Variable Printing

Variable printing is a function to automatically substitute text and other content on the poster for printing by using tabular format data.

For example, to substitute telephone numbers automatically, prepare tabular data listing alternative telephone numbers and then complete simple settings in PosterArtist. A set of posters, each with a different telephone number, can be printed.

In addition to text, images can be substituted automatically and ambient light setting can also be changed. By using a tabular data with paths to image files or ambient light setting names entered, images can be automatically substituted according to the tabular data or a set of posters, each suitable for the environment of the place where the poster is posted, can be printed.
For details on ambient light setting, see "Ambient light setting."

About preparing data

Use Excel files (with an ".xls",".xlsx",".xlsm" or ".xlsb" extension) or comma separated value files (with a ".csv" extension) for variable printing.

(1) Field name
In the first row of the tabular data, enter a field name to indicate the data type.

Enter up to 32 characters for the field name.

Do not leave the field name blank and avoid entering only numbers. If the field name is blank, an entry in an unintended cell may be recognized as the field name.

(2) Record
In the second and subsequent rows, enter alternative text data. To substitute images,enter absolute paths to alternative image files. To change ambient light setting, enter ambient light setting names.

Ambient light setting names can be checked in the Ambient Light Setting List dialog box. For details, see "Managing ambient light settings."

PosterArtist reads records of up to 500 rows. Records exceeding the 500th row will be ignored.

Do not use Excel data with merged rows or columns for variable printing. Substitution may not work as expected.

Setting up variable printing

Follow these steps to set up variable printing. In this example, the tabular data below is used to substitute text or images automatically and change ambient light setting.

1. Select Variable Data in the Edit task.
The Variable Data settings panel is displayed.

4. Select the data file and click Open.
The data is read and the variable printing function is activated.
The field names in the read data are registered in the Connected Data list.

When substituting images, select one on the poster.

6. In the Connected Data list, select the field name of the text string to substitute.
The text string is linked to the data, and

is displayed.
To cancel the link, select Unselected in Connected Data.

When substituting images, select the field name of the file paths to the target images.
If the target image is not found, the selected image is replaced with .

7. To align the position of the text of each record for the selected text box, set Text alignment. Select Left, Center, or Right.

%[1][2][3][4]
[1]	-	Text is aligned to the left.
	+	+ is added if the value is 0 or more. Example) 500 → +500
	,	The thousands separator is used. Example) 1600 → 1,600
[2]	0 or more and 100 or less	Specify the minimum number of characters to be output. For instance, if this is set to "10," the minimum number of characters output is for 10 characters whether the text is "abc" (3 characters) or "abcdefghij" (10 characters).
[3]	0 or more and 100 or less	If [4] is an integer value (d), the minimum number of digits is specified. If [4] is a real number (f), the number of digits after the decimal point is specified. Be sure to enter a value with "." (period), such as ".2." E.g.) If ".3" is specified: 5 → 005 (integer value), 500 → 500.000 (real number)
[4]	s	The content is treated as text.
	d	The content is treated as an integer value.
	f	The content is treated as a real number.

E.g.) If "%+.2f" is specified
Tabular data	Substitute to
500	+500.00
1600	+1600.00
25600	+25600.00

[1], [2] and [3] can be omitted.

[Any text] %[1][2][3][4] [Any text]

E.g.) To add "\" before a numeric value
Text format	Tabular data	Substitute to
\%,d	1600	\1,600

9. To change ambient light setting, place a checkmark for Ambient Light Settings, then in the Ambient Light Field list, select the field name indicating the ambient light setting name.

10. To limit the data to be used or specify the printing quantity, click Filter Records to display the Filter Records dialog box. By default, all data will be used in variable printing.

To exclude data from the data to be printed
Remove the checkmark from Print.

To specify the printing quantity
Double-click the Copies of the record. Enter the value directly or click or at right to increase or decrease the value.

12. In Record Number, click < or > to check that the text string or image is replaced with each record.

Even when text is replaced with that in tabular data, settings such as font and text color are not changed.

A text string is replaced in the style of the first character of the text string on the poster.

Starting variable printing

3. When an ambient setting is enabled, in the Print Quality list, select High or Highest.

4. Click Print Records.
The Print Progress dialog box is displayed during printing.
Check the printing status on the Print Progress dialog box or in the PosterArtist status bar.

To print the currently displayed data only, place a checkmark for Current Record Only and click Print Records.

5. To cancel printing, in the Print Progress dialog box, click Cancel Printing.

In variable printing, posters can also be printed with crop marks or without borders. For details, see "Specifying Size and Paper."

Clearing the settings for variable printing

1. Select Variable Data in the Edit task.
The Variable Data settings panel is displayed.

2. Click Disconnect Data to cancel the link between PosterArtist and tabular data.
After the link with tabular data has been canceled, the variable printing settings are no longer valid.