Automation of text when doing data merge

I have a job to do every three weeks and it involves using data merge which is no problem. The problem comes as the amount of text to fit into boxes varies with each entry which cause a major headache sizing type as what is correct for one window will not be correct for the next one. So here is the challenge is there any way i can tell the various text boxes with their "fields" in to resize the text to fit if there is overmatter in them??
I am using CS3 on a Mac just so you know

with the "out of the box" indesign, sadly no. AFAIK data merge will place the text where the placeholder is, but can't tell the text what point size to be based on the amount of text being put in.
with a third party plugin like emdata... not sure as i don't use it, but there are many third party plugins which behave similarly to data merge but do much more. check out the third party plug-ins for indesign on the adobe main website.
with a scripted solution... not sure, something that the scripters in the indesign scripting forum might be able to answer.
harbs from intools has a solution but will only do one textbox at a time: http://in-tools.com/article/scripts-blog/fun-with-text-fitting-in-indesign/
in one of the last posts in his article, another poster has asked exactly what the OP has asked for, but at the moment it remains a one at a time solution.

Similar Messages

How to build conditional text from a data merge

Hi there
I'm hoping this is not a long shot but I do have a rather large ask (I think).
I cannot figure out how to create conditions on values.
We have two areas that require conditional text. See these areas on the attached image.
Features offered - up to 6. These are identified by defining each feature with a letter, eg 'n' stands for tent site and 'L' stands for seasonal work, and
Room type offered - four colour codes with this. These range from "not made up", "made up", "ensuite/madeup" and "ensuite".
The tab delimited file contains numerous columns for each room type - single, double, twin, share and dorm rooms that offer the 4 room type categories - see point 2 above.
I cannot figure out how to clarify the conditions I require for the conditional text.
Do I start with making 4 conditions for each room type colour and so-on for the rest of the room types ie single not madeup, single madeup, single madeup ensuite and single ensuite?
And if so, how do I create these using the correct conditional code?   Does GREP have anything to do with this and do I need to use its metacharacters like \?
Can someone perhaps start me off?
The same goes for the features. The features are displayed in the spreadsheet per column with either a 'yes' or a 'no' displayed.
I hope I have provided enough information to get some assistance.
Thanks so much.

Tag Design wrote:
Hi there
I'm hoping this is not a long shot but I do have a rather large ask (I think).
I cannot figure out how to create conditions on values.
We have two areas that require conditional text. See these areas on the attached image.
Features offered - up to 6. These are identified by defining each feature with a letter, eg 'n' stands for tent site and 'L' stands for seasonal work, and
Room type offered - four colour codes with this. These range from "not made up", "made up", "ensuite/madeup" and "ensuite".
The tab delimited file contains numerous columns for each room type - single, double, twin, share and dorm rooms that offer the 4 room type categories - see point 2 above.
I cannot figure out how to clarify the conditions I require for the conditional text.
Do I start with making 4 conditions for each room type colour and so-on for the rest of the room types ie single not madeup, single madeup, single madeup ensuite and single ensuite?
And if so, how do I create these using the correct conditional code?   Does GREP have anything to do with this and do I need to use its metacharacters like \?
Can someone perhaps start me off?
The same goes for the features. The features are displayed in the spreadsheet per column with either a 'yes' or a 'no' displayed.
I hope I have provided enough information to get some assistance.
Thanks so much.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see why you need conditional text. I can see that you may want to color each property in each category differently, to stand out for quick visual communication.
If each feature (attribute) of each property or venue is represented in one spreadsheet row (record,) you can use data merge to create the whole entry for each property. For example, a property may offer two types of rooms - single and double, and the single may be available as "not made up" only, while the double is available as "ensuite/madeup" and "ensuite."
In the spreadsheet, in the row for the Acme Inn property, which only offers single not-made-up and single ensuite/madeup rooms, and for the Ajax Hotel property which offers single made-up, single ensuite/madeup, and single ensuite rooms, the cells that contain the data for the merge fields would look like this:
Property ID
single not-made-up
single made-up
single ensuite/madeup
single ensuite
Acme Inn
$50
empty cell
$75
empty cell
Ajax Hotel
empty cell
$65
$75
$85
On the data-merge layout, each room type's label would be followed by all four data-merge field placeholders, with colors applied, so the single would look like:
Sgle: <<single not-made-up>> (red) <<made-up>> (yellow) <<ensuite/madeup>> (green) <<ensuite>> (blue)
NOTE: The colors are applied with named character styles to the data-merge layout in InDesign.
[EDIT] BAH! I applied colors to the text when composing this post, but they were removed when I posted. [/EDIT]
When you set up the merge with Remove Blank Lines for Empty Fields enabled (checked) so the empty cells are ignored, the result resembles this:
For the Acme Inn:      Sgl: $50 (red) $75 (green) $85 (blue)
For the Ajax Hotel:    Sgl: $65 (yellow) $75 (green) $85 (blue)
The separator character between the prices in your example is a special issue. It could be solved in the spreadsheet by creating calculated columns between the price columns, with "IF" formulas that test for values or empty cells and display the separator or nothing. If you choose this method, you'd need to insert fields between the placeholder fields, to hold the calculated fields' contents.
Another approach here would be to follow the data-merge process with a GREP script that inserts separators where they're needed.
Search Google for terms like "InDesign data-merge tutorial," "InDesign data-merge remove blank lines," "InDesign multiple records per page," and similar phrases without quotes.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices
Message was edited by: peter at knowhowpro

Inconsistent placement of anchored text frame in data merge document

Just writing up this bug so that anyone else who encounters it can find out what's going on with less head-scratching.
It seems that InDesign's data merge feature gets confused when there are anchored objects in a text frame that's anchored inside another text frame, which can result in:
exported PDFs that don't match the InDesign preview when viewed in Acrobat (so, nasty surprises on some pages after exporting)
InDesign previews that - bizarrely - show differently depending on whether you navigated to the preview by hitting the arrow keys in the Data Merge box or by entering a number.
(sadly I can't provide a file for confidentiality reasons - but the problem point had multi-line data merge entries, a text frame that was anchored in another text frame of equal width, and anchored images and text frames in this anchored text frame)
There were certain entires where, if I navigate to them in the preview using the 'next' and 'previous' keys, there was 4mm less space between the nested text frame and the previous line than if I navigate to it by entering the number. Exporting as a PDF through data merge used the variant with more space.
Re-working the area in question so that the nested text frame wasn't needed seems to have removed the problem (but loses the ability to vertically align these elements in a fixed size frame that is in the text flow).

You didn't say what version of ID, or whter a single or multiple record per page merge, but the Preview is known to be buggy for multiple records since CS5 and might be for single records as well.
I have an annual directory that is built by data merge with one section in each listing as an anchored frame, and I've never had a problem, but it's not as complex as your description, nor do I ever merge to PDF (though I've heard here from several users that it's more reliable).
One thing you might want to try is merging without the preview step, but do it from a "fresh" file by copying and pasting your placeholders into a new document. If the problem is with the preview it seems that it "infects" the file and even merging without touching the preview button may not work.

When does Date Modified field update in cmc XI3.1

In CMC > users and groups
there is a Date Modified field, When does it update? Is there any document describe that?
For example
I have test that when I edit a user's properties the Date Modified fields update.
When a user log onto CMC, some time the logon times is update as Date Modified
some times is not? Why does this happen?

Hello,
If you update the the properties of the group or the user then the last modified date will change to the current date/time. What kind of user do you have, Enterprise, Windows NT, Windows Active Directory or LDAP. Sometimes a user doesn't exist until they actually log on to the CMS then their Last Modified date would change. Have you consistantly seen this happen with a specific user, if so can you reproduce this on demand.
Jorge

Issues with images when using data merge

Here's the deal. We are converting from CS6 to CC2014. I have a file that opens fine in CS6, the merge works fine.
If I open that file in CC2014 it works fine with the exact same list. But, if I relink a new list or change and update the current list, the data merge no longer works for the images in data merge. Even though nothing has changed in the file links.
I get the error that it cannot find the images.
Is this a know issue?
Mac OSX 10.10.1

It could be that the template is some how bunged up, even though it is evidently working in CS6. You might want to try, as a test, setting upa new document in CC, add the data file, put your placeholders in the document and merging. Then change the merge file, then try to update it.
All I can really say is that I have not experienced this issue (yet). And as far as I can tell, yours is the first post on the matter that isn't document corruption related, or that Previewing the records hasn't caused some malady. either needs the template remade or brought into a new file to fix. You issue sounds sort of half-way between.
Mike

When doing a MERGE in Oracle SQL, how can I update rows that aren't matched

Hi,
create table TEST1
History_date Date,
ID NUMBER not null
create table TEST2
ID NUMBER not null,
History_date Date,
We_history_date Date
Can we do like this...
merge into test2 t2
using
test1 t1
ON (t1.id = t2.id)
when matched
update set t2.We_history_date = t1.history_date
when not matched
update set t2.We_history_date = NVL(t2.we_history_date,SYSDATE);Thanks,
Edited by: 960736 on Sep 27, 2012 2:05 PM

There is nothing to update if there is no match.
You need to INSERT a new record.
See the Examples section of the MERGE statement in the SQL Language doc
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28286/statements_9016.htm
>
Examples
Merging into a Table: Example The following example uses the bonuses table in the sample schema oe with a default bonus of 100. It then inserts into the bonuses table all employees who made sales, based on the sales_rep_id column of the oe.orders table. Finally, the human resources manager decides that employees with a salary of $8000 or less should receive a bonus. Those who have not made sales get a bonus of 1% of their salary. Those who already made sales get an increase in their bonus equal to 1% of their salary. The MERGE statement implements these changes in one step:
MERGE INTO bonuses D
USING (SELECT employee_id, salary, department_id FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 80) S
ON (D.employee_id = S.employee_id)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET D.bonus = D.bonus + S.salary*.01
DELETE WHERE (S.salary > 8000)
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (D.employee_id, D.bonus)
VALUES (S.employee_id, S.salary*.01)
WHERE (S.salary <= 8000);

HT1386 when does a merge sync with icloud

I have added a second Iphone to my i tunes & merged the contacts from it to contacts on my mac but it won't synchronise with icloud. Previously when I added my original iphone to contacts in outlook (windows XP) all my contacts on outlook were deleted and I ended up with a copy of my empty contact folder from the iphone. What am I doing wrong?

On My Mac is a local account, it does not sync to iCloud, use the iCloud account for all contacts/calendars you wish to be available on your devices.
If you are actually using 10.6.7 and not Lion this will not work at all, iCloud services require Lion (10.7.x) or 3rd party software (Soho Organizer) in order to subscribe on Snow Leopard (10.6.x)

Distorted text when trying to merge files into single pdf

I am trying to merge several pdf documents into a single pdf. The pages are all distorted with missing words and random characters appearing here and there. I have combined these pages successfully using 'Assemble files into a PDF package' so I know the files are okay. Trying 'Merge files into a single pdf' is what creates the problem. I have tried this on Acrobat 8.0 and also 10. It is the same in both cases.
Help please!

Hello again. I took the long weekend off, so haven't replied for a while.
While trying to set up a few documents out of the package I wanted to create, I discovered that there
is only one file that is causing the problem.
The biggest problem is that it is a confidential financial file, and I'm loathe to put it up on the web.
I'm going to try to re-create the file without the confidential part, then send it to this forum. I can't
figure out why it should cause problems when all the others don't and they have all been created by
the same person with the same version of Office.
So thanks for your help so far. I really appreciate the quick response from a couple of you. I will get back to you.

Hiii exit for automated PR creation when doing SO

Hi
I have a specific order type where when i create the order there will be an automatic creation of the PR.
I have to fill in the purchase requisition EKGRP which i have already found the exit for it (EXIT_SAPFV45E_002)
I also need when to fill in the EBAN-FLIEF value with the value found in the VBPA but at this stage of the exit the VBPA structure is empty?
Can you please advise if there is another exit where i can do the modification ???/
I have also found the the FM creating the PR no is ME_CREATE_REQUISITION_EXT. I can put some enhancement but the problem it that i don;t have access to any of the sales data here except for the order No.

Hi,
You can check these user exits but not sure wheter it fit for your requirment.
EXIT_SAPLMEREQ_008
EXIT_SAPLEBNE_001
ME_CREATE_REQUISITION_EXT Functioan module actually used to create PR inside VA02. before oo calling this function module you need to find user exit and need to put your code.
Thanks.

Copy comments when doing data copy

Hello,
we have a copy function in IP that copies data from version to version.
At the same time we have flagged 0VERSION as a Document attribute characteristic.
What we need is that when we copy data from version A to version B, all the comments entered in version A are also copied to version B.
Thanks for your help.
C

Hi Carles,
did you find a solution?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.
Michael

Has anyone else experienced InDesign CC and 2014 crashing when using Data Merge?

I have already tried the Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Cmd keystroke upon start-up and saying "yes" to clearing the preferences, but unlike previously where this solved the issue (a few months back, until Adobe released an update which meant this was no longer needed) this hasn't worked. I have also tried using both a CSV and a TXT file as the source file, same crash.
Anyone found a solution? I am using Mac OSX.9. Same thing happens on a colleagues Mac, so isn't my machine.

This is about all the information I could provide, hence why I was asking a general question. If I'd known what steps to take I wouldn't be asking. I have solved the problem, it seemed to be the InDesign file, not the data file.

Data Merge Hyperlink Automation

Is there a process or script(s) to automate assigning hyperlinks to anchor text during a data merge? I use the data merge process for print catalog production, which is then loaded to viewer online via PDF, but I would like to add URLs to the 800-1000 products included in each book.
I'm comfortable tweaking the basics of scripts, but do not have experience writing them from scratch. Appreciate any help!

Try the script mentioned in this thread. I haven't but maybe it'll get you started...or there altogether.
Data Merge with Hyperlinks

How can I use data merge, within a master, within a book?

Hi all,
I am producing an 84pp catalogue for multiple brands.
I have it set up as:
1x .indd document per spread
Master styles within one .indd document for black text, white text etc.
Book setup to contain all of the .indd files to make up the 84pp book
Now, my problem is I have to change the footer text and references depending on the brand, so I can have the footers saying 'Call Brand A on 123 4567' or 'Call Brand B on 567 1234' and have various in-text references change from Brand A to Brand B and vice versa.
I have a data merge on each of the masters in my .indd style source looking at a simple .csv of:
Brand Name
URL
Phone Number
Brand A
www.branda.com
0800 123 4567
Brand B
www.brandb.com
0800 567 1234
This works fine on the masters within the source .indd.
But, when I close this master style source and go into another .indd document within the book (after synchronising) I see the <<Brand Name>> container but, when I export the documents it does not populate the book with the data - it keeps the containers.
Obviously with a normal in-document Data Merge you'd click 'Create Merged Document' but I don't want to export each page, and I have PDF print presets / .joboptions file with settings for the book.
Any advice on how to get this to work?
Thanks!
Andy

I'm not really following the workflow here, but this seems like it might be better suited to Conditional Text than to Data Merge.

How do I generate a data merge in InDesign from an excel spreadsheet which includes a barcode

Can you please advise if the following process is possible within InDesign CS 5.5? (Mac OS 10.8.2).
We need to create a data merge that includes a barcode. The data merge is for several thousand records.
We have a customer-supplied Excel spreadsheet that contains seven fields, one of which is a number that ultimately needs to print as a barcode when we make the data merge in InDesign.
As you would expect, the conventional six fields data merge perfectly - but we can't find a way to make the barcode print correctly within the data merge.
We have investigated several possible solutions without success.
Some solutions suggest a plug-in for Excel to convert the number into a barcode whilst still in the spreadsheet - but this doesn't come across correctly when we import the CSV file into the InDesign data merge.
We have investigated certain third party software applications but none provide the full solution we require. Some, for example, appear to create the barcode within the Excel spreadsheet but don't produce the barcode correctly when we data merge in InDesign; and some will allow us to create a one-off barcode within InDesign but have no automated way of retrieving the thousands of Excel numbers and turning them into barcodes.
We have also come across possible 'font' solutions but have had no success with these either.
For a previous job we needed to produce we outsourced to a specialist mailing company, who assured us they produced the whole job (very quickly) within InDesign. They, understandably, won't tell us how they did it. But, given the speed with which they produced the job for us, we imagine - with the correct software - the whole process is easy to do.
Can you please advise?

HI MIKE
Thanks again for your reply and your help with this.
I've downloaded the barcode font from the link you supplied.
I've tried three tests - and seem much closer to getting what we need. But I've come up against a couple of issues.
TEST 1 - almost just to see if the downloaded font worked, I simply data merged our source csv file and applied the downloaded barcode font to the serial number in ID. Probably unsurprisingly, this produced a perfectly printed barcode - that wouldn't scan.
TEST 2 - I manually added asterisks before and after the serial number in the first couple of fields and then tried the same process as TEST 1. It produced a perfectly printed barcode which this time DID scan correctly - but obviously the barcode had asterisks on it which I don't want. I just want the serial number. And with thousands of serial numbers we need the addition of the asterisks to happen automatically (which is where your text editor process seems the perfect solution, if we could get that to work).
TEST 3 - Noting your comments about using parenthesis around the serial number, I followed your example of (123456). But Excel won't let me type a parenthesis. It lets me type the parenthesis but then instantly substitutes it with a - (hyphen) before the number in the actual serial number cell and no character at all after the number.
If you have any suggestions or solutions for any of the above they'd be gratefully received! Thanks again for all your help with this.
Kind regards
Rob

Data merge skipping one cell

Hello, having a problem in IDCS4 where data merge is skipping a cell in the EXCEL tab-del .txt file. i've saved both documents different ways (the txt through word, text edit, excel, etc.) done inx and save as with the id file. I'm doing business cards and its skipping one of the "titles", going into the next row - so everybody after that has the wrong title. i've tried adding a fake line or 2 with crap data to get it to reset, ive duplicated the column, but those doesnt work. theres no funky characters in that cell, i've rearranged everything and it always skips the second rows "titles" cell. saved as INX to IDCS3 and it works perfectly - using the same .txt file. any ideas? thanks in advance.
ok done some more testing
if i have the title seperated into another text box, it works correctly, while the other one still doesn't - everything is styled the same, and i have no options checked in the merge prefs.

I'll hop on the obvioius guess and ask "Does that title have a comma in it?"
When building data merge CSV files I make a textbox on the pasteboard, paste all of the data out of excel, do a find for the comma character and replace it with a word I know isn't used in my file "marklar" from south park, then replace the tabs with commas and paste that into a plain text editor, save that out as CSV. In any case I suggest when working with data merge to never use CSV as your working editing file as Excel has a tendency to format cells for no apparent reason when opening CSV. Short of having manual calculation set and knowing that everyone who touches the files also does there is room to be burned.
Edit: Mac 2008 Excel is what I have.

Automation of text when doing data merge

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