Some designs require a large number of variable fields. Keep in mind that in complex web to print templates, even after you arrange the fields in their logical order, it’s still hard for the user to figure out which input field changes what in the template. Here’s how you can use separate preview and printing template files to split a complex web to print design into smaller, more manageable parts and make it easier for the users.

Example

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Consider a single page flyer PDF file carrying ten separate ads and you want to convert it into a web-to-print template.

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After you’ve uploaded the template in your catalog, it’s obvious that the extensive number of fields in the input form is guaranteed to disorient the user and the preview size will make it hard to read the text.

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As a solution, you can create another web-to-print template file, with each ad on a separate page and upload it in your catalog as a preview template along with the original printing template.

Copy the content

Your printing and preview templates may look absolutely different and have different layouts, page sizes, etc. as long as they both have the same set of fields.

Open the template file in CorelDRAW and create a new document with 11 pages. The first page will have the same size as the original template and the other 10 pages will have the same size as one single ad from the flyer.

Initial page

The first page of the preview template will only be a preview page showing the users what the final printed flyer will look like. It’s a good idea to add some brief instructions to the page as part of the web-to-print design.

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Copy all the objects from the original template and paste them on the first page of the preview template (Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V).
Note. Since the first page shouldn’t have any input fields, you’ll have to convert all the texts to curves and delete the object names for the images.

To make it even easier for the users, you can add some comment balloons on this page to explain the process.

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Ad pages

Each of the remaining ten pages of the preview template will hold one of the ads.

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Select the objects that form the first ad from the printing template and copy them (Ctrl+C).

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Paste the objects in the second page of the preview template (Ctrl+V).

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Note. Center the web-to-print ad on the page by grouping the objects (Ctrl+G), centering the group (press P) and ungroup them (Ctrl+U)

Repeat this step for all the remaining web-to-print ads to end up with a preview template file containing a separate page for each ad.

Print template object manager

Preview template object manager

Upload the templates

Once you have both template files you can upload them in your web-to-print catalog.

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Go to the upload page, browse for the files separately and click Upload.

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The user will be able to change the content of each web-to-print ad separately.

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The output file is generated from the printing template and it will have all the ads on the same page.

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Test this web-to-print template.

Download the preview and printing CorelDRAW template files used in this example.

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