Formatting a large number of cards

I don't know the answer, but I'd like to second the question. I'd like to find a good way to auto-format cards for 8/7 Central. I understand there's some way in Word or Excel to make a template which will import things from a list- so I'd list the card info and the template would import it to the right places. Anyone know how that works? And how to make the template the right size and shape for cards?

- Seth

Hmmm... Although it seems simple enough it probably is very difficult. It might not be to hard to do a mail merge in word to a customized template (I.E. Labels), but anything other than text would require using Visual Basic for applications and would not be easy. The time it would take to setup/debug would be far greater than it would take to set up the cards by hand. I know Fastlearner was working on making a piece of software to do exactly what you want, but as far as I know time constraints have prevented him from completing it.

Again, for simple cards you could use Word. You would need to set up the card sheet using a custom 'label' type (Tools-> Envelopes and Lables ->Labels Tab->Options->New Labels) and then use mail merge to populate the card database (Tools-> Mail Merge). I don't know the specifics, but that should get you started.

-Darke

Well, you will have to type in that information in somewhere, don't you? I really don't see how you can do it much faster than in the way Aerjan suggested it. I make my cards that way too and it usually doesn't take much longer than an hour or two.

- René Wiersma

A database is simply a supercharged spreadsheet. What you'll do is set up "fields," which are the categories your data fits into. For a card, fields might be "Name," "Description," "Cost," and "Image" (because a picture can be used as data as well as text). Think of fields as the columns of a spreadsheet.

Once you've defined your fields, then you set up your records. Each record is a different card. Think of records as the rows of a spreadsheet.

That's all a database is... but then you can do some hot stuff, like relational links, advanced querying, and so on. What I like about it is that once you've entered all the data, you can create a "report" that will look like your card. So you'll drag the name field at the top left of the card, the cost field at the top right, the image in the middle, and the description at the bottom. Format the card so that six of them fit on a page, and whammo! You can easily print out all your cards.

If you have Microsoft Office on your computer, there's a chance you might have Microsoft Access. It's a clunky, complex database, and a little too powerful for what we need it to do. Still, it could be worse.

Personally, I use a program called FileMaker Pro, which is insanely easy to learn, and allows some pretty nifty formatting options, like rotating fields (which I use to print double-sided cards).

Again, I do this because I'm a wannabe database geek, so it's certainly not the only way to do things. But it's a system I've grown comfortable with. :)

Also, I am making progress on my card design software (database-based), but it's still a couple of months away.

-- Matthew

All you need is Word (Excel and Access make it easier). Create a list of all the cards in Excel, Word, or access in a table/datasheet format. Like let's say regular playing cards: You would create a table with 3 columns and 52 rows. The first column would have a header of Color, the second a header of suit, and the third a header of number/value. Then each row would have a different card...Red,Ace,Diamond or something like that. I guess if you give it some thought you could axe the color column as suits are exclusive to colors.

Sorry got carried away there...anyhow...then open up word and go to Tools...Mail Merge. Just follow the steps and you should be on your way. IF you get stuck, PM me and I'll see if I can help. I'm in and out this weekend but I will reply to all PMs as soon as I get around to it. These cards may not be "Photoshop Quality", but you could do some pretty damn near close to professional work if you put some work into it. And this tool is definitely more than effective (and efficient) for creating top notch prototype cards.

Good Luck,

Eugene

Can we see some samples of this? Is this in any way better than doing some type of mail/photo merge in a page layout program?

Thanks,

I was pleasantly surprised that Serif Page Plus 10 has a photo/mail merge function which is AWESOME for laying out cards. Wow. You can apply filters to fields even so that, for instance, all card titles have a drop shadow on them automatically.

Each card is setup with a standard layout during the merge, and then you can tweak the cards on a card by card basis. It can work with ODBC data sources I believe too, so it can leverage Access databases if you want.

How cool?!