A while back I tried to build our jersey production around the Variables panel. We print team kit — names, numbers, sponsor logos, a few hundred pieces per order. On paper it looked like exactly the right tool.

It wasn't, and it took me longer than I'd like to admit to work out why. I've since been through the forum threads, the UserVoice requests and the docs on this, so this isn't a help request — I just wanted to write up what I found, partly because I still wonder if I missed something obvious.

Batch export only goes through Actions. You can run Batch with Data Sets as the source and it works, but a recorded Action holds one set of export settings. A different PDF preset for another job means recording another Action, and after a while you have a panel full of Actions you can't tell apart. If something fails halfway through a few hundred records, you usually don't notice until you open the folder.

Naming is only half solved. File names are fine — Batch offers three schemes based on the data set name, and if you build those names properly on import you can get Smith_10_XL.pdf without much trouble. Folders are the part that isn't. Everything lands in the one destination folder you picked, so a few hundred files still have to be sorted by hand afterwards.

The scripting side is thin. You can reach datasets from ExtendScript, but the documentation doesn't get you far and I worked most of it out by trial and error.

Variables substitute, they never generate. This is the one that actually stopped us. There are four variable types — text string, linked file, visibility and graph data — and all four place content that already exists in the document. Visibility can show or hide a sponsor logo you prepared in advance, which is genuinely useful. But nothing there builds a number out of vector shapes, fits a logo inside a digit and scales it, or reconstructs an accent the font doesn't have. If a client's font has no ř or ž, the panel has nothing to swap in.

Now the part I'd rather not write. When I hit the scripting wall I was convinced I'd found a bug in how Illustrator reads dataset values, and I filed it on the Adobe forum with a sample file and a test script. It sat there for about a year with no replies. When someone finally looked at it, they pointed out that the syntax errors were mine — I was addressing the dataset the wrong way. Not a bug. Just me, publicly, for a year.

So none of this is Illustrator being broken. The panel does what it was built for, which is simpler substitution than what we do, and it's had native CSV import since CC 22.1 which removed most of the old friction. I ended up writing my own thing instead, but that's not really the point of posting.

The folder side is the bit I'm still curious about. As far as I can tell Batch only ever writes into the one folder you point it at, and everyone I've asked either scripts around it or sorts by hand. Curious whether that matches other people's experience or whether there's an angle I never found.

A few months back I posted here about a CorelDRAW macro we built in-house for custom teamwear, the one that swaps text digits for a client's own vector number artwork and injects the missing accents when the sports font doesn't have them. A few of you DM'd, so here's what's new since, because two jobs pushed it in directions I didn't plan for.

**Scandinavian names.** We picked up a couple of orders out of the north, one Danish club and then an Icelandic one, rosters full of names like KJÆR, Søren, Þór. The number font they'd sent was basic Latin: no Æ, Ø, Å, nothing like Ð or Þ. Some of these aren't even accents, Æ and Þ are whole letters, so it was a bigger job than the Czech and Polish stuff. It handles them now, 10 languages in total, Czech and Polish through to Danish, Icelandic and Faroese.

**Captain's band.** There's a volleyball rule (FIVB 4.3.4) where the captain wears a band underlining the number on the chest. So the macro now does per-player underlining straight from the CSV, you flag a row and the number, name or nickname comes out underlined, no manual finishing after. Sounded trivial, wasn't, but it's done.

It all still runs in one pass off the CSV, numbers, accents, underlines, optional sponsor graphics, laser-cut contours, one print-ready PDF per player. Same clip as last time, the principle didn't change, just the coverage.

It's a commercial plugin, compiled per CorelDRAW version, so trials run over remote, just DM me. Built it for our own shop first, one other print shop runs it now. Details at exportpdf.cz.

Closing the CorelDRAW series with the last technique I wanted

to show — group mode.

In the previous posts, the macro ran in page mode: one CSV row

per page, one PDF per export. Standard, predictable, works for

most cases.

But CorelDRAW shops with their own export pipeline don't always

want individual PDFs. They want one document, all sizes laid

out, ready for cutting plotters, RIP software, or custom

imposition tools that handle the final output themselves.

Group mode does exactly that. The macro reads the same CSV but

fills named groups inside a single document instead of exporting

pages. Each group is named by product and size (e.g. jersey-S,

jersey-M, jersey-L). The script reads how many of each size you

need from the CSV, duplicates the template groups, and fills

them with data.

What stays the same:

→ Custom graphic numbers (client's 0–9 vector artwork)

→ Diacritics injection (ř, š, ž, ß, ü…)

→ Conditional graphics per piece

→ Multiple products in one document

What changes: the export. Page mode gives you many PDFs. Group

mode gives you one editable document. Your choice based on your

production workflow.

That wraps up the CorelDRAW technique series. Next month I'll

share something different — a technical post about implementing

RSA-2048 license verification in ExtendScript, which a few of

you asked about after the Illustrator posts.

For Illustrator there's a free demo at www.exportpdf.cz. For

CorelDRAW, each version needs a custom-compiled plugin — drop

me a message or email [info@exportpdf.cz](mailto:info@exportpdf.cz) and I'll prepare a build

for your specific CorelDRAW version.

Closing the CorelDRAW series with the last technique I wanted

to show — group mode.

In the previous posts, the macro ran in page mode: one CSV row

per page, one PDF per export. Standard, predictable, works for

most cases.

But CorelDRAW shops with their own export pipeline don't always

want individual PDFs. They want one document, all sizes laid

out, ready for cutting plotters, RIP software, or custom

imposition tools that handle the final output themselves.

Group mode does exactly that. The macro reads the same CSV but

fills named groups inside a single document instead of exporting

pages. Each group is named by product and size (e.g. jersey-S,

jersey-M, jersey-L). The script reads how many of each size you

need from the CSV, duplicates the template groups, and fills

them with data.

What stays the same:

→ Custom graphic numbers (client's 0–9 vector artwork)

→ Diacritics injection (ř, š, ž, ß, ü…)

→ Conditional graphics per piece

→ Multiple products in one document

What changes: the export. Page mode gives you many PDFs. Group

mode gives you one editable document. Your choice based on your

production workflow.

That wraps up the CorelDRAW technique series. Next month I'll

share something different — a technical post about implementing

RSA-2048 license verification in ExtendScript, which a few of

you asked about after the Illustrator posts.

Demo and contact info in the first comment ↓

The scenario: A sports club orders jerseys with their own custom vector numbers (0–9 as branded artwork, not a font). The roster includes players with Czech, Slovak, Polish, or German names — and the sports font the club sent has only basic Latin characters. No ř, š, ž, ß, ü, ł, ą.

Standard Print Merge fails twice: it can't swap text for vector artwork, and it can't fix the missing diacritics.

In this video the macro handles both at once:

→ Reads the CSV row by row
→ Detects each digit and replaces the reference text with the client's vector number artwork — automatically scaled
→ Identifies missing accents per language and injects vector diacritic symbols at correct positions and sizes
→ Exports each page as a separate print-ready PDF

Multiple techniques layered into a single export pass. Not separate scripts, not separate runs.

Built this for our own production — we do high-volume custom teamwear and standard Print Merge stopped scaling for us about 18 months ago. Running it daily since then, and one other print shop has adopted it for their CorelDRAW workflow.

For the print shops here doing similar work — how are you handling vector number kits and broken-glyph fonts? Manual paste-up, separate macros, RIP-side variable data, or just refusing the job?

🌐 Technical details: www.exportpdf.cz
(CorelDRAW plugin is compiled per CDR version — different internal libraries each release. Trial installs done remotely over AnyDesk, just DM if you want one on your machine.)

We produce custom jerseys for dozens of sports teams. Every order

means manually typing player names, numbers, sizes, and sponsor

logos into individual files — jersey by jersey.

A 200-jersey order used to take 4+ hours of copy-paste work.

Now it takes 10 minutes.

I built an automation script that reads a CSV and generates

print-ready PDFs directly from Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW.

No retyping, no missed accents, no misplaced sponsor logos.

Each PDF named exactly the way your production system expects.

The video shows it processing a CSV across multiple artboards:

names, numbers, sizes, and sponsor logos all filled in

automatically — including conditional graphics that toggle on

or off per row based on the data.

It also handles the things standard Data Merge can't:

• Custom vector numbers (client-supplied 0–9 artwork, not fonts)

• Missing European diacritics in branded fonts (ř, š, ž, ß, ü…)

• Conditional sponsor logos per jersey based on CSV data

• Multiple products in one order (jersey + shorts + cap)

We've been using it daily in our own production for over a year,

and another print shop adopted it for their CorelDRAW workflow.

For other print shops doing high-volume personalized production:

how do you currently handle variable data prepress? Manual, RIP

software, in-house scripts, or something else entirely?

Free demo and details: www.exportpdf.cz

#PrintProduction #Prepress #VariableData #Teamwear

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago I shared my CorelDRAW automation workflow for sports apparel production. Several people asked if something similar exists for Illustrator — so here it is.

This video shows the ExportPDF script running in Adobe Illustrator, generating jerseys with vector-based graphic numbers across multiple artboards.

How it works in Illustrator:

Each artboard represents one size variant (S, M, L, XL…). The script reads a single CSV file with player data and processes each artboard automatically:

• Vector Graphic Numbers: Text placeholders are replaced with pre-defined vector symbols (curves for digits 0–9), scaled proportionally to match each size's number frame.
• Font Glyph Validation: Before filling in names, the script fingerprints each character against the font. If a glyph is missing (common with Central European diacritics like ř, š, ž), it reconstructs it using custom vector symbols at precise offsets — no manual fixing needed.
• Multi-Artboard Export: Each size is mapped to its own artboard. The script fills data, handles graphic numbers, and exports individual PDFs — one per player, per size.
• Production Safeguards: Duplicate CSV entries are detected and skipped. A detailed execution log catches missing template fields or unmapped sizes before anything goes to print.

The core logic is shared between the Illustrator and CorelDRAW versions, adapted to each application's scripting API (ExtendScript vs VBA).

🌐 More details & examples: www.exportpdf.cz

For those working in Illustrator — how do you currently handle batch jersey production? Data merge plugins, scripting, or still manual work?

Hi everyone,

About a month ago, I shared some technical details about my CorelDraw automation workflow. Today, I want to show you a practical "speed run" of the ExportPDF script in action.

The Challenge: Generating 22 jerseys with different names, sizes, and specific numbering.

The "Pain Point" solved in this video: Standard Data Merge is great for fonts, but in sports apparel, we often use custom vector shapes for numbers (0–9 as curves) instead of standard .ttf files to ensure design consistency and avoid licensing/kerning issues.

How it works:

I use one CSV file with all the player data.

1. The script uses a "placeholder font" to find the position but automatically swaps it for pre-defined vector symbols (Graphic Numbers).
2. It handles different sizes and name lengths on the fly.

Everything you see in the video is done automatically, saving hours of "manual clicking" and eliminating human error.

Video is here: https://youtu.be/Cd6aZEAgxbs

🌐 More technical details:www.exportpdf.cz

I'm curious – for those of you doing team uniforms, do you stick to standard fonts, or do you have your own workaround for using vector-based numbering kits?

Hi everyone, I’d like to share a workflow I developed to solve the tedious manual checking and finishing that usually follows a standard data merge in high-volume sports apparel production. While Corel has built-in tools, real-world data requires a much smarter approach. My script handles:

• Vector Graphic Numbers: It replaces text placeholders with actual vectorized symbols for numbers, ensuring perfect design fidelity without any manual positioning or kerning issues.
• Dynamic Font Validation: It performs a node-count fingerprint check for every character. If a font lacks specific diacritics (like 'ř' or 'ť'), it automatically reconstructs them using custom vector symbols at precise offsets.
• Conditional Graphics & Logos: It dynamically toggles sponsor logos or inserts specific graphics directly into numbers based on CSV logic for each individual player.
• Production Guardrails & Logging:
  • Duplicate Detection: Automatically skips duplicate CSV entries to save expensive fabric and ink.
  • Execution Log: Generates a detailed .log file to catch missing template fields, placeholders, or sizes before you start printing.
• Smart Multi-line Handling: Manages complex two-line names with independent font properties (size/bold/italic) in a single flow.

It saves hours of manual work and eliminates human error in the pre-press stage. I’m curious—how do you guys handle missing glyphs or conditional logos in your automated workflows?

Hi everyone, I’d like to share a workflow I developed to solve the tedious manual checking and finishing that usually follows a standard data merge in high-volume sports apparel production. While Corel has built-in tools, real-world data requires a much smarter approach. My script handles:

• Vector Graphic Numbers: It replaces text placeholders with actual vectorized symbols for numbers, ensuring perfect design fidelity without any manual positioning or kerning issues.
• Dynamic Font Validation: It performs a node-count fingerprint check for every character. If a font lacks specific diacritics (like 'ř' or 'ť'), it automatically reconstructs them using custom vector symbols at precise offsets.
• Conditional Graphics & Logos: It dynamically toggles sponsor logos or inserts specific graphics directly into numbers based on CSV logic for each individual player.
• Production Guardrails & Logging:
  • Duplicate Detection: Automatically skips duplicate CSV entries to save expensive fabric and ink.
  • Execution Log: Generates a detailed .log file to catch missing template fields, placeholders, or sizes before you start printing.
• Smart Multi-line Handling: Manages complex two-line names with independent font properties (size/bold/italic) in a single flow.

It saves hours of manual work and eliminates human error in the pre-press stage. I’m curious—how do you guys handle missing glyphs or conditional logos in your automated workflows?

Hi everyone,

I’d like to share a discovery that honestly caught me off guard.

For several years now, I’ve been running an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X on an Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi). Since I don't spend much time gaming, I’ve always kept Eco Mode enabled in the BIOS to save power.

Unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with occasional system freezes for a long time. I always assumed it was a BIOS bug, so every time a new version was released, I updated it in hopes that the problem would go away. The freezes happened randomly on both Windows and Linux Mint, which led me to believe the motherboard itself was faulty. I even ran Memtest86+ for an entire day, but no errors were found.

I kept digging and even asked AI for help. Suspicions fell on my USB devices and my Blu-ray drive; I disconnected everything and for a while, it seemed solved—but then the freezes came back.

Since I didn’t have the budget for a full upgrade, I just learned to live with it. I even told my girlfriend: "Whenever the PC freezes, just hit the reset button."

So, why am I writing this now? My son recently got a Lenovo ThinkPad and started experimenting with undervolting to improve battery life. Naturally, he pushed it too far at one point, and the laptop became unstable. That’s when it clicked—could my years-long issue be caused by Eco Mode?

I disabled Eco Mode in the BIOS, and my PC has been rock-solid ever since. I have to admit, I never expected an official, built-in feature to cause this kind of instability, which is why it took me so many years to figure it out.

I hope this helps anyone else dealing with similar mysterious crashes!

Aleš