Using Variable Data Merge in Adobe Illustrator
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
- If you have hundreds, or THOUSANDS of graphics to create with the same layout, variable data merge might be the way to go. Learn how to set up one document to pull variables from a spreadsheet in this video!
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Hi! I cannot load my variables in csv- format, apparently of older version of Ai and it demands XML. How do I do XML that Ai would except? Could be possible to add csv-format in this load? Can you give me any advise?
Anne, this is the the best tutorial on how to use variable data in Illustrator! Thank you, thank you! What a difference when a seasoned graphic designer brings her talents, this was so easy to follow and worked like a charm on the 1st try. I am soooo glad I found your channel. Thanks again!
Thank you so much!! I'm so glad it was helpful!
thank you so much for the batch saving part. I was reading and watching so many tuts on batch saving and none of them actually explained it properly! lifesaver!
You're welcome..and thank you so much!!
Yours was the third tutorial I watched on this and the only one I could get to actually work- thank you so much!!
That's great to hear!! Thank you!
So glad someone did a video on variables, this is so cool!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
What an incredibly useful feature. Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome!! :)
you have no idea how much time you just saved me. thanks! ♥️♥️
I'm so glad - that's great!!
Anne, this has been the most useful tip I've ever learnt about Illustrator. I used to produce the files in Illustrator, paste them in Word and then use the Mailing function to add variables. Thank you for your share!
You're welcome - I'm so happy it was helpful! Doing that with Word sounds tedious... :D
@@GDHT This is great. I have all my settings the same and even renamed my datasets, but when I choose "File Name + Dataset" it just keeps overriding as "filename_01". Any recommendations?
This was a great help with one of our projects, thanks so much!
You're welcome - I'm so glad it helped!
Great video! Super easy to follow. Thanks!
You're welcome - I'm so glad it was helpful!!
I've really suffered designing certificates before finally seeing this tutorial. Thank you.
You're welcome - and thank you so much!
Really useful, thanks!
You're welcome! I'm glad it was helpful!
thank you. this is the best tutorial. easy to practice.
You're welcome!
SUPER HELPFUL! thank you so much!
You're welcome! And thank you!!
You're an MVP for this.. Is there a way to independently edit? When you resized it, it resized on all of them... what if you wanted it resized on just one of them
You're welcome - I'm so happy to hear that!! In that case, when you're setting up the action, do a Save As function like AI or EPS, then export. After you do that, you can open one of the files and make changes without affecting the others.
wow Anne. for years i have been doing this the hard way. thank you . new subie
You're welcome!! And thank you so much for the sub!
Love you, saved me about an hour of my life, AWESOMEEEE
That is great to hear - thank you!!
Very helpful tutorial. Thanks for making it. I am your new subscriber now.
You're welcome! And thank you so much!!
Super Helpful... Thanks so much!
You'e welcome!! :) I'm so glad it was helpful!
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, I WAS HAVING HARD TIME SOLFING THE CSV FILE PROBLEM, OMG THAK YOU
You're welcome - I'm so happy it helped!!
Thank you for sharing. It worked fine for me.
You're welcome - Great to hear!
Tqsm this is easier than i thought!
You're welcome!
You just saved me four hours of work!
Awesome - that is great to hear!!
You help me a lot, thank you so much.
You're welcome - I'm so glad to hear that!!
Thanks for the video. Subscribed!
Thank you so much!!
Thanks, you're a lifesaver
You're welcome!!
Thank you so much!
You're welcome!
Amazing, thanks !!!!
You're welcome...and thank you!
Thanks for sharing
You're welcome!
very helpful, thanks.
You're welcome! I'm so glad it helped!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
You're welcome!
It worked great... Thanks.. 😇
You're welcome!
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCHHH!!!
You're welcome!!
Thank you for sharing
You're welcome!
outstanding.
Thank you!!
think you very mucheeeee!!!
You're welcome!
Great tutorial! Which would you say is better (and/or easier) to use for Data Merge, InDesign or Illustrator? Thank you!
If it's just text (like business cards where the name/title changes), I would definitely use InDesign. But if you're wanting different backgrounds and images, etc, maybe Illustrator. I haven't tried that with InDesign. Generally, AI is best used for 1-3 pages, and INDD is best for more (4-??).
Hi Anne, thank you very much for this video. Do you have any info on how make this method work with graphs in Illustrator?
Unfortunately I don't, but I do think it can be done - I googled 'variable data graphs illustrator' and was able to see that it's possible - it's a bit more than I would want to tackle though, involving coding, etc!
Awesome job, really helpful! I was wondering if you know a way to load all the dataset results on one page instead of having to use an action to save as/export ...
I don't think it's possible to do this with Illustrator...but InDesign can do it: ruclips.net/video/JRfcX-rdXDc/видео.html
@@GDHT thank you!
@@viniciuscunha327 You're welcome! :)
@@GDHT
Hi Anne, would you know of a possible script/plugin if there is one that could do this?
(Doing a staff board which is done manually. Trying to automate it and really don't want to round trip into InDesign and Illustrator 😁)
Superb video 🤗😎🤘
It's the best tutorial i found about variable data. This video saved me tons of time. I have one question. Is there anyway we can change the name of the data set? Otherwise, all exported files are named data set 1, data set 2..... Can we define the name of all data set by the data in variable1?
Hmmm, I'm not sure about that. I don't think Illustrator has a way of doing it. You could try a renaming program.
Hi! Thanks for the video! So helpful!! One question: is there a way to save all the datasets as one pdf file? Instead of the separate files?
Hmmm, I'm not sure if it will do it automatically, but you could combine them in Acrobat after they're done.
Great video! Question: If you wanted to put multiple fields together how do you do that? For example, if your spreadsheet had the following fields: Street, City, State, Zip is there a way to write the address dynamically? Because if you place the location of each in Illustrator it will stay in that position, it doesn't know to move one after the other based on how many characters each one is. Does what I'm asking make sense? Or if I wanted to dynamically pull from a spreadsheet a NAME, but add a comma after it. Such as the greeting in a letter: "Dear Name," because I don't want the comma in the spreadsheet, just the name, but I want a comma after the name... but again same issue. If place the comma it is in a fixed location and doesn't account for how many characters are in the name.
I don't think Illustrator has this capability, but InDesign does. InDesign is a better option all around for Data Merge, in my opinion.
Nice tutorial! How would I print all of them at the same time? For example, I have a letter back with variables of names and addresses...
I would save them as a PDF and print from there.
Hello,
This is a brilliant video; really helpful. I have a quick question about variables which hopefully you may know the answer to!
Do you know if you can use variables with multipage PDFs on Illustrator?
At the moment I can only get variables to import single-page PDFs, it will not work with multipage ones? It just comes back with errors and does not import the file.
Thanks.
I don't think you can, but you could extract them to separate files, add the files to your spreadsheet, and do the process that way. A few extra steps, but not too bad.
This is great! Any idea why when i import the variable library and go to view the data sets it has increased the font size by 2pt???
No, that is strange!! I can't think of why that would happen.
Excellent video! I'm just trying this now, using Excel, and i'm unable to put the @ in the column title for images. What do you need to do in Excel for images?
Not sure about Excel (I don't have it on my computer) - but I would just copy/paste the info in Excel into a Google sheet, which is free for everyone if you aren't able to figure it out.
can we do anything for the font size thing , because i have mixed sentences where some are long and some are short so when i do the variable thing few ones protrudes outside the text area , what i do right now is decrease the font size so that the longest one also can be inside the text but that makes the shorter ones too small to read. any idea so that illustrator can adjust itself the font size according to the sentence length?
I don't think it has that ability, unfortunately. You'll probably need to manually fix it, or set the template with the longest text version.
@@GDHT ok, thanks
Hello i would like to check how to change all the file name with reference to clip timing 5.50? I heard you mention copy and paste? I don't think I can change them 1 by 1 as I have 50k qr codes to merge in and I have been searching high n low how to do it. Today I stumble upon your clip and I am excited to try.
If you're on a Mac and you have the files in one folder, you can copy all files in the folder, and paste into Illustrator. Then copy again, and paste into your Google doc. You'll only have the file names, so you'll need to concatenate the file name with the location - Google 'concatenate text strings' to learn how to do that.
Thank you for sharing. If you have 3 variables and one of the variables has blank entries, the previous filled in variable copies until there is a data entry for that variable. For example, variable 2 may have blank tiles in the .csv file and I need the text box in illustrator to be blank also but it copies the last variable 2 entry that was filled. Do you have a solution for this?
Hmm, I'm not 100% sure, it seems like data merge doesn't handle blank entries well - you might have to do it manually in that case. I'm thinking put a weird word, like 'lsdkfjal' in all the blank cells, then after Illustrator makes the documents, open them and then do a find/replace with lsdkfjal replaced to nothing. You could set up an action to run through lots of files at once to perform that, I would think. Here's an article about the blank entries: community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/illustrator-variable-data-ignore-blank-cells-in-the-csv/m-p/10725263
@@GDHT Thank you! Leaving the text box blank did not solve the problem but find/replace is a great solution!
Hi, great video! By any chance, do you know how to add quotation marks in variable data? When quotation marks are added in the excel sheet, they disappear in the illustrator file. Maybe you have some tips to avoid this happening? Thank you :)
I haven't tested this, but I found this article: community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/variables-does-not-import-quotation-mark-symbols-during-load-variable-library/td-p/12120621
Hi! Is there anyway to merge fonts? For instance, is variable 1 has a different font that variable 2 and so forth. Would it be possible for the fonts to change as well?
Yes, you could just set up the font you want it to be, and when the words from the spreadsheet come in, they automatically take on that font (if I'm understanding you correctly).
So I'm trying to simplify my workflow by editing one file that auto populates to other files. The only issue is, I am trying to have it populate the graphics onto another layout. So if I create for example one version that is in a portrait layout and another in a landscape, I just want to edit one and it auto populates the same graphics to a pre-determined position on another artboard or file. Hopefully that makes sense. Is this possible in Illustrator? I feel like it should be, but I dont know how to explain it properly...
Thanks for your help and your well spoken video!
This should work - you can just go to your Links panel and choose Update links. Illustrator doesn't do great with custom positioning, so you'll want to make sure you don't add anything outside the edge of the design or it will shift in all layouts.
Is it possible to have each data set show all at the same time? For instance, If I'm creating a menu for a restaurant, and input the name of the item, description and price of each item into a spreadsheet - each in their own columns, could I then update all items on the menu at one time?
I think you could. You'd need to create a text path for each cell, though. It would be time-consuming at first, but if there were changes to the menu, you could update them easily by updating the spreadsheet.
@@GDHT Any tips on how to styart creating a text path for each cell? I'm up for the challenge
Hi there. Do you know if there is a limit on the number of data sets ?
Hi, no I don't. I would just give it a try and see if it fails.
@@GDHT mine stops at only 45 records, wanted to make sure there wasn’t an issue. That number seemed really low.
@@soneaf Yes, it does! Hopefully that's not the limit. Of course, you can always start a new set, but if you have thousands, that would take a while.
Instead of saving as separate pdf, Is it possible to import all variable as separate artboards in one file?.
I don't think so, but InDesign has a way of putting them on one page.
Is there any way to have the data merge SKIP over a blank cell in the spreadsheet? I'm working on business cards and some folks only have one title, while others have two. The data merge auto fills in the second title even if that box is blank on the spreadsheet. Any suggestions?
I don't think so unless there's a script or something. What is it filling in with? I would sort the spreadsheet by that row, then set up a separate data merge for just those lines.
Is there a way to create and expand the variable text onto the same document
Example: we are working with a vinyl cutter and a team roster. The only plug in option I have is to use Illustrator but want the plug in to create the cut sheet with the least space used
Or use variable data spread over one artboard.....
InDesign has this capability, but I don't think Illustrator does unfortunately.
hi there im a big fan of your videos , could i please ask you to do a video where i can do barcodes for tickets which will generate barcodes different to each tickets ,
I can try that - I would probably use something like InDesign, and use photos (of barcodes). I'll add it to the list!
@@GDHT I will be waiting for this video. Thanks a lot. And looking forward to it.
It might be a while, honestly. But I will try to get it in!
If you want to run it again later with a new spreadsheet/new data but with the same variable names, do you have to re-bind all the variables? That's what I've been doing but I feel like I'm doing something wrong.
As long as everything is in the same place and has the same name, you should be able to just run the merge.
Is it possible to make something like this work in illustrator except for a project like address labels on the same sheet?
No, unfortunately. You'll need to switch to InDesign for that: ruclips.net/video/sXIZroAKitE/видео.html
@@GDHT thanks. I guess I'll have to be pickup in design
@@josephfireborn it's not too bad - it's more similar to Illustrator than Photoshop.
I am adding jpg or svg files from the place tab then I can't click on the "make object dynamic" field in the variable field. The button in that field remains inactive and I cannot create a variable. I can do this with texts. What is the reason?
I just tried with a JPG and it worked for me. Make sure it's a linked file, and not embedded.
thanks for the video
i have a problem when try to upload the variables
illustrator show that i can only upload .xml files and no option for .csv files
What version of Illustrator are you using?
@@GDHT I'm having the same issue. I am on Illustrator CC 2017.
I also tried exporting as .xml and it told me the variable library was invalid. :-( Have you ever come across this before?
@@GDHT 2017
@@elwalsh311 hi the solution is in this video
ruclips.net/video/LtczKHAB74k/видео.html&t
can i use image vector, like svg or eps, instead png?
I would think so but I'm not sure...give it a try! :)
Hello, is it possible to have these 5 files on one artboard instead of 5 separate. I'm working on small labels with variable data that I would like to print on one sheet if possible.
In that case, I would use InDesign instead. Here'a a tutorial using multiple business cards on one sheet: ruclips.net/video/sX1JQ39c3DI/видео.html
@@GDHT, thank you!
You're welcome!
Hello, do you know if there is a way to export all the images as a single PDF with multiple pages?
You could make an action to save each document as PDF, then open all PDFs in Acrobat, and it'll ask if you want to combine into one. Another option would be to have all designs in one document (different artboards), but I think it could be hard for Illustrator to handle that.
Hi Anne, while I try to load variable library, at the download folder I cannot find the CSV file, only XML(*.xml) file type is showing. Any idea what to do?
I would save the file as CSV instead (it sounds like you accidentally saved as XML).
I saved in CSV but illustrator not allowing CSV not XML. Is this the reason I am using illustrator CS6? Any Idea ?
Oh ok, I understand I think! Yes, maybe Illustrator CS6 only allows XML files. That is a bit strange, though, honestly...and surprising!
Can we make single document (single page) with multiple images & text ( multiple records) using Illustrator?
Yes, but I would probably use InDesign for this - then new pages are auto-added. ruclips.net/video/JRfcX-rdXDc/видео.html
When trying to import the csv file, my Illustrator only looks for xml files? How can I request it looks for other file types?
What version are you on? You can try to export as XML from the spreadsheet, then use that doc. Let me know if it works!
when I paste the image location, instead of typed as slash (/) it showed up as arrow as exemple: MacOS SSD ▸ Users ▸ . is it allright or how can I change it to slash?
thanks for the help before.
I think you'll need the slashes. You can probably find and replace with a slash, though.
@@GDHT finally I did this> Right click the image, and click copy image while hold alt to copy the image’s pathname and paste it to the sheets.
anyway thanks for your video so I know how to use variable data 👍🏽🙏🏽💪🏽
@@georgiusradiyan ok great! I’m so glad you got it figured out!
can we name the each filr or image in variable name? like we do in image?
I don't understand what you mean.
Hello, good morning, I am carrying out the process in a MacPro, with MacOs Monterrey, Illustrator 2023 version 26.7.
I do the step by step and when you activate the upload of the file I get a window with Invalid File. Can you help me?
Hmm, I'm not sure why that's happening. This way is the only way I know to get it to work, and it's working for me on a MacPro. Are you using Google Sheets? I'm not sure about troubleshooting it - I'm so sorry!
Thank you for this. However, I am unable to see the CSV option in the Load Variable Library dialogue box. Can you support please?
What program did you use to save the CSV?
@@GDHT Microsoft excel. However, illustrator only shows xml as an option.
I would try from Google Sheets and see if that fixes the issue.
@@GDHT I’ll try that. However I don’t understand how will it show CSV as an option in illustrator though?
I would give it a try. Using Excel has caused some problems for me in the past with this process.
Hi! HQ content ! I’ve got a question, can Illustrator work with “ image variables “ that are vectors instead of png/jpg?
Thank you! I think that would probably work, though I've never tried it personally. Each vector would need to be saved as its own file.
@@GDHT @Carlos Pedraza I've just tried it and you can. It only takes the first artboard of an Ai file, and as you mention, each vector has to be saved separately into the source folder you pull it from. 😎
@@shaped-by-design thank you 🙏
@@shaped-by-design any video tutorial
PNG works fine in variables
But svg not able to do
Awesome! If only there was a way to:
1. Include new paragraph separators. Ctrl-Enter adds a new paragraph within Google Sheets, but then Illustrator says "The incoming variable library is invalid".
2a. Get the text to auto-adjust to the maximum size that fits within the text box. From what I've seen, Illustrator incomprehensibly can't do that.
2b. Failing that, if only there was a way to generate all the versions then let me adjust the font size of one without affecting all the others. (As stated in the video.)
I'm presenting excerpts from book reviews. Some are short, some long.
InDesign has more capabilities with Data Merge, honestly. I'm not sure it can do #1, but it can definitely do #2b.
@@GDHT - Thanks Anne, this is the first video of yours I've seen, but I / we-all love you!
Awww thank you so much!!
when i try to make variable on text box, this text "The filter cannot complete because of a bad parameter error" are showed up. How fix that? Thanks
It sounds like something in your Excel sheet is set up wrong...
@@GDHT thanks for your answer, I know this mistake when I use print merge on coreldraw
@@NizamBagusPrabowo you’re welcome 😊
What about when I'm on the multiples screen e.g. more then 3 artboard with different size running on it.
Have you tried it already? I would think it would still work ok.
@@GDHT Yes I didn't doesn't seems to work. Please assist
it works if you set Variable 1, 2, 3... assigning to different, but a Text1 e. g. does not work where ever the Text1 is used.
it works. I didn't make the object carefully
@@TheWaqaspuri ohhh ok. I'm glad you got it figured out! :)
Hi, it is a very fruitful tutorial. However, i would like to ask why i could not export it as png? Every time i exported it, it become a file which can't be opened. Do you have any suggesstions? Thankyou in advance and have a great day :)
That is really strange - what are your settings for export (other than png)?
@@GDHT i have got the solution, so its happening because of the version of the apps. After i updated to the newest the problem had been resolved, thank you so much☺️☺️
@@ivanywardhana7734 oh ok! I’m so glad you got it figured out!
How to name the files as the name of a variable dataset? ex, I am exporting certificates as jpeg but the names of the jpeg file are not the names of the Name of the Participant. How to do that?
You could save each artboard name as the name of the participant. It's still just as much work, though. I would research "rename files with excel" - there might be something valuable on RUclips for that.
Graphic Design How To That would be of great help. Right now, I am just renaming the files one by one, that is very cumbersome. Thanks for replying.
Search for "Illustrator Variable Data - The EASY way!
" here on YT
I have the error "the income variable library is invalid". I cant fix it.
I would probably try starting over - I haven't come across this error before. If you build the merge exactly like in the video, it should work for you.
same here
@@prjktz make sure it's "Variable1" no space. it happened to me too
Still the same issue, tried everything... someone have any more advice?
I like illustrator but i think this process is way easier in indesign
I would agree...but if you needed vector objects for screen printing or something (and wanted to use Data Merge), InDesign wouldn't work well.
I can't change text and color at a time with variable in illustrator, Example "John smith" a text, I change it with variable to "David Smith". now I want to change "David Smith" color red to green. How can I do this? Please help me, Please , Please , Please ...
I would do two documents, one with red, and one with green. And then just do two merges.
@@GDHT but i would do one document.....!!!!!
Can you put 2 color options in the one document?
what if i dont have internet access and can't use google data sheets feature for variable data
You can use Excel, or any spreadsheet that can be saved as .csv.
@@GDHT thank you very much
@@shaikhghalib4846 you're welcome!
@@GDHT I converted data to csv file format from excel but when csv file imported in illustrator message appeared "incoming variable library is invalid" I checked the variable in excel and illustrator are same
I REALLY NEED IT BADLY
I have just XML instead of CSV ? What to do here ?
I would just open in Excel and save as CSV.
@@GDHT No, In Adobe Illustrator CS6
@@TheWaqaspuri if you don’t have Excel, you can use Google sheets. You can’t make a CSV in Illustrator- you need a spreadsheet application.
@@GDHT Hi again. I'm using data-set, it works good. I m using CS6. I'm having trouble aligning the text in the middle of the text boundary. see this example. so you may understand What I need actually to do in CS6 graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/42030/how-can-i-align-text-in-a-text-area-vertically-in-illustrator (second box)
My things doesnt work well like yours, the variable data is invalid. Can u help me with that?
Sure - can you let me know what part of the video you're getting stuck at (min, sec)?
@@GDHT its stuck when i import the csv
Is your CSV set up exactly like mine?
@@GDHT yup its exactly like yours, fyi i did it on Mac.
@@raihandof did you use excel or google sheets?
You're always great, how do I make the dataset same as variable first name, for e.g. invitation card john.jpg
You’ll need to isolate the “John” part into another cell on the spreadsheet. There are ways to get Google sheets and Excel to do that, I always have to Google things like that.
@@GDHT could you recommend me a youtube tutorial that someone doing the same. OR you can let me know what should I write on first line e.g. data set or variable 0
I would put all file names in your first column, each in its own cell - john.jpg, alice.jpg etc. Then in the 2nd column, write a function that will remove '.jpg' from those. You can search 'Remove Last Character(s) From Right - Excel & Google Sheets' in Google. That will give you just the names. Then you can use those in your merge.
I will try to do that trick,
What is the point of this?
If you have thousands of images and text all set up in a folder and spreadsheet, and you have to make graphics from them, it is a huge time saver!
Thanks, great tutorial! Anyway is it possible to save the file names with the Variable1 rows? So that it becomes “Networking.png”, “Brainstorming.png”, etc?
Thanks again!
You're welcome! Hmm, not that I know of. I found this article about renaming them outside of Illustrator though (Mac only): discussions.apple.com/thread/252204380?sortBy=best