Placing Images in Darty-Ai

In our getting started guide, we introduced how paths work in Darty-Ai for linking images stored in different folders on your computer or network. This post expands on that foundation with clearer explanations and practical examples so you can use paths confidently in any workflow.

Paths can be written as either absolute or relative:

Absolute paths are fully qualified and begin with a root directory. They start with:

• a leading / on macOS or Linux
• a drive letter such as C: on Windows

Relative paths are written in relation to a base directory. They do not begin with a slash or drive letter. Instead, they use folder names such as images, or directory steps like ./ and ../.

Examples:

• images and ./images both point to an images folder inside the base directory.
• ../images points to an images folder one level above the base directory.

You can optionally define a base directory in the spreadsheet header using a :. When set, all relative paths in that column will be resolved from that base directory. See the interactive spreadsheet below for live examples.

Darty-Ai also supports three special variables for referencing important folders automatically:

• {{TEMPLATE}} – The folder containing the template file (AI or PDF). If no base directory is set, relative paths are resolved against this folder by default.
• {{DATA}} – The folder containing the spreadsheet file.
• {{SERVER}} – A user-defined directory set in Darty-Ai’s File Settings.

Example Absolute Paths:

• /Users/User/Pictures/image.png (absolute path on macOS/Linux)
• C:\Users\User\Pictures\image.png (absolute path on Windows)
• {{TEMPLATE}}/image.png (points to the template folder)
• {{DATA}}/image.png (points to the data folder)
• {{SERVER}}/image.png (points to your custom server path)

Example Relative Paths:

• images/image.png (folder inside the template directory)
• ../images/image.png (folder one level above the template directory)

Click any file name in the table below to see exactly how Darty-Ai resolves its path based on the header configuration for that column. Compare the results with the folder structure shown in the image above.

🤓 Relative Path Generator 🤓

To help you generate relative paths, we have included a simple relative path generator tool below. Just select the path variable, and paste in the absolute paths of the base and target folders to get the relative path that you can use in your sheet.
You can easily copy the absolute path of a folder on your system by shift right-clicking the folder and selecting "Copy as Path" (Windows) or using ⌘⌥C (Command Option C) (Mac).
Copy the resulting relative path and paste it into your sheet.
Example: If your template file is in /Users/User/server/darty-ai/template-files and your images are in /Users/User/server/darty-ai/template-files/images, select the NONE or {{TEMPLATE}} variable options, enter those absolute paths, and the generator will give you the relative path ./images or {{TEMPLATE}}/images to use in your sheet header. In the data cells, you can then just use the file name (e.g. dog.png) and Darty-Ai will resolve it to {{TEMPLATE}}/images/dog.png when placing the file.

📚 Documentation 📚

See our

Place documentation

for more details on how to use Place in Darty-Ai

Most Commonly Used Path Properties

• mode – how the file is placed in or relative to a placeholder (mask, image, or bounds).
• fittingMethod – controls how the placed file is scaled to fit the placeholder (fit, fill, bounds , original).
• alignment – sets how the placed file aligns inside its placeholder. (topLeft, tl, top, t, topRight, tr left, l, center, c, etc.)
• clipping – whether the placed file is clipped to the placeholder’s bounds, by default it is clipped.
• unite – if true, multiple placeholders are treated as one when placing.
• keepBackground – keeps a placeholder’s background and stroke when placing an image.
• plainText / composer – how text files are placed (plain text vs formatted, and text composer options), there are numerous other options for placing texts.
• placeTagSearch – An alternative to placing a file, the placeTagSearch parameter enables placing of any tagged referenced art object in the a placeholder.