In Linux, there is a GNOME desktop program called gLabels which is designed to create labels or business cards. As a hassle free label creator, gLabels offers various predefined templates for labels and business cards, and works with peel-off labels and business card sheets of various sizes, which are commonly found at office supply stores.
In this tutorial, I describe how to design business cards and labels with gLabels.
Install gLabels on Linux Desktop
To install gLabels on Debian, Ubuntu or Linux Mint:$ sudo apt-get install glabels
To install gLabels on Fedora:$ sudo yum install glabels
Note that gLabels is designed for GNOME 3.0+, and therefore is not compatible with CentOS or RHEL 6 which comes with GNOME 2.Design a Business Card with gLabels
With its built-in GUI editor, designing a business card on gLabels is pretty easy.To launch gLabels on Linux, simply run:
$ glabels-3
![](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/10320717074_32e99cd4f3_z.jpg)
You can create a new design by clicking on �New File� icon on the top. Then choose one of several predefined business card templates.
![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/10320905863_a498bf9ea2_z.jpg)
Add images, texts, lines or shapes to customize your business card.
![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3779/10320742595_58d80f9490_z.jpg)
Check the print preview of the design before finalizing.
![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5540/10320717004_315969881c_z.jpg)
Design Name Labels with gLabels
When it comes to creating name labels, the most useful feature of gLabel is �mail merge� feature. This feature allows you to design a generic label template, while filling in user-defined areas (e.g., name, address fields) of each label with a unique text, imported from external data files. gLabels supports importing data from text files, Evolution Addressbook and vCards.In the following, I will demonstrate how to create multiple name labels whose data is pulled from an external text file.
First, you have to prepare a separate text file as shown below. It has four column data (first/last name, division, company), and each column is delimited by tab character. There are as many rows of data as name labels needed.
![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5542/10320742315_3b84a641d6_z.jpg)
Now choose one of those ready-made label template on gLabels. Here I choose Avery 5095 name badge labels. Then, click on �Merge properties� under �Objects� menu.
![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3687/10320788324_edff0b172d_z.jpg)
Next specify the source of data: data file format (tab separated value) and location of data file. Once the file is loaded successfully, you should see data values contained in the file as follows. Click on �OK�.
![](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2825/10320716974_372b5c75e2_z.jpg)
You can include data values from the file by using control code, formatted as ${column_number}$. That is, ${1}$ is from the first column, ${2}$ is from the second column, etc. Below see how I include four control codes as text objects in the template.
![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5499/10320742505_c432fe8d4e_z.jpg)
Once you are done with the design, check the print view of individualized name labels.
![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5522/10320716844_fceedb40b3_z.jpg)
http://xmodulo.com/2013/10/create-custom-business-cards-labels-linux.html
No comments:
Post a Comment