More corel help please

[Bert Kemp]

As most of you know I donate most of my time, labor and materials to Vets and Vet organizations
One of the things I do is engrave anodized dog tags which are attached to the cremation Urn of Fallen Hero's. My problem is I get these long lists of tags to do in an open office doc. When I put the doc in corel draw I can't edit the text the way I want it displayed on the tags. So I have to type everyone over again. Do to my very limited typing abilities this takes me a very long time to do.So is there any way to import the text so I can just edit in corel with out retyping it all. I use x5 but uploaded 9 for you to see my problem. Any help is much appreciated.Dog tags for March 2016 X9.cdr

[William Adams]

Yes, Corel has a mail / data merge feature --- create a template, then import the data into the template.

Alternately, if you could post the file as a .pdf, I could work up an automated typesetting routine which would create a pre-formatted .pdf --- let me know your requirements and I'll work this up gladly, pro bono, one veteran to another.

[Bert Kemp]

Thanks William for your offer, let me try to figure out how to do what you suggested first. I'm not that good in corel when it comes to things like this but this is how I learn. Igonna try to do this templete thing you said . Thanx

Yes, Corel has a mail / data merge feature --- create a template, then import the data into the template.

Alternately, if you could post the file as a .pdf, I could work up an automated typesetting routine which would create a pre-formatted .pdf --- let me know your requirements and I'll work this up gladly, pro bono, one veteran to another.

[Bert Kemp]

I guess Im having trouble understanding this. I receive the list as an open office doc. How do I get the text from the doc into corel so I can edit text font and where the words are in corel.

wait wait wait LOL I think I got it

[Tony Lenkic]

Bert,

Can you post doc. file for us to try what will work.

I'm guessing that if you select all the names in doc file than copy/paste in corel should work.

[Bert Kemp]

I 'm having a lot of trouble copy and paste is what I posted in first file, that won't alow me to edit text. Then I found a way to save as a PDF from corel and that sorts lets me edit but doesn't seem to let me do what I want. Hard to explain but the text is not seperated right and I can only edit sections at a time which then ZI can't aling things right.yikes hard to explain. Now tell me Its an ivalid file to upload doc. weird

Bert,

Can you post doc. file for us to try what will work.

I'm guessing that if you select all the names in doc file than copy/paste in corel should work.

[Tony Lenkic]

Bert,

Often times I copy something to notepad than again copy/paste to corel to get the results I need. Try this and see where it leads you.

[Bert Kemp]

Heres a file I can sort of edit but as you can see its going to be hard to get things in the right font and lined up correctly to fit a dog tagdog tags list editble sort of x9.cdr

I can't seem to separate the name, dates and service, parts are stuck together and I can't get them apart

[Bert Kemp]

ok will try this now thanx I tried that same problem can't separate and edit

Bert,

Often times I copy something to notepad than again copy/paste to corel to get the results I need. Try this and see where it leads you.

[Brian Leavitt]

What I do is as follows:

1: Copy the text from Office
2: Select the Text Tool in Corel
3: Click somewhere in my Corel document with the Text tool (should see the blinking cursor ready for text input)
4: THEN paste the text (Ctrl+V)

I never have any problems doing it this way. Just trying to paste the text in without first starting a text object rarely works correctly for me.

[Bert Kemp]

OK Brian tring this now thanx

I tried this now , I now can move the text around and change the fonts but having trouble lining text up.
doesn't want to center properly and the line spacing is off. I tried the align fuc but nothing seems to work.
I been sitting here 6 hours now trying to make it easier, I could have typed it all out. LOL I need a break getting headach thanx for all the replies and help I was getting close.

What I do is as follows:

1: Copy the text from Office
2: Select the Text Tool in Corel
3: Click somewhere in my Corel document with the Text tool (should see the blinking cursor ready for text input)
4: THEN paste the text (Ctrl+V)

I never have any problems doing it this way. Just trying to paste the text in without first starting a text object rarely works correctly for me.

[Bert Kemp]

update see my last post

[Michael Hunter]

Roy Brewer of Engraving Concepts produced a good video all about using mail merge.
Well worth watching, but the first time or two mail merge is still difficult - you do need to get the hang of it yourself rather than simply following Roy's instructions.

The FIRST thing to do with your file is to save it as simple text (.txt). Almost all other file types include formatting and other stuff which makes life difficult.
Next is to edit the file, making sure each name is on its own line (with no blank lines). Make sure it is saved as .txt!
Now you can try the mail merge function.

[Brian Leavitt]

I don't know what version of Corel you use, but for me (X5, X6, &X7) it asks if I want to maintain fonts and formatting when I paste. I always choose not to (have it set that way by default, now) as the formatting from Office can get screwed up in Corel.

[Kev Williams]

Short version: Corel's merge feature sucks. Period. It's overly complicated, and if you don't put the longest name in first (unless they've fixed it) then any names longer than it will be chopped off.

I have a simple solution for you, Bert: Email me the list of names and the Corel job (I use X4) with one name how you want it laid out, and give me a plate matrix you can use, like 4 across/6 down...

Within a few minutes I'll email you back a DXF file ready to engrave... -- no charge, and any time...

(this is one area where Gravostyle shines )