Create CD or DVD labels easily using Photoshop and ready-to-print PDF templates
Table of Contents
Working with the template
Anytime you or anyone else needs to generate new CD/DVD project labels, open the template you just created, save a copy (File > Save As), and edit the appropriate type layers in the Upper Label and Lower Label groups—but that’s only if you have a simple template with no more than two labels per sheet. If you have a sheet with more than two, I recommend you don’t directly edit the type layers to avoid accidental mistakes. Instead, take advantage of another little known and under appreciated Photoshop feature: Find and Replace Text (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: Photoshop’s Find and Replace Text dialog box.
On the Edit menu, about half way down, is the Find And Replace Text command. Select that to open the Find And Replace Text dialog box. In the Find What field, enter DISK TITLE or other text you need replaced, and then, in the Change To field, what you’d like in the actual template—probably the real CD/DVD project title. Remember to check Search All Layers and any other options you may need. You can then either step through the text to be replaced one at a time by clicking Find Next and Change, or get all instances of the search text in fell swoop with Change All.
If you make a mistake with Find And Replace Text, undo with CMD+Z / CTRL+Z, or run another round of Find And Replace Text.
If you’re printing your own labels on an inkjet or laser printer, just print directly from Photoshop by choosing File > Print. However, if you’re sending it out to a print shop, it’s invariably better to send a PDF, if for no other reason than a PDF embeds the fonts so they don’t need to be sent with the artwork. To create a PDF from Photoshop, simply go to File > Save As. In the Save dialog, change the Format pop-up list from Photoshop (*.PSD; *.PDD) to Photoshop PDF (*.PDF; *.PDP). The options you choose in the Save Adobe PDF dialog box that appears next should be whatever your print service provider asks you use.
Where to go from here
For more information about working with Photoshop and PDF, check out these great resources:
