CorelDraw X4 Review Part 4

Print Merge in CorelDraw X4

If you have been following my columns for the last number of years you know that I have preached the use of the print merge function. As far as I am concerned the one technique that most CorelDraw users fail to utilize is the print merge function. Personally I refuse to do an order for anyone unless they supply the names of everyone in a text file. Not only is it a pain in the butt when you have to type in each name, but you also have to spell check each one of those names. In some cases it takes longer to do the text input than it does to do the actual job.
One of the other big issues for a lot of us is that a lot of the people’s names are not names that we are use to spelling. Heck, even some of the standard names that we think of are spelled a number of different ways. This can create a couple of problems. One problem is we cannot rely on our knowledge of a name. My sister is a prime example. She spells her name Tiina not Tina. And trust me if you do not spell it right there can be grief bestowed on you very quickly. The last thing you want is an irate customer coming in at the last moment complaining that you spelled people’s names wrong. If you let your customer supply you with the names than any spelling error are their fault not yours.
Another reason that I like the print merge function is that it makes it easier to input a series of text. Traditionally in CorelDraw when we create a multiple we create a series of plates all with the same information duplicated across in a series of plates. We then have to go in and edit each plate changing the names in each plate individually. This is an acceptable way but introduces a lot of extra keystrokes. Extra keystrokes means more time which costs money. In this day and age labor has become one of our main costs in production. If we can save time ultimately this will save us money.

The print merge in CorelDraw was over hauled in Version 10 to be more of a wizard. This CorelDraw wizard took you through the steps of creating the print merge. The wizard has been tweaked a little over the last 3 versions. However a few nagging problems remained. The first was not knowing the data type of the merge field we were creating. Typically this field was text but Corel will also create a serial number for you and it is nice to know which field this is. Secondly and most importantly is once the merge is created we cannot alter any of the data in terms of position or condensing. It is the lack of condensing that has created a lot of issues for me when it comes to the merge function.
For example as we know the one main problem with CorelDraw is that it does not autocondense the same way a traditional engraving program does. This means that if we have a name that is a lot longer than our standard name it may print off the plate. This is not acceptable as any part of the name that falls outside the plate will not be engraved. This means that we will have a wasted plate. It would be nice to be able to condense these long names so that we would not have a wasted plate.

Print Merge in X4

Taking in these concerns that we expressed above Corel has made some good modifications to the print merge function in CorelDraw X4. Let us take you through a standard merge and see the changes that have been made.

Figure 1 shows a plate that I have created in CorelDraw. This plate is 1 by 3 in size and consists of two lines. These lines will appear in each plate that I create. The space that I have in the middle will be occupied by the merged line of text, which in this case will be a name.

Figure 1

To initiate a merge in CorelDraw we need to go to FILE | PRINT MERGE | CREATE/LOAD MERGE FIELD as per figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows that we are presented with the opening screen of our merge wizard. We will first review a merge that we create. If we are creating our own merge text than we need to leave the wizard as it is in Figure 3 and click the “Next” button.

Figure 3

Figure 4 shows us the next window that we are presented with. In this window we need to create the fields that will hold the data that we create. In the case of this example we are creating one merge field so we need to create one field. I like to use a descriptive name when I am creating the field.  In this example I have used the word “Name” because I am creating a merge field of names. If it was a company position that I was creating such as “Salesperson” than I probably call it “Position”. First we need to type in the word “Name” into the “Text Field” as per the blue box in Figure 4.

Figure 4

Once the name has been typed in we need to click on the “Add” button as per figure 4. This will populate the middle window of our window as per the blue box in Figure 5. As you can see we can add a number of merge fields if we want to our merge wizard. Figure 5 also indicates that the Field Type is “Text”. Click the “Next” button to proceed to our next window.

Figure 5

Figure 6 shows that I can type in whatever data that I want in each field.  After you are finished typing in your data into each field press the “Enter” button to create a new record. Figure 6 shows us that I have created 8 records in my “Name” field.

Figure 6

Once you are done you can lick the “Next” button and then the “Finished” button. This will end the print merge wizard in terms of our data input. Figure 7 shows us that we have new tool bar that presents itself in CorelDraw. To insert a “Merge” field into CorelDraw requires that all we click on the “Insert” button as per the blue box in Figure 7. What is different in X4 versus previous versions of CorelDraw is that when you click on the “insert” button the field is automatically inserted and you do not have to deactivate the insert button.

FIgure 7

Figure 8 shows the field inserted into CorelDraw. You will notice that the field is called “Name” as that was the identifier that we used when we created the field.

Figure 8

Once the field has been inserted we can than change the font, text size and color as we see fit. Figure 9 shows that I have increased the font size and changed the font to Times Roman.

Figure 9

Once you have created your setup you can click on the “Print” button – green box in Figure 7. This will activate the print dialogue box. From this dialogue box we can then select the “Layout” Tab. From within this menu we can create out multiple plates via the imposition command.  To access this command click on the “edit” button located at the bottom right hand corner of the command window – see the red box in figure 10.

Figure 10

Within the imposition command we can tell the printer driver how many plates to place on the multiple. In this example we have used 8 by 12 –see the red box in Figure 11. For a more detailed discussion see my previous article on the imposition command.

Figure 11

Using the Merge to New Document

The one new important change in the print merge function is the “Merge to New Document”. This command is found in the merge toolbar as per the red box in Figure 7. As I mentioned in my introduction the problem with using the print merge is controlling the individual jobs after you have created the merge. Traditionally once the merge was done any “tweaking” of the job could not be done. Well X4 has solved this problem for us. Create the template job in Corel as you normally would. Next create your text as you would by using the print merge wizard.

Insert your print merge field as we did in Figure 9. Change the text, height and whatever attributes that you want. Once this is done you can click on the “Merge to new document” as per the red box in figure 7. Figure 12 shows us that CorelDraw will create a different page for each name that we import.

Figure 12

You will notice from Figure 12 that Page one has my name listed. If you go back and check out figure 6 you will notice that my name is also listed first. Figure 13 shows page 4. Check out figure 6 you will notice that the name is the same.

Figure 13

With all of the multiple plates on their own pages we can go in and resize the text, condense our text or whatever we want. Figure 14 shows our text increased in size and condensed. Slick!

Figure 14

To create our multiple plates all we need to do is to go to the print menu under FILE and use the imposition command. Note: I have typically used the label program in conjunction with the print merge function. This is fine and is still the way I do multiples when I am working with standard sizes of material.
Note: Although I have yet to reach this limit the limit for the number of pages that can be created in CorelDraw is 999. Thus if your multiple is going to be bigger than 999 names you will need to break up your job.

For years I have used the print merge function to create multiple plates and work with customer supplied text. It has saved me so much time. However when it came to people with long names it required me to do them as a separate job. This was done so that I could condense their names. Condensing these names allowed for their names to fit on the plate and allowed me to create the plate properly. The changes in X4 have eliminated the need to do these longer names in a separate job.  Mind you if Corel could condense …………..

The print merge function is a very powerful tool that is at your disposal. I have talked about this tool before and cannot stress the need to utilize this tool. It makes inputting a string of names into a job a lot easier. Also you can take a customer supplied list of names and have that list come in automatically and populate your job. This technique can save you so much time. The revised X4 print merge function has added a couple of important “tweaks” to the print merge wizard. The ability to condense individual lines on plates is an important feature and one that should convince you to maybe upgrade your Corel to X4