Doing a Print Merge in CorelDraw of 20 Lines Per Plate Using an Excel File

Create a page in CorelDraw that is 6.0 by 3.0. You will notice that I have places some descriptive text at the top of the page (2).

Here is the file my dealer got from their customer. There are 20 columns of names. each Column needs to have a descriptive name. In this case it is NAM01 and so forth.
NOTE: remember that CorelDraw will not condense names. Thus you need to figure out how many letters you can get on a line without the line flowing past the page margins (you could do an envelope so maybe I will address that in another tutorial). So pick your font size and figure out how many characters can go on a line and tell the customer to work within these parameters.

Here is the excel file in close up view. Notice that the first cell has the identifier text NAM01 (1). The text is in the fields below. The next column has the next identifier NAM002 (3). It does not have be NAM01 it can be any descriptive name that you want.
Note: Once the file has been checked close it down.

Got to File (1) | Print Merge (2) | Create/Load Merge Fields (3).

Select “Import text from a file or an ODBC data source” (1). Click next (2)

Select “ODBC Data Source” and then select “Select ODBC Data Source”

First click on the “Machine Data Source” tab (1). Next double click on the “Excel Files” name (2).

Select the directory where the file is (1). In this case My Documents. Next double click on the file name (2) in this case PLTALL.xls. Or click once and click “Ok”. Click next.

The PTALL file is selected (1). The Column window shows the 20 columns that where in excel that are being imported into Corel (2). Select Ok (3).

Select Next (1)

You can see that the columns are imported (1). The field type is text (2). Click Next (1).

Here is the text displayed in the Merge Wizard. You can see the merge fields listed on the top (1). The names are all listed in the body (2). Note: you can spell check or change any of the names here if you want. You can also choose not to bring in a name by unchecking the name name (3). Click Next (4).

Select Finish (1). This will end the wizard.

The print merge toolbar becomes active. We now need to start inserting our merge fields. Our Name field is NAM01 and we are going to insert it onto the CorelDraw document that we created using the insert command (1).

When you insert a merge field the field takes the name of the field that was created originally in Excel. This is why it is always advisable to make sure that you chose a name that is descriptive of the data that is coming in. For example if you where bringing in data that related to a position in a company such as sales use the field identifier name “Company Position”. This way you know what is in the field.

Select all the 10 lines of text and make text left justified. Because there are two columns here I am going to make the lines left justified. If I was doing only one column I would probably just leave it at center justified.

I have placed a .25 inch margin on the plate using guidelines. Place the 10 lines somewhat like I have them. Now place the top line – Name 01 at the edge of the top guideline (1) and the bottom line – Name 10 at the edge of the bottom guideline (2). Also make sure that each line is touching the left guideline (turn on “snap to guideline”).

Select all your text. We are going to left justify the text. After that we will be aligning it and than distribute it

Select Arrange (1) | Align and Distribute (2) | Align and Distribute (3).

Select “Align (1) and than “left (2). Click “Apply (3). This will left justify all the text.

Select the Distribute Tab (1). Next select Center (2). We are now going to evenly distribute the 10 select lines evenly. I am using the top and the bottom lines as the extent of where this distribution is going to be. Click Apply (3). You changes will take place and the box stays open. Click Close (4)

Here is our finished layout. I have 10 names in the first column and 10 names in the second column. I am now ready to do my merge.

Select Merge to New Document (1) if you are a user of X4 or X5. If you are a user of X3 or less select Print in the print merge toolbar (2) and proceed to the imposition layout in the print menu located later in this tutorial.

CorelDraw will than proceed to create a new document called printmerge1 that is comprised of a number of pages. each page has a new set of names on it. In this case each new page has 20 new names on each page. If we only had one merge field than we would only have one new name per page.

You can see from the number of pages that I have created 268 pages (1). Each page created has 20 names. Thus I have a total of 286 x 20 names which means I have a total of 5720 names.

Some of the lines are to long so they need to be condensed. You can select each line individually and condense each one but the problem is you will get lines that will look different from each other.

Select VIEW (1) | SNAP TO GUIDELINES (2)

Some of the lines are to long so they need to be condensed. You can select each line individually and condense each one but the problem is you will get lines that will look different from each other.

If we condense the lines that are going past the guidelines than we end up with lines that look different than the non condensed lines. It is thus better to condense them together

Now we need to select all the text in the left column. Next click on the right middle selection handle (1) – green arrow and while holding down the mouse button drag left (red line). With the snap to guidelines on the text will snap to the guideline.

You can see that now each line in each column is justified the same. The text looks a lot better now.

Select File (1) Print (2).

Select Your Laser (1)

Select Your Page Size which in this case is 24 by 12.

Select the Layout tab (1). In Versions older the layout table is right beside the General Tab. Than select Edit (2).

The imposition command allows us to take our 286 pages and group them into bigger pages. Thus we can do more than one plate at a time. In this case my big plate is 24 by 12 which I setup in my print setup for my laser or sublimation printer. Now I am going to put a bunch of 6 by 3′s on a 24 by 12 inch plate. If I divide this number I will get 4 across (4 x 6 = 24) and 4 down (4 x 3 = 12). Thus I can get 16 plates per multiple. You can see from my screen shot I have 16 plates. Note: Make sure that the numbers are exact if you use to many plates they will fit on the big plate but make them smaller.

To preview the job click on the “Document Preview” (1)

You can see that I have 16 plats per page. Note: for this example I did not condense all the names on the pages. I will let my dealer do that. Select the check mark (1).

Select Print to send the job to your laser or you sublimation printer. Note: Sure is nice I did not have to type in 5700 names. Sure speeds up this job.