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Personalized Print with XMPie uDirect and Adobe InDesign

Businesses of all sizes can create and produce graphically-rich documents individualized to each and every recipient using a single easy-to-use desktop solution.

Designer-Friendly
Ultimate Creativity
Powerful Output
Scalable

6 Simple Steps

Understand more about XMPie and uDirect in 6 simple steps

  1. UNDERSTAND UDIRECT - Start by learning about what uDirect is, and what it brings to an organization. The big value-add here is that it will help drive higher value print pieces and more of them! [START HERE]
  2. UNDERSTAND THE ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITY OF UDIRECT STUDIO - uDirect comes in two configurations, uDirect Classic and uDirect Studio. It's important that you understand the difference between the two. [READ MORE]
  3. CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALIZED PRINT PIECE - Nothing helps to sell uDirect more than actually seeing what it can do. Why not create your own personalized PDF right now? [READ MORE]
  4. TEST DRIVE THE SOFTWARE TRIAL - Sometimes just seeing the output is not enough and you want to have a play. You can download a free trial of uDirect from our website and test it out for yourself. [READ MORE]
  5. READ ABOUT HOW SOME OF OUR CUSTOMERS USE XMPIE'S VDP CAPABILITIES - Don't take our word for it, read about how some of our customers are already using XMPie. [READ MORE]
  6. UNDERSTAND WHICH VERSION OF XMPIE VDP IS BEST FOR YOU - Love uDirect but want to understand more about the differences between uDirect Studio or uDirect Classic? Maybe you are interested in knowing about how we handle high-volume output? [READ MORE

STEP 1

UNDERSTANDING UDIRECT

5 Minute Walkthrough

Watch this 5-minute video to see for yourself how anyone that knows how to use Adobe InDesign will find it easy to create personalized materials.
It is well narrated and clearly walks through uDirect, showing the plugin and how it can be used to create powerful and engaging print pieces.

uDirect is a simple yet powerful tool

Whether commercial print, agency or in-plant, uDirect allows you to excel in creating highly personalized print pieces, of any size for any audience.

Design Friendly

uDirect works natively inside Adobe InDesign. Designers can focus on the design and simply include the data-driven elements in the design.

Ultimate Creativity

Because the design is done natively inside InDesign all the creative features are supported. Just merge the data and the logic with the design.

Powerful Output

XMPie output is neutral to the print engine and supports a wide variety of variable data output formats such as PPML, PDF, PDF/VT and more. 

Scalable

uDirect is just one tool within a comprehensive platform - so you are not constrained. Produce one or produce several million - it's all possible. 

uDirect connects to data

All personalized print pieces need data. uDirect allows you to directly connect to a data source (CSV, XLS etc.) from within the InDesign plugin. 

Data can be extended

uDirect allows you to work with the data, reformatting it on the fly, adding new variables or logic to it - without having to edit the original data source.

Data that works with the design

Data or added logic can be used to effect text, images, styles, tables, page spreads and even layers. 

Design that works with the data

Want to insert a customer name on a curve, in a specific font with a drop shadow and an opacity of 30%? No problem!

Templated Design

uDirect works natively within InDesign, there is no conversion. By connecting a document to uDirect you create a template that remains as an InDesign file.

Print one - print many

A uDirect template can be used to create one personalized piece or thousands. New data can simply be loaded for an existing template and used whenever needed.

Print Anywhere

uDirect is seperated from the print process. Create a print file, in any one of several optimized file formats and print wherever needed.

Scalability

If at any point you need to scale your composition beyond the desktop, our server configurations are available to cope with larger volumes. 

STEP 2

UNDERSTAND THE ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITY OF UDIRECT STUDIO

There are TWO versions of uDirect

Did you know that there are two versions of our popular InDesign plugin for VDP? Classic and Studio. They each have their place and their price-point. Make sure that you know which is best suited for you.

Enter the world of relevant, creative and personalized communications and graphics with uDirect® Classic. This easy-to-use desktop software lets you work natively in Adobe® InDesign® on Mac or PC and create visually-rich documents. Leverage the full creative capabilities of InDesign for creating dynamic, data-driven elements, such as text, text on a path, images, transparency effects, character styles, layer visibility, and many more. Additionally, WYSIWYG previews of the finished document, including the dynamic elements, can be viewed at any stage during the design process. The data can be any single table, local data source such as CSV files or Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheets.  [READ MORE]

For a powerful desktop variable data print solution that offers data-driven print with personalized images and dynamic charts, choose uDirect Studio. Building on uDirect Classic functionality, it additionally offers uImage® for advanced image and graphics personalization and uChart® for design rich, data-driven graphs and charts. [READ MORE]

uChart and uImage are the valuable additions to uDirect Studio

uChart (Included within uDirect Studio)

Pump up the visual volume of your data through personalized, design-rich, data-driven graphs and capture your recipients’ attention. Whether you use financial data, regional data, or virtually any type of tabular business data, uChart gives you the tools needed to graphically communicate your message.

uImage (Included within uDirect Studio)

Use XMPie uImage to create stunning variable data-driven photo-realistic images or graphics. Designers working with Adobe Photoshop® or Illustrator® can produce powerful, visually-rich, personalized image and graphic templates and effortlessly embed them into XMPie print or digital documents. Visit the XMPie Marketplace to source ready-made uImage templates for Adobe Photoshop. These uImages are royalty free and include all required XMPie print and Web assets.

STEP 3

CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALIZED PRINT PIECE

AFRICAN SAFARI CALENDAR

Nothing helps to demonstrate the power of XMPie uDirect more than seeing what it can do. Although we have many samples, why not create your very own calendar. This highly creative eight-page personalized PDF can be created online in only a few minutes.

STEP 4

FOR CUSTOMERS & PROSPECTIVE USERS
HAVE A PLAY WITH THE SOFTWARE TRIAL

DOWNLOAD THE TRIAL SOFTWARE

If you're an existing customer, or a prospective customer looking to try out the uDirect plugin and you have Adobe InDesign installed. 

This free version will allow an Adobe InDesign user to evaluate our software. It does not require a license key, and may be used for an unlimited period of time. Note: The software requires Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) 2021/2022 and should not be installed in an environment that is already using XMPie PersonalEffect.

DOWNLOAD THE DEMO RESOURCES

 Along with the above trial versions of uDirect we also have several sets of demonstration files & resources. These can be used alongside the trial to help understand how XMPie works and what is possible.

uDirect Classic Tutorial – EDU Open House Event

This tutorial will help you get started with uDirect Classic, by showing you how to create a simple VDP Campaign, from concept to production.

uDirect Studio Tutorial – EDU Open House Event

This tutorial will help you get started with uDirect Studio, by showing you how to create a simple VDP Campaign, from concept to production.

uDirect Studio Tutorial – Birthday Cake

This tutorial will help you to learn how to create a simple VDP Campaign, using a personalized image and a chart, from concept to production.

STEP 5

READ HOW SOME OF OUR CUSTOMER USE XMPIE'S VDP CAPABILITIES

Customer Retention in Retail: Delivered.

UK-based company capitalizes on pivotal moments in the sales-cycle using XMPie software to foster loyalty, improve the customer experience, increase awareness of the product range and increase sales.

Large Scottish Convenience Store Retailer Chain Saves Time and Money with XMPie Automation

Scotmid Co-operative uses PersonalEffect Print to reengineer and automate the production process for creating variable data Shelf-edge Point of Sale (POS) promotions across all 200 retail stores.

Compu-Mail Grows Print Volume Twentyfold with XMPie Technology

Compu-Mail was one of the very early adopters of XMPie VDP technology back in 2004, and has since scaled up from using uDirect to now offering their clients full multichannel campaigns. 

STEP 6

UNDERSTAND WHICH VERSION OF XMPIE VDP IS BEST FOR YOU

Which VDP Solution is right for you?

XMPie offers two types of variable data printing (VDP) solutions – desktop and server.  For convenient and cost-effective desktop VDP, choose either uDirect Classic or uDirect Studio. If a business requires high volumes of VDP, production automation, links to onilne databases, solution customization, or web-to-print capabilities, then either PersonalEffect Print (or PersonalEffect Print Pro) or Enterprise server-based solutions might be better placed.  We have a useful document that helps to position these solutions and will help you to select the correct configuration.

XMPie Family Brochure

DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE

If you don't already have a PDF of the XMPie family brochure to hand then this is where you can get one. Not only does it cover uDirect Classic and Studio, it also goes on to talk about the value proposition of XMPie above and beyond just personalized print.

GET EVEN MORE KNOWLEDGE

Looking for Something?

The best place to find anything relating to XMPie is normally on our website, or on our Information Portal. The Information Portal contains both customer-facing materials as well as sales-focussed materials. 

You will need to register for access to the Infomation Portal and access is restricted to XMPie customers and partners.

Other Sources of Information

There are several different locations where XMPie information can be found, based on the need. While these tend to cover the variety of configurations from XMPie, and not just uDirect, they may still be useful.  

XMPie Demo Room

Jump straight into a live marketing portal and configure and customize your print samples. 

Look for the 'Perpetual Calendars' in the Calendars section and create a free one yourself!

Demo Kiosk

A Fully loaded site, packed with samples and demonstrations of all of XMPie products - from print, to web-to-print and omnichannel communications.

Look at the 'Marketplace' - if you are interested in image personalization.

XMPie Campus

The XMPie Campus website - much like a university campus - is designed to promote learning and collaboration among XMPie customers and channel partners.

Look at the 'Learning Pathway' for VDP Software if you want to learn more.

Address

485 Lexington Avenue 
25th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212 479 5166
Fax: 212 888 2061

Contact Us

If you need additional assistance or would like to engage a sales person about our server solutions then contact our sales team.