobat where the hyperlinks go to the required PDF page? It's not just the 5 megs that stands out to me, the 11 megs for the embedded fonts seems a bit over the top.
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‎Jan 25, 2017
05:34 AM
I dunno how that happens. Especially without a file. The below is a CS6 verison file. If you need an IDML, let me know.
[link removed]
Does the above work properly?
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‎Jan 24, 2017
04:58 PM
1 Upvote
I was going to withhold this part...but hey, I thought, why? I also am using Affinity Designer for certain work. And it has a "Cog" smart shape. So I used it and exported as an SVG to import into Illy. And once it is sent behind the full text (including the "O" in POWER), it is then... I'm all for drawing when needed. But I am also all for saving effort.
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‎Jan 24, 2017
04:27 PM
1 Upvote
The font itself is likely Race1 Brannt Chiseled. There are four fonts and the only one needed for the main text (the letters PWER) is the one named. If one desires the fill for what appears white, then the bold version of the same font is used. The outer part of the gear would still need crafted. The inner part is the O character.
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‎Jan 24, 2017
12:57 PM
CombiNumerals will work. Make sure to turn on Contextual Alternates if it is off, and for the solid background, use Stylistic Set 1.
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‎Jan 21, 2017
10:49 AM
1 Upvote
Our experiences are simply different, Steve. In setting books I find that X number of large publishing houses still use QXP. They are simply geared up for it. I get QXP tagged text spit out of a database a few times a year. And I create code for some institutions to pull out the tagged text for their SQL databases--and QXP tagged text is far more simple and equally as powerful as ID's tagged text (which is onerous in comparison). QXP tagged text is so simple that when I get MS Word manuscripts from small publishers whom do not desire to spend the money for me to write the queries, I have macros that convert it all to QXP tagged text (including attributes such as bold, italics, etc). Once the styles are set up, it all just flows in so pure and perfect. If I had to rewrite those macros to output ID tagged text I would likely rip out my hair and gouge my eyes out. At the end of the day, what I care about is making my nut. I could care less what I use. I think as of a few years ago, the percentage of ID vs. QXP work I got was 60/40 respectively. Last year it was tipped the other direction (just, though). When it comes down to it, these applications are simply tools. I'll use what the work requires--even if setting a book in MS Word or Publisher was required (and it has been). I apply the same reasoning to vector drawing applications, image editors, etc. Why in the world should I care? I do have my application preferences when it is left up to me. But most of the time the application I use is dictated by what the client wants in return at the end of the job.
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