Coreldraw - Duplication

[Vince Deluccio]

I have a flatbed laser and I have lots of square parts to engrave every day. I usually do them in groups of 50 or so. So I made an acrylic jig to fit the pieces in. All of the parts are engraved with one or two lines of text only. The text on the parts changes from job to job, but is exactly the same for all of the parts in the jig. I'm using the newest version of Coreldraw for the set up. I have the layout of squares from the jig in the page. I'd like to be able to layout the text in one square and have all of the others automatically populate with out performing step and repeat operations every time. I've googled and forumed this to death and can't come up with a solution. Anyone have any ideas? What I'm making is similar to if I was going to engrave a large jig of metal business cards, where the parts are the same, each customer orders many of them, and the text changes from customer to customer.
Thank you!

[Chris J Anderson]

Google nameit and numberit. They are very nice macros that you need to buy, but they are worth every cent. I use them all the time for awards and labels etc.

[Guy Hilliard]

CorelDRAW imposition layout.

There are several videos by Carl Brewer. You don't need to buy anything else it's a native function in CorelDRAW.
Do a search in YouTube.

[Mike Null]

The name is Roy Brewer. here's a link. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCipwFSiWyEBpbair2qtsgSg

[AL Ursich]

I use Corel Draw 12 and make many Fire Tags. I change the name of the FD by going to the beginning of the document and using the find and replace function. I use left justify and adjust each tag to fit.

For your project, I would use centered text function for less fuss later, then make a document with the word "Text" in the center left to right and manually place the word "Text" on your tag. Do this for each tag using copy and paste then move to position. Make that a Master Document and use it as a starting point for each project.

Rename the project and use find and replace to change the name is seconds... I think that is what you wanted?

I am a big user of guide lines too.:D

AL

[Kev Williams]

Wow... I just watched the nameit/numberit video... http://www.hltlasers.com/nameitsuite_all.html
--where has this been all my life?

I gave up trying to figure out how to do this in Corel years ago. It can be done yes, but I don't have time to figure out all the hoops to jump thru. Like, after laying out over 100 2-line names, I found out that the names on the first plate on the list set the default maximum engraving length for all subsequent names.
No, it didn't condense the names, rather, it condensed the engraving like this-
http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/chop.jpg

This was back in Corel 10 days. Probably just a glitch. Only fix I found was to put dummy long text on the first plate. But this and everything else to do with the layout, 'print merge', etc was a complete pain to try and learn. It was faster to just manually type in 100 names than it was to attempt to figure out the problem. I was also using Gravostyle, and learning its variable list and numbering system was a snap compared to Corel's. Has lots of output options and works great, for the most part.

But for Corel, that nameit program is the ultimate in simplicity, even a 61 year old dumbbutt like me can work it just from watching that video. $149 is a bit spendy, but I'm going to buy it for my BIL- Any batch work I have him do, I have to make in Gravostyle beforehand. I'll make back that $149 in MY time saved after 3 jobs!

Thank you Chris! http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/yup.gif

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

If I read this correct, you have a template for 50 pieces and all 50 pieces have XYZ engraved on them on Day 1. On Day 2, CAT is engraved on all 50 pieces. Day 3 has TUB engraved on all 50 pieces. Correct? What you want to look for is how to set up Corel Draw Symbols.

I have Symbol files I set up way back in CD12 and have used them on up to X6. I have not had a need to create new ones, but it appears in my X6 it will be handled in Window, Dockers, Symbol Manager.

All I need to do is edit 1 symbol, and once I complete that edit, all the other symbols will change. You can tell the selected item is a symbol both in your Object Manager Docker (which I think should be open ALL the time!) as well as the select handles are blue.

[Chris J Anderson]

If you set the default text length at the maximum tbat will fit your label, then check the box to.automatically adjust the length, the macro will adjust the text height automatically to suit the length.
Yes its a bit pricey, but will pay for itself quickly if you do a lot of variable text labels.

[Chris J Anderson]

Also have a look at ecut, its barcode function does similar and it costs less but has tons of other features.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Here is an old tutorial that expands upon using Symbol Manager and then adding the Imposition feature that Guy mentioned above if you have a list of names or text to add in addition to your common data. http://www.graphics.com/article-old/symbols-and-imposition-coreldraw

Al, you'll want to look into using Symbol Manager too. It will be a big time-saver for you.

Here's a sample document with 21 Symbols on the page, yet all you need to do is edit 1 "Symbol" for all of them to change. Make sure your Object Manager Docker is open so you can see the difference. The file is saved in CD12 format so all can open it.

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