Create data-driven graphics

Data-driven graphics make it possible to produce multiple versions of an image quickly and accurately for print or web projects. For example, you can produce 100 versions of a web banner with different text and images, all based on a template design.

Follow these general steps to create graphics from templates and data sets:

Create the base graphic to use as the template.

Use layers to separate the elements that you want to change in the graphic.

Define variables in the graphic.

Variables specify the parts of the image that change. (See Define variables.)

Create or import the data sets.

You can create the data sets in the template, or import them from a text file. (See Define a data set and Creating data sets in external files.)

Preview the document with each data set.

To see how your final graphics will look, you can preview before you export all the files. (See Preview or apply a data set.)

Generate your graphics by exporting them with the data.

You can export them as Photoshop (PSD) files. (See Generate graphics using data sets.)

You use variables to define which elements in a template change. You can define three types of variables. Visibility variables show or hide the content of a layer. Pixel Replacement variables replace the pixels in the layer with pixels from another image file. Text Replacement variables replace a string of text in a type layer.

You cannot define variables for the Background layer.

Rename a variable

Define a data set

A data set is a collection of variables and associated data. You define a data set for each version of the graphic that you want to generate.

You can edit, rename, or delete the data set later by first choosing it from the Data Set pop‑up menu and editing its options. Use the arrow icons to move between data sets. Click the Delete icon to delete a data set.

Preview or apply a data set

You can apply a data set’s contents to the base image while leaving all the variables and data sets intact. This changes the look of the PSD document to contain the values of the data set. You can also preview how each version of your graphic will look with each data set.

Generate graphics using data sets

After you define variables and one or more data sets, you can output, in batch mode, images using the data set values. You can output images as PSD files.

Creating data sets in external files

You can quickly create a large number of data sets by creating an external text file that contains all the variable information and loading that file into a PSD document containing variables. One method is to enter your data into a text file or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and then export it to a tab or comma-separated file.

The syntax of the external text file is as follows (where each line that starts with “Variable” or “Value” is an entire line by itself in your file):

All the variable names are listed on the first line, in the order that the values are given in subsequent lines. Each subsequent line represents one data set, with the values for each variable given.

If <sep> or <nl> is part of the variable value, then the entire value must be enclosed in double quotes.

All variables defined in the PSD document must be defined in the text file. An error is displayed if the number of variables in the text file does not match the number in the document.

Example data set:

Using a template for flowers that holds variables for tulip and sunflower, you can set up a text file that looks like this:

Import a data set