Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate them.
step,
Yes, Windows 7 and 8 Creator 9.1.0 and Creator 8.0.20 No FusionPro Server license
Can something similar be done in Creator 9.1.0? I'll check to see if we can upgrade to the newest Creator (I'm not one of the FP users, I'm a designer).
The randomly colored border/fill ends up on the final print? Why does it do that?
Yes, when I first started I was baffled as to why they had set things up like this. As for the workflow you mentioned, the issue is that there are 15 designers who send out about 300-400 proofs (not counting revisions) each month. The company only owns 3 licenses of FP and only a few more licensed Acrobat Pros, but the real problem would be the amount of extra time that would add to the proofing process. Yes, the proofs we send aren't completely accurate but they are pretty close. Also keep in mind that 90 percent of the VD is simply a variable recipient's name followed by a line break and a static message. The placeholder name used in the design is something long like "Jonathan and Angela-Marie Williamson" or "Friends and Future Neighbors." I do not think, though I am not sure, that the setup guys are dealing with a lot of overflowed text frames. (see attached files for some idea of what we are doing. The file ending in VD.pdf is what the word doc looks like. The forum doesn't support attaching word docs.)
As for the VBA code, I'm somewhat reluctant to post this as it's quite a bit of code and without the interface pieces (which get saved internally through VBA), much of it won't make sense.
Going directly to a tagged text resource file is partly what I'm hoping to accomplish. I'm realizing that just to further this conversation, I need to learn a few of the FusionPro basics. Mainly, how do these text resource files attach to the template? Would these text files also contain the x/y and width/height properties of the text frame themselves?
Dan,
We are married to CorelDraw. We use a lot of Excel data in our designs and CorelDraw plays nicer with Excel than InDesign does. Also, we have so much art already setup in Corel, switching now would be a lot of work. I would fully support doing away with Corel but currently it is an unmovable object.
As for automating this being a difficult undertaking, I fully appreciate this fact. Take a look at the attachments for a better idea of the kind of VD I am working with. It's pretty simple (I explain a little more in my response to Step, above).
As for now, I will educate myself with some of the links in Dan's signature and I'll talk to the prepress guys a little more. Knowing that this may be possible is a big step and you've both given me some things I can share with management. THANKS. Vicki Westapher Cordera Sept 2015 VD.pdf Vicki Westapher Cordera Sept 2015 No Data.pdf Vicki Westapher Cordera Sept 2015 For Show.pdf