Basic Thank-You Card

The simplest demo: how to create a 2-page A4-sized personalization template which can be downloaded as PDF and used to print the front & back.

Requirements

You need to adhere to the following:
  • Have InDesign 2024
  • Use no Adobe Cloud fonts. Unfortunately, they do not work in the "cloud", recommendation: find alternative non-cloud substitutes.

Template Structure

This is the most basic kind of template: all elements can be created clearly visible in the InDesign Layers panel. There are no duplication-structures and no growable list of pages, or page-sections, or any of the very advanced features.
There are only two variable fields which will be created:
    $_Greeting - the word which can be changed via the online form-fill, which goes on the front of the card.
    $_Name - the personalized name of the "sender", appears on the 2nd page, which is the inside of the printed item.
To create this template:
  • Create a new document sized A4, add any appropriate bleed setting you may want for future needs.
  • Go to Document Layout and turn off "Facing Pages" if you want to view the document pages straight-vertical, for the following step.
  • Add a 2nd page to the document via the Pages panel, it should end up the same A4 size as the 1st page.
Now, add the variable elements on Page #1:
  • On Page 1, add a text-frame and type in a placeholder word such as "Thank You".
  • Use the Text-Frame options to set any font-styling, sizing, and character color as desired.
  • Go to the Layers panel and give this the name exactly as: $_Greeting. Note that, in InDesign you can enable the editing of a Layer-panel-contained object's name by clicking twice, slowly.
  • First page is done!
Finally, add the elements on Page #2:
  • In the lower-right corner, or wherever, you can insert a "label" text-frame which contains the text "Sincerely,".
  • Style this text-frame how you wish, but do not give it any name in the Layers panel. This is an example of how the mechanism recognizes or ignores a text-frame as a variable-data item.
  • Next, add a duplicate text-frame and type in any word such as "<Name Here>", or "Your Colleague", to enable the placeholder to have general use.
  • Position and style this frame, and this time do give it a name in the Layers panel: $_Name.

Uploading to GraphXServerIO

After the creation steps are complete, the INDD file is saved and it is time to upload it to GraphXserverIO!
To upload, please log into your GXSIO account and proceed to the Virtual Proofs page.
The new item will appear as a record in the list of current INDD templates.
Click to expand this item and view the generated form-fill, which should have only two inputs:
  • Greeting
  • Name

Manual Usage

At this stage, this form could be given to other users to generate their own "Thank You" cards. The main advantages are:
  • Design is on-brand and constrained to the style the designer applies.
  • But, the usability is for all users such as sales-people and non-graphics employees.
  • Processing takes place online, which is faster than opening up a graphics application on the desktop.
  • The processed result has Adobe-native color-managed contents, including any company spot-colors, and elements usable for production-print.

API Usage

Even more advantageous is that by uploading this template and creating the online form-fill, an API endpoint is automatically generated for use by integration programmers or low-code app users.
Those 3rd party or in-house developers or integration team-members could then create their own built-for-purpose applications to leverage the created template for producing desired results within various contexts across the enterprise.
API Consumers have nearly unlimited possibilities:
  • Create an HTML interface which auto-generates these files based on sales-order fields from a report, in batches.
  • Create code which auto-generates a file like this to send to print, every time someone reaches X-amount of rewards points.
  • "Creatively Uses" this printable asset generation engine to scrape the first page and use the variable-changed word in the specific font style, as part of digital media such as a video or GIF file.
  • ...And more!The use is only limited by how many issues are solved by having a personalized PDF, generated for some value-add step and filling of business gaps.