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Tech sheet: Introducing Variable data merge
Variable Data Merge reads a text file containing information, then uses that information to add text and
pictures to a PDF. Text is added as if by the Stick On Text And Numbers function, and pictures are entire
PDF pages, as if added by Stick On PDF Pages. The text file is called a “data source”.
There are two ways to use Variable Data Merge.
1. With a master document. The master document is copied again and again, and each copy has
different text or pictures added from the data source. This is similar to Data Merge/Mail Merge
functions in many apps, such as Microsoft Word® and Adobe InDesign®.
2. With a normal document, which is not duplicated. Instead, the data source is used to add information
to pages in the document. This is like using Stick On Text And Numbers/Stick On PDF Pages, but
sticking different text or images on each page of the document (or each group of pages).
The text file contains “columns” of information, with a heading. The columns are separated by commas,
tabs, or semi-colons (;). Consider this file:
Name,Company Name,State,Logo number
Robert Smith,Printing Wins Inc, New York,2
Lisa Roberts,,California
"Phillipa Thompson, Jr.",Images Matter,Mass,1
This uses commas to show these rows and columns
Name
Company Name
State
Logo number
Robert Smith
Printing Wins Inc
New York
2
Lisa Roberts
California
Phillipa Thompson, Jr.
Images Matter
Mass
1
There are four lines in this file. The first line has the names of the columns. Column 1 is Name, Column 2 is
Company Name, Column 3 is State and Column 4 is Logo number.
The other lines show three “records”. You can see a few points of interest: Lisa Roberts has no company
name, so you see two commas together (,,), and no Logo number. Phillipa Thompson, Jr. has a name
containing a comma, so the entire name is put in straight quotes as "Phillipa Thompson, Jr."
Files like this are commonly exported from spreadsheet apps. Now, we choose Variable Data Merge.
We first have to choose whether we have a
master document or not. If we have a master
document, it is usually just one page, but it
might be more than one, for example front
and back of a sheet. The entire document is
the master, and if you choose “Single page
master” the current document must have
only one page. This is a simpler case and
used to check the input.
If you choose Not a master document you
need to choose how many pages in the
current document are used for each record.
The usual value is 1. You can choose
whether an incorrect number of pages is an
error.
Next you choose the data source file.
You say what separator and encoding to use.
If not sure, you may have to experiment, but
look closely at the Data source info, which
should show the columns you wanted.
Now you need to choose where the
information is to be added to your
document. You must add one or more
“fields”.
If the fields are simple text, you will
choose the font, size, position, colour etc.
for the text each time the information is
added. To add more than one piece of
text together, see Text blocks, below.
If the fields are pictures you must
prepare a single PDF with pages
containing the pictures to be added.
The data contains a simple number
giving the page number to add.
Text blocks
Text blocks are a powerful feature of Variable data merge which allow you to create a block of text for
applications such as mailing labels, with features including
• Preview of the block showing exactly how a record will appear
• Combine columns onto a single line
• If a line would be blank, optionally close up the gap
• Add extra text mixed with the columns
To show this we take a typical contact spreadsheet with columns Account, Title, First name, Last name,
Address 1, Address 2, Address 3, Zip code. After defining the source, we go to the Variable data 3 – adding
fields dialog and click Add text block.
On the Add text block dialog you will choose a block size, here 3 x 2 inches. The current page (in Acrobat
only) will show a red box where the block is to be added. We type in the required offset on the page. We
choose a font and size. Now we click Text block layout.
The text block has as many elements as you
need. To get started it has added the
Account column, but we want most of the
columns.
You can have multiple text blocks, and mix them with simple text and picture fields too.
So we pull down the “Account” field
and choose [Add all columns].
We now have an element for each of
the columns.
We now adjust the columns as needed.
• To remove the account number,
click Select action at the right
and select Delete.
• For First name and Last name,
we click Same line to run the
name onto one line
• For Address 1, Address 2 and
Address 3 we click Close gap if
blank to remove blank address
lines.
The new preview will appear.
