Setting up your PDF export settings, specifically for data merge templates, ensures that your publications are organized and named correctly. This guide will walk you through the steps to create a Data Merge PDF export setting in the CHILI Back Office.




TABLE OF CONTENTS



Set Up Data Merge PDF Export Setting

From the CHILI BackOffice, navigate to the Settings tab. Under the Export Settings column, you'll find an option for PDF Export Settings—this is where you can create and configure different PDF export options for your end users.



If you’ve already set up PDF export profiles, they will be listed here. Common options might include:

  • Crops and Bleeds for printing
  • High-Res PDF for high-quality needs
  • Low-Res PDF for smaller file sizes


To create a new export option, select the Add New button located at the bottom left.


Name the new option based on its purpose, such as PDF Data Merge.



Now, you can define the export settings for the new profile:

  • File Type Options: Select or unselect specific settings based on what you need.
  • Image Quality: Choose whether the images within the PDF should be high quality for print, low quality for web use, or anything in between.
  • Compression and Resolution: Fine-tune the compression, pixel count, and other image-related settings to match the purpose of the PDF.

Ensure that the Embed Fonts option is checked to maintain your document's formatting. 




Scroll down to the DataSource dropdown menu. 


Check the box for Create DataSource Output. This step is crucial for ensuring your export is linked to the data merge.




Where it says PDF Name Pattern, enter your desired naming pattern using column headers/variable names into this text %var_[variableName]%. You can even include underscores _ to your naming convention and a counter. For example, %var_pdfName%_%counter%." This format tells CHILI to create a file name like “CampaignA_0001,” “CampaignA_0002,” etc., based on how many rows are in your data source.



Set the Minimum success rate (%) to 100%. This means all records must successfully process for the PDF to generate. This setting acts as a safeguard until you’re confident everything is working correctly.


Save Changes when your updates are complete.

Your PDF settings are now configured for stakeholders to successfully export multiple PDFs from a single data merge templates.




Set Up PDF Naming Convention in Your Data Source

To automatically name your PDF output based on data from your source, you’ll need to set up a naming convention.


Just as you can map column headers from your data source file (Excel or CSV) to variable names in your Tempo templates, you can also use those column headers/variable names to define your PDF naming convention. This allows you to generate individual PDFs named based on the content in your data source.


Note: The column headers/variable names used in your naming convention must not contain spaces or special characters.


While you can create a naming convention specific to each data source and its unique column headers, it's recommended to create a more flexible convention that works for any data source. To do this, add an easily identifiable column (such as "pdfName") in your data source file (Excel or CSV) where you'll include the desired text for your PDF names.


Want to go further? Since CHILI displays the content of a cell containing a formula (not the formula itself), you can use the CONCATENATE function in your "pdfName" column to combine content from other columns in your data source. This way, you can customize your PDF naming convention even further.


In your CHILI template, define the “pdfName” as a variable without assigning it to anything specific. This allows the data source to pull the information for naming the PDF.


Your template is now ready to be used with Data Merge functionality.