Export Settings

Export setting configuration is a robust Darty feature for variable data processing: this is where you choose what to export and where to save the resulting files.

The Global Export Settings view is the Export tab with no Job Modal active.

Note: each section of the Export tab is collapsible. Use the arrow button on the left of the section-title to toggle the collapse mode of a section.
Ctrl-Click on Windows / Cmd-Click on Mac to expand and collapse all.

Output Destination

This area is where output destination file paths are configured.
This is accomplished through a set of file-path and file-name control, suffixing option controls, and a table of Darty Counter Variables which are used along with the file-naming controls to ensure unique output results.

Output Directory & File Naming

These text-inputs configure the output directory and file name format to apply the the exported outputs.

There is an active state on these fields to help quickly insert a Counter Variable using the table controls. Focusing in any of these inputs sets it as being active - at which point the plus-button can be clicked in the Counters & Variables table to add the variable into the active text input.

Each field is enabled with a Counter Variable Add plus-button. Clicking this button inserts a currently-selected Counter Variable from the Counters & Variables table into the currently-active naming field.

• Directory - the folder to which the files will be exported.

  • The folder-icon button associated with this field shows a folder-selection dialog to set this field from dialog.
  • The text-input can be set with typing or pasting.
  • Folder-access indicators show probable access status of the current value in the field:
    • RED - No Access.
    • YELLOW - Access is likely.
    • GREEN - Access is verified.

• Prefix - a prefix for the file name.

• Filename - the middle part of the file name.

• Suffix - a suffix for the file name.

It could be considered that there are distinct prefix, filename and suffix fields or that it is a "filename" field composed of three segments named prefix, filename and suffix. Either way, in the end these three fields combine to form the files' names during the Darty Export process.

• Case Transformation - applies a case-transformation to the filename. Options are one of:

  • None - no transformation applied to the filename.
  • lowercase - transforms the filename to lowercase.
  • UPPERCASE - transforms the filename to uppercase.
  • Title Case - transforms the filename to title-case.

• Delimiter - if any of the characters -_;|¦: (as well as empty-space), if found in the filename, will be replaced by the value in this text-box.

• Append Artboard Numbers - causes the Darty Export process to append artboard numbers to the exported files. The options are:

  • Selectively - the default option. Only appends artboard numbers when there is more than one artboard.
  • Never - does not append artboard numbers. Used when the artboard-specific files in a multi-page export are made unique with the artboard_name Counter-Variable.
  • Always - appends the artboard number for all exports.

• Padding - for when artboard numbers are appended, this selection dropdown offers up to 7 leading zeroes to prepend to the artboard number as padding.

Counters & Variables Table

This table lists all current Darty Counter Variables.
These special meta-variables ensure the dynamically exported files are named uniquely.

• 'Counters & Variables' dropdown - shows filtered items in the table based on whether they are a Counter or a Variable.

• Counter Variable List Items - each table-row item displays a Counter Variable's name and up to 3 icon-buttons to insert or manage the Counter Variable:

  • Edit Counter - available only for Counter category of Counter Variables. Here you can edit the parameters of a counter, such as its start-value.
  • Insert with Options - the multi-gear button shows an Options dialog according to the Counter Variable's specific data-type.
  • Insert Counter/Variable - inserts the selected Counter Variable in the table, into the active naming field.

See working with Counter Variables.

Range Properties

Range properties control the output of files based on having multiple artboards or certain Darty tags.

• Range Mode Input - a text input combined with a radio-button selector which together choose the range mode and range-value for the export.

  • Artboard - when Artboard is chosen as range-mode, the input value is a page-range which can include commas and dashes to specify multiple sub-ranges if needed.
    The default option is Artboard range-mode with an empty range-value. This value gives the input the placeholder "All", and creates the output using all artboards.
  • Document - when the range-mode is set to Document, the output encompasses all artboards of the document.
  • Tag Search - when the range-mode is set to Tag-Search, the output exports those artboards where the specified tags are present.

• Export as Single Artboard - outputs the document as one artboard, featuring any settings as set via the range value field.

• Export as Multi-Page - outputs multiple artboards as individual files (for multi-page enabled vector formats: .ai, .pdf).

Bitmap Properties

The Bitmap Properties area concerns with the settings for output of raster files.
These settings do not impact the vector formats.

Background

This is a widget providing the optional ability to set a background color to a raster output.
This widget contains the following controls:

• Background checkbox - check this to ON, to reveal the controls for background setting.
• Swatch Display - this is the largest swatch square, showing the current color values as a hex color.
• White/Black Defaults - two default swatches to quickly set the background to an RGB white or black color. To set a CMYK color, use the CMYK color-picker.
• RGB/CMYK Color Pickers - two color-pickers: one for CMYK and one for RGB. Edit the color before pressing "Ok" to ensure the CMYK/RGB picker recognizes a new CMYK vs RGB value.

Padding

These controls are for configuring a padding zone for the 4 sides of the raster output file.

• Top/Left/Bottom/Right Inputs - the four inputs which regulate how many pixels are to be added on the sides of the output raster file. These input accept a unit-annotated value such as 1", 2 cm.
• Link Padding Values - icon-button which controls synching of the values in the Top/Left/Bottom/Right inputs.

Pixel-Perfect

This is a checkbox which causes the export algorithm to snap the document art to the pixel grid.

Scale

The scale widget is a set of controls which affect the way output raster files are scaled.

• Usage checkbox - if this checkbox is checked ON, scaling will take effect during the export process.

• Scale Mode Radio Group - this set of radio-buttons sets the scale-mode to one of these options:

  • Scale - the scale text-input takes a percentage value, with 1 being 100%.
  • Width - the scale text-input now works with percentages or unit-values, causing the scaling to be based off the document width.
  • Height - the scale text-input now works with percentages or unit-values, causing the scaling to be based off the document height.

Resolution

The resolution widget provides a radio-group and a text-input to offer two ways to enter a desired output resolution.
The valid resolution value range is: 4 to 2400.

• Resolution Radio Group - the quick way to select one of the following resolution options:

  • 72
  • 144
  • 300

• Resolution Input - can be used to set a custom resolution.

Format Settings

Select the formats for export in the Format Settings section.
It features two major sub-sections: the Format table and the Format-Properties table.

Formats for export are selected in the Format table and any of their specific configurations are set using the Format-Properties table.

Formats Table

Each row in the Formats table represents a usable export format.
Checking its checkbox to ON activates the format for export.
Clicking a format in Formats table reveals that format's properties inside the Format-Properties table.

See Job Format Inheritance Rules for operating formats as part of a Darty job.

Note: as part of Export Validation, at least one format has to be chosen for a valid export.

Format-Properties Table

A selected format in the Format table produces a list of properties for that format in the Format-Properties table.
Here, the various properties can be enabled and set to a value.

• Property Activation checkbox - when checked ON, this property of the format shall be used in the Darty export process.
• Property-specific Value - each row has a property-specific input-control which accepts various data-types. If a value is detected to have been set by the user, a 'reset' icon-button appears to help reset the value back to original state.

See Job Format Inheritance Rules for operating format-properties as part of a Darty job.

Advanced

The 'Advanced' section deals with post-export processing and auxiliary functions which affect the output.
Its main features regard overset-text handling and Illustrator swatch reduction.

• Save Unused Swatches - if checked ON, any document swatches in the template document at the time of export will be preserved in the output (if the output supports swatch data). Otherwise, if checked OFF, Darty-Ai will remove unused swatches to save file space.

• Outline Texts - for export scenarios where outlined font is required in all of the document, Darty-Ai makes it easy by checking this to ON.

• Overset Text Fitting - selects an option for dealing with overset text (can only be possible with area-type text):

  • None - the default options. No text is processed for overset handling.
  • Shrink Text - shrinks the text font size uniformly until an area-type text fits its polygonal text-frame.
  • Increase frame height - replicates "Auto-Size" on area-type text-frames by extending the frames downward to accommodate an overflow of text.