Support
Data
Data can range from a simple, consecutive number through to the complex mashing of data, images, barcodes and evaluations. For jobs that contain data, getting it correct from the start is a key difference between a smooth flowing job and a nightmare. Quite often, the requirements of the data will dictate the artwork, and as such, the data requirements should be one of the first things that is established.
If you're new at this, don't panic. It's a new way of printing and requires a slightly new way of thinking about projects. If you have any questions, don't heistate to get into contact with us to discuss your project and the best way to go about achieving it. What might appear to be a daunting amount of work may, in fact, be quite simple with a bit of pre-planning.
Specification Sheets
We have available a detailed specification manual for download. This contains both artwork and data requirements in one file.
Even if you are just producing data for us, we still highly recommend the entire artwork and data document as it provides an overall view of the production process that will assist with the data planning process.
Artwork & Data Requirement Manual
Formats Accepted
There's a huge range of standard and proprietry data fomats out there and because there's so many of them, we can't hope to accept them all. Because of this, we restrict the formats we accept to a few common formats that should cover what almost any software will output.
We accept data in the following formats:
- Microsoft Excel (*.xls, *.xlsx)
- OpenDocument Spreadsheet (*.ods)
- Comma Delimited Text (*.csv)
- Tab Delimited Text (*.txt)
HowTo Videos
Click here for a quick note about the videos.
Sample Downloads
ConsecutiveNumbering.xls
VariableImageData.xls
It's easy to provide an artwork template, but for data? Not so easy. The thing about variable data is that, well, it tends to be variable in it's layout and needs. So instead of providing a set of templates with the likelyhood of none of them meeting your requirements, we've decided to put together a set of videos to assist you to create your data. A lot of this information is also in the Data Specifications document available for download just above.
The software we use in the video is LibreOffice, a free office suite available for a wide range of platforms. Don't feel like you need to use that if you have preference for another package (Microsoft Excel, for example). We use it in this video because that's what we use in the pre-production department and for those of you that just need to do a little of of data, did I mention that it's free? LibreOffice is available for download here.
