I had a request from a seminar attendee on giving them some guidance on working with customer supplied .doc files.
Here is the question: As per our discussion I have attached one of the files I am presently working with. The customer is requesting 1/2 inch letters on a 3/4 x 3 inch stainless steel cable tag. Here is what I have been doing. I take the list from windows and copy and paste it onto an an excel spread sheet. When I have the numbers (first column in red) in excel I set my font size. I then highlight the column or columns and press the down arrow by “copy” and “save as picture”. Then I paste it to my Corel work sheet, unlock it and then as I can transfer each number to a cable tag I set the width to 2.1 inches and the letter height is already good. I am printing approximately 150 tags x 2 for nineteen different jobs with one letter changed i.e.: JA-HRTD-LHIC04A-1 only the letter in red would be changed for each of the nineteen jobs i.e.; A,B,C, etc.
Here is Our Intro Screen
Here is the introduction screen click “import text from a file or an ODBC data source” (1).
Select ODBC Data Source
Select the ODBC Data Source radio button (1). Click on Select ODBC Data Source (2)
Select Machine Data Source and Excel Files
The File Data Source tab is open by default. First click on the Machine Data Source (1). Next select Excel Files (2) by double clicking on the text.
Select The File You Need
When you double click on the Excel Files you will have an explorer window come up. Navigate to the folder where the file is. Select it (1) and click on OK (2).
Our Excel File Contains 1 Field called “Cable Numbers”
An informative window comes up which shows us that there is one field called CABLE NUMBER (1) and one sheet.
Our Wizard Comes Back
We come back to our Wizard Click Next.
Our Field Name
We have a Field called Cable Number (1). Click Next.
Here is Our Imported Data
Our Data from the Excel File is imported into the Wizard. Click Next
Our Print Merge Toolbar Opens Up
Once we exit the wizard we are given a floating toolbar (1). Notice that the Cable Number is listed in the Pull Down box (2). Click on the Insert button (3)
We Have a Merge Field
Once we click on the Insert button a merge field comes into the page. We know it is a merge field as it is encompassed by a less than figure and a greater than figure (1).
Format Your Print Merge Text
Before we do our print merge we need to format our text so that it is as we need it to be in the job. This job calls for text that is .5 inches tall and the text that is arial. I have resized the text to .5 inches (1).
Make Your Text Center Justified
Because words are all different lengths we need to make sure that our text is center justified. Select the Justification drop down (1) from the property bar.
Merge Our Excel File to a New Document
To merge our text file into CorelDraw we need to click on the :”Merge to New Document” (1). button. What this command does is take each line from the Excel file and create a new plate. Each plate becomes a new page in our job. We thus end up with a job that has a bunch of pages. If our text file is 182 names we get 182 pages.
Corel Creates a Separate File
When we do our print merge Corel creates a separate file called PrintMerge1. This file holds all the pages with the names on each page. Note: It is good practice that we save this file as it holds all the names from the Excel file. The above figure shows the PrintMerge1 file is open the “unititled-1” is the original file.
I Have Created 128 Pages
There where 128 names in the original text file and we have created 128 pages (1) with names on it.
Condense Each Line
We need to condense each line so that it fits on the plate. We need to check each line to make sure they fit on the plate. Note: in future article I will show you how to automatically condense this text.
Select the Print Command
We now need to print our names that we have created with the print merge.
Select Your Laser Driver
Select your laser driver (1). Next click on preferences (2)
Adjust Your Settings
Adjust your power, speed etc for the job. Make your plate size 24 by 12
Click on the Layout Tab
We now need to select the layout tab (1).
Select the Imposition Layout
We will now use the Imposition Command to create our multiple plate. Select the “Edit” button (1).
Type Your Desired Number of Rows and Columns
We now need to tell the program how many plates we want across and down. You can see that I have 8 across (24 / 3) Do not exceed this (if you put in 9 it will make your plates smaller) and 12 down. I could have done 16 down (12 / .75) (1).
Our Multiple Plates are Done
You can see that the I have created 128 plates. By default you do not see the text on the plates just a gray overlay. We have an issue here as my plates are not at the top left corner of our page.
Move Our Plates to the Top Left Corner
By default because our plates do not fill up the multiple plate they work from the middle and we have have a large top margin. We can get rid of this margin by clicking on the “Edit Basic Settings” (1). Select Edit Margins.
Click on the “No Margins” button
Click on the to move our margin to the top of the page
Our Pages Are Now at the Top
Now that our pages are at the top we can preview the page by selecting Edit Basic Settings (1) and click on the preview button (2)
Our Preview Shows us the Job is ready to Go
The job is ready to go other than I did not condense the all the text (1). When you are done click on the Check Mark (2) to exit out. You can send the job now to the laser. Note: I only condensed the first plate so that it fits on the plate. The rest of the text is beyond the plate and thus is cut off.
