The Batch Creatives app is in Beta. |
Batch Creatives allows you to produce personalized business cards, multilingual campaign images, or any other data-driven variations of your templates. All you need is a template and your data in CSV format or a Google Sheet to generate multiple assets (PNGs or PDFs simultaneously).
What You Need:
A template library (Help: Template library)
A template with defined variables. A defined variable is a blank space in a template you can fill with specific information, and you can lock it or set rules for what can go in it (to get more information, check Setting up a template for InDesign and Sketch or check this other help article for Figma templates)
The "Batch Creatives" app from the marketplace. Only admins can install apps through the Frontify Marketplace. Select the Batch creatives app and click on "Install”. If you need more info please consult this help article.
How It Works:
Let’s go through the steps in detail.
Then, navigate to any media library or project and choose "Create batch publications" from the "New" menu.
1. Choose a Template
After launching the app, select one of your templates. The app supports any template format, whether created with InDesign, Sketch, or Figma. Ensure that the template has variables properly set up. You can modify all of the unlocked variables of the template, but you cannot modify the locked ones.
2. Provide Data
Next, provide your data in CSV format. You can paste the data directly into the text area or sign in with your Google account to access data from Google Sheets. After signing in, paste a Google Sheet URL and select the sheet you'd like to use.
Once the data is provided, you'll verify its format in the preview.
Refer to the FAQ section for more details about the required data format.
3. Map Data to Template Variables
Once the data is loaded, map your data columns to the corresponding template variables. For each variable, select the relevant column from your data. Use the preview rendering to confirm that the mapping is correct.
4. Customize Export Settings
Rows: Select the rows you want to export. You can specify a single number, a range, or comma-separated numbers. Examples:
1-5
2, 4, 6
1-5, 9-12
Format: Choose between PNG or PDF. (PDF support is experimental and currently does not allow control over PDF-specific settings.)
Export To: Select the library, project, or folder where you want to export the designs. You can also create a new folder as the base folder for the export.
Custom Naming Pattern: Define a naming pattern for the generated assets. This allows you to:
Organize assets into separate folders
Include data from your file in the filenames
Apply custom naming conventions
5. Start Batch Processing
When ready, press "Confirm" in the export settings to start generating the designs. You'll see the export queue while the designs are being processed.
Important:
Keep the app open during the generation process. Closing the app will stop the process.
Press "Cancel" anytime to halt the generation if needed.
Once the export is complete, you can close the app or start a new batch with a different template or dataset.
Optional Features with OpenAI Key
After installing Batch Creatives, you can provide an OpenAI key to unlock additional features:
Automatic Data Mapping: The app suggests mappings between column names and template variables based on your data.
Data Generation: The app generates example data based on your template, allowing you to test the app quickly.
To unlock those features, head over to the settings page of the app in the Marketplace.
FAQ
What’s the expected data format for text, colors, and images?
Text: Plain text, e.g., Summer Sale. Use typographic quotes if necessary, e.g., “Fast, simple, beautiful”
Colors: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1) or 255, 255, 255, 1
Images: Asset IDs, e.g., 12345 or eyJpZGVudGlmaWVyIjoyMTkwNTksInR5cGUiOiJhc3NldCJ9
How can I use data from a media library to generate designs?
You can export your library data as CSV. Then, edit the exported CSV in Excel or Numbers. You can add or remove columns to match the needs of the template. Finally, the new data will be saved as a CSV file. (Help: Metadata bulk export from libraries).
How can I set up my spreadsheet?
First, you need to understand which variables of the template you’d like to modify and then set up the spreadsheet accordingly.
Go through the templates you'd like to use and understand what variables will be affected. Lock the variables you do not want to change. This is because when your template is mapped to the Google sheet or CSV file, all of the unlocked variables will show up to be mapped. For example, you may have 5 different color fields; you need to understand which colors you'd like to modify and leave the others unchanged
Image ID.
To edit images, you need to provide the image ID on your Google Sheet or CSV file. There are two ways you can get the image ID:
Simply copy and paste it from the image URL. Then use it within your Google Sheet or CSV file. Example below:
Use our Public API to search for Assets, fetch the ID, and then copy and paste the values into your Google Sheet or Excel file.
We offer a detailed guide on how to search for assets here, including some examples.
Image Preview.
The image preview is a nice-looking addition to your Google Sheet, however it does not modify your template. To get the image preview apply the following formula to your Google Sheet cell:
=IMAGE("image_CDN")
You find the image CDN by opening an image in the backend and then clicking on share/embed/CDN link.
Let’s see an example below:
Heading
You can customize the message of your images by modifying your template’s heading. In your spreadsheet, just write the text variations for your project or campaign. Remember to stay within character limits to avoid text overflowing beyond the image boundaries.