How to use variable data - Adobe Illustrator CC Tutorial

Рет қаралды 147,117

6 жыл бұрын

ATTENTION: Use the newer version because I'm not hosting the converter page anymore!
• Variable data, text an...
In this tutorial I will show you how to import and work with variable text/data using Excel and Adobe Illustrator. In my opinion the best and fastest way.
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CorelDraw version:
• How to use Variable da...
Photoshop tutorials:
• Adobe Photoshop
Illustrator tutorials:
• Adobe Illustrator

Пікірлер: 149

@Kayla-Moon 2 жыл бұрын

This literally saved my life. I followed Adobe's directions to a T and they have nothing about save as or exporting. THANK YOU

@aimableniyibizi8976 5 жыл бұрын

This is great, thanks for the tutorial!

@cenklar 4 жыл бұрын

Great tutorial, you saved me a lot of time, thanks!

@Mickger 4 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! Great video and explanation!

@veronikavrestalova7269 6 жыл бұрын

Amazing, you probably saved me days of life.

@manifestxr 5 жыл бұрын

You saved my time! Thank you so much

@armandocarmona3207 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Helped alot.

@OngVangDesign 6 жыл бұрын

Fantastic work, thanks so much

@rizwanzaman1793 4 жыл бұрын

You just saved my life! thanks!

@decora6260 2 жыл бұрын

Thank You!!! i wanted you to know, this really helping me out. you have no idea how stress i am today. cant say enough Thank You to you sir!

@PrimoTutorials 6 жыл бұрын

The link for the conversion is updated! converter.primographics.nl OR use the 2020 edition that works without converter! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o9ani81jqp29fnU.html You can also check it out in the description!

@coltonfikes9839 6 жыл бұрын

When using the new convertor i keep getting a "variable library is invalid" message. Im doing the same steps that I was doing with the old convertor is there anything that has changed?

@PrimoTutorials 6 жыл бұрын

Hello Colton, I did some minor change in the converter. Please try again and select output as: XML ILLUSTRATOR. Please let me know if it worked for you!

@inhoangquanthietke0286 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you alot! You make my day better.

@PrimoTutorials 6 жыл бұрын

@@inhoangquanthietke0286 Great! Don't forget to subscribe!

@inhoangquanthietke0286 6 жыл бұрын

I did :)

@unnibabu 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks a million! You saved my day

@mrdubesir 2 жыл бұрын

This was awesome! Saved me a million hours (maybe not a million).

@abdullaharafa2118 5 жыл бұрын

you are awesome !!! thank you so much

6 жыл бұрын

Excellent!!!!!!!!! thanks a lot!

@LazyCat2504 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, love it so much

@HussainTabi 4 жыл бұрын

you are truely a life saver..thank you

@AlbrechtSzilvia Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! ❤

@ricardon905 3 жыл бұрын

Brooo saved my life 🙏🏻❤️

@santochan 6 жыл бұрын

Uwowww thank you for the tutorial how to using mail merge in Adobe Ilustrator 😻😻😻👍👍👍

@nope_nah890 5 жыл бұрын

Awesome!

@SamuelFilip 6 жыл бұрын

This is the best!

@indraabdurrahmanwahid8437 2 жыл бұрын

thank you very much sir!!

@ivandimitrijevic6095 3 жыл бұрын

This was incredibly helpful. Is there a way to save the file's title by one of the Varible fields?

@globalhaste 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you !!!!!!!!

@wlad7ouma 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Genius

@usamaarain9947 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks :)

@gazilcher 5 жыл бұрын

This method is great, and I use it regularly, thank you so much! -- BUT when my Excel input data is made up of various numbers (e.g. ... 0086, 0086, 0089 , 0089, 0090 , 0090, F400, F400, F400, F400 , F400, F400 ...), rather than a straight number sequence, I get the "The incoming variable library is invalid" error message. Any advice?

@ahmdouelboayt9703 3 жыл бұрын

thank you tooooooooooooooo much you save my time

@muhammedshahir3714 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you

@BoY27300 3 жыл бұрын

thank you so much

@sudhanshu.shukla 4 жыл бұрын

Lovely! I was using it in PhotoShop but somehow did not use it in Illustrator.

@anynomoose 6 жыл бұрын

This was helpful! Interestingly, I forgot the XML conversion step before I hit "Load Variable Library", but I noticed that the CSV I had was selectable, and I tried it and it just worked. So maybe Illustrator supports CSVs for variable data now? I'd be curious to know if direct CSV import works for anyone else!

@PrimoTutorials 6 жыл бұрын

Zachary Shilton Hi, I will check the latest update. If anything has changed I will be making a new tutorial. Thanks.

@Deansyad1990 5 жыл бұрын

Great Tips! .. Can I check if the XML converter only allows one column of data? cause i actually tried to have 2 to 3 columns of data with different variables just like how you did it in the video but i keep getting invalid variable when i tried to add the xml file in illustrator. Any tips on solving this?

@shaikasif467 5 жыл бұрын

thank u

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

The new version is here! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o9ani81jqp29fnU.html New: Add images as variable No more converter No more invalid library No more errors with special characters.

@sanchamansubba8965 3 жыл бұрын

Lovely.......♥

@karyo11 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks

@MrAgenj3 4 жыл бұрын

mantab bro makasih. good job

@Natasha-rm5zi 5 жыл бұрын

Guys, if you get "the incoming variable library is invalid' error, check how you named your columns. The name must be written in one word ( variable2 instead of variable 2), and match the layer name

@harshil226 Жыл бұрын

To read the image @ is written before the name of the photo variable (my photo variable is named "photos"),so when i made a column for photos "@photos" in Excel it says "function isn't valid", if any solution pls acknowledge me

@Artistram3d1 8 ай бұрын

This worked for me. I had originally put spaces in the column names. Once I took the spaces out, it was good! THANK YOU!

@_konteiner4943 3 жыл бұрын

thanks

@tandemlanguage5494 4 жыл бұрын

Hi Primo Graphics, I love your tutorial and it is helping us a lot. I have a question... how do we put images as variables in illustrator? I tried checking other tutorials but it gets errors... maybe the Path for images.

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

Hi, i did not look into that yet. Might check it out later and make a tutorial.

@johola 4 жыл бұрын

is there a way to automate this over commandline?

@Coolchris416 5 жыл бұрын

I followed the instructions to a T but the files aren't saving out the file name to the right variable. is there a way to adjust his? - Thanks.

@lobos009 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this helpful tutorial. One question I have is how do you make it so that variable2 is the same word? When I make variable2 the same word it does not work. Is there a way to have a second variable that can have duplicate values?

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

Just keep the different names for the variables and copy paste your column in excel. So 2 identical coloumns for 2 variables.

@jeeraliftfitnesslifestyle5196 2 жыл бұрын

How do you go about printing variable numbers with registration marks? I'm having trouble with this. This video has been very helpful so far. Thank you!

@PrimoTutorials 2 жыл бұрын

You could set the registrationmarks in your core file on which you are creating the variable data with? Or generate the marks on all the pdf's with nesting software compatible with your printer

@daisymafubelu4563 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the tutorial. I am using a MacBook Pro computer, I do not have Notepad, any suggestions on what to use to paste the copied text?

@jeromesantos7104 4 жыл бұрын

Adobe Dreamweaver

@hanaflower3185 3 жыл бұрын

Hi, thank you for the tutorial. Is there any way to also apply a different background for each page? So for example: Text 1 - blue color background Text 2 - red color background. Is there any way to generate XML file to tell illustrator ? Thank you 😊

@PrimoTutorials 3 жыл бұрын

You could import a color .jpg as variable. There is a newer video on my channel on variable data and images for illustrator and photoshop as well!

@Rio-by1eh 4 жыл бұрын

After watching this ...i’, going to have a coffee break and 10 more breaks..

@mhmadsharif6551 3 жыл бұрын

it was so helpful thanks, I have a question, can it work with images?

@PrimoTutorials 3 жыл бұрын

Yes check out my other illustrator tutorial for variabel images and text on my channel.

@bonusdeers4271 5 жыл бұрын

Is there a way to then clone that artwork on one document with the changing variable information? We have a large format printer and are hoping to be able to have everything in one document to fit on 52" wide. Maybe a method of cloning the artwork with the variable information still?

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

I use the software that came with my large format printer (printfactory) to setup all the pages to a printable document on 52" or other size media.

@happytreesag487 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome post! How do you print these out on say, Avery labels? The pdf merge creates separate "pages" but if we wanted to print sheets of these labels then how do we do that?

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

You could use printsoftware to nest the pdf pages on you're media.

@happytreesag487 4 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials Awesome I'll look around for some

@crgr83 5 жыл бұрын

You can import CSV file containing variable using variableimporter plugin. So no need to go to any website for conversion.

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

I know, but this isn't a tutorial about variableimporter plugin

@crgr83 5 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials Your tutorial is very good. If we cannot use any plugin we can use your method to manually do everything.

@rajandhiman3003 4 жыл бұрын

what configuration of your computer????

@mynguyen2312 Жыл бұрын

Can I batch all the pages into 1 PDF? As I have more than 200 pages, it takes time if I export separated files then combine them into 1.

@2040igor 5 жыл бұрын

hello, Thanks for the tutorial, i'm using AI cc 2018 and i Im getting the message "The incoming variable library is invalid"

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

Hi. A lot of people seem to get this problem. Make sure you set the name of the variables as header and follow these exact steps. I use this technique a lot and it works for me.

@hungsoide 4 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials I tried and it show the same problem over and over

@TheWaqaspuri 3 жыл бұрын

I want to make different size. but duplicating the first doesn't seems to be shown results from dataset

@JamiltonMacedo 4 жыл бұрын

Spreedsheet made on Google docs does not need convertion, just download as CSV

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

This is the method I used for the new version of this tutorial. You can find it on my channel :)

@ericaluk9272 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much!!! May I ask, I tried to save as JPG file but it doesnt work, is it can only save as PDF/AI files?

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

I dont know for sure. You can try to make an action for "export as... > jpg" in stead of the "save as... > pdf" as described in the video.

@mardinidesign 6 жыл бұрын

thanks brother, but i try it and not worked in Ai 2017 do you know why?

@PrimoTutorials 6 жыл бұрын

Ahmad Mardini can you tell me where you get stuck?

@azmodel 5 жыл бұрын

Is it possible to do this with images? I mean, I have to create several cards with different pictures eachone. Is it possible to do so? Or do I have to do it manually?

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

You can check the new version on my channel. With images...

@yifenchun8309 5 жыл бұрын

hi i am having the same problem "the incoming variable library is invalid". I dont understand the part of sure you set the name of the variables as header. Could you teach me how to set the header?

@yumawanna 5 жыл бұрын

me too im having the exact problem

@soniamozek3085 4 жыл бұрын

the same for me. I can't figure out why

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

Please check the 2020 version on my channel

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

See my channel for new version. All fixed

@ChaBukuBakke 5 жыл бұрын

This didn't work for me, but I have some duplicate data in one of my columns on my spreadsheet. Will this matter? I get the same error everyone else does "variable library is invalid". Also, is it possible to fill data into sets of same-sized boxes on an artboard? Instead of creating new versions of each artboard? Or at least output everything to it's own artboard perhaps?

@sejalwagh8150 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah me too

@AlexGu 4 жыл бұрын

if I want to do the same way but the 40 cards in one illustrator file or in one page so I can print the in one paper

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

You can merge the papers again in acrobat dc.

@AlexGu 4 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials thank you bro.. But I found another way.. Anyway thank you so much for your response

@hakunamatata3520 4 жыл бұрын

@@AlexGu Can you tell us how?

@merajtv1789 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you for you very nice video, but i am facing a little bit problem on this method, when i am doing this a pop[ file comimg on screen and showing the tex " the incoming variable data is invalid" if you find the problem plz help me, i have already subscribed your channel

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

Hi, I still use this method a lot and never get this message anymore. Follow the exact steps, naming the header, converter etc. Must work

@meluislopes Жыл бұрын

and what is the easiest way to create an A4 file that contains all these pdf files exported to export on a single sheet, on as many sheets as needed to print.

@PrimoTutorials Жыл бұрын

There is a tutorial for that on my channel!

@oscarpallaresmedia21 4 жыл бұрын

even thou this works great, its a lot easier to do variable data in InDesign. a lot less steps and less confusing.

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

I know, planning on doing tutorials for InDesign and CorelDraw soon. Both are easier than this.

@theonlywan7966 2 жыл бұрын

hello, I have problem when I tried to load the variable "File not found. check the filename and try again". I follow your step until that load variable file, can you help me?

@PrimoTutorials 2 жыл бұрын

Did you download the variable file as .csv using google sheets? If you did you can store it in a local folder and import it in illustrator at "load variabe library"

@kaspervaleur6132 4 жыл бұрын

What if you want to print the VDP data ? If you have a design with a number from 000001 > 001000 or even higher. I have just done the file but I have to click to the next data set for every print, hmmm.

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

Combine them using acrobat pro or nest it together using printsoftware like printfactory

@locker744 11 ай бұрын

A great tutorial, but when I tried to import the XML file, I got this message "The incoming variable library is invalid".

@PrimoTutorials 11 ай бұрын

Try the newer version on my channel

@barboranemcova6501 5 жыл бұрын

Hi, is it possible to compose more of these data frames in a format A4? You know, because of the printing...

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

I would recommend printing through acrobat and check the page setting, you can set multiple PDF pages on a A4

@barboranemcova6501 5 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials thank for your advice. My next problem is, when i have few words in the excel with letters from my extended latin (such as á, ě, š - it takes just a, e, s,...), the xml saves it, but when i try to put it in Illustrator, it writes "librabry is invalid". Is there any possibility to change it?

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

I havent figured that out yet, sorry.

@barboranemcova6501 5 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials anyway, thank you for your help! i made it in indesign at was without any problem :)

@arvincunanan258 11 ай бұрын

How do you get those codes to be the file name?

@PrimoTutorials 11 ай бұрын

Not possible

@nobell2468 5 жыл бұрын

Hi Mate, I got stuck when I wan to load the variable. The error message is "the incoming variable library is invalid." do you know how to fix it? I think because when I save the XML file, then it need to be open using internet explorer but I can't use internet explorer more so is there anyway to save the xml file and can be load on AI? Thanks!

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

Hi, I noticed some people trying to rush through it and skip small but important steps. Follow exact steps including naming the header the same as your variables and be careful with characters like '&'. Then it must work for you. Good luck.

@nobell2468 5 жыл бұрын

@@PrimoTutorials Thanks! It works, I didn't notice if header on excel must same with variable name because at the first time I just copying you. Thanks for the tutorial!

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

@@nobell2468 no problem, dont forget to subscribe!

@phananh354 9 ай бұрын

i'd done exaclty your clip but my file can't save as PDF? How can i fix it

@PrimoTutorials 9 ай бұрын

Try the newer tutorial on my channel

@pokegaiyui 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! This saved me tons of time to automate my labeling for my coffee roasting business! Reach out to me and I would love to send you a bag of fresh roasted coffee on me for this awesome video!

@PrimoTutorials 2 жыл бұрын

Im in Europe haha would cost you a lot to ship. Thanks for the offer tough.

@waynewoowayryung1966 5 жыл бұрын

Hay man, those this work on mac?

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

I have never tried honestly, but I cant imagine any reason why it shouldn't work!

@waynewoowayryung1966 5 жыл бұрын

I followed your steps by using my mac. But when I try to load the xml file, Adobe Illustrator says “The incoming variable library is invalid.”

@waynewoowayryung1966 5 жыл бұрын

Please, I really need help here and I’m really tired of typing the numbering one by one.

@PrimoTutorials 5 жыл бұрын

Did you set the converter in the right way?

@waynewoowayryung1966 5 жыл бұрын

Primo Graphics Can I know what’s the right way to set it?

@erkutyurtlu 4 жыл бұрын

"the incoming variable library is invalid". :(:(:(::(:(:(:(

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

Sorry to hear. New version coming soon. This problem will be solved!

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

Problem is solved in the new version on my channel

@damianengland4204 5 жыл бұрын

Doesn't work, I tried step by step everything you did, but i keep on getting the incoming variable is invalid error in illustrator. All the text is correct and isn't spaced. Doesn't work.

@PrimoTutorials 4 жыл бұрын

Please use the new version. All common problems are solved!