Data merge can handle several images por module?

Data merge can handle multiple images in one spreadsheet line? I work in a catalog that takes 3 images per module and while con1 image works perfect, I failed to do so with two or more,
thanks in advance!
louis

thanks for your prompt response
attached are pictures of what I need to do, this would explain better, I hope
images in yellow
This is possible?, thanks
Louis

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Wat is the maximu size of data XI can handle

HI,
I would like to know wat file size XI system can handle at one time. What size of data can XI handle.
Please reply me as soon as possible.
Thanks in advance.
Chirag

Gohil,
This all depends upon your hardware and sizing the XI box. Also it depends on how complex your mapping and whether you are using any BPM inside the scenario or not. I have come across where XI is used just to move the file of 1GB also.
If your file adapter or XI is going down with this file then I would suggest to read chunks of data into XI and process further.
Regards,
---Satish

Data merge - can you insert multiple fields at once?

Hi,
I'm using InDesign CS4.
I'm automating a series of reports using Data Merge from a CSV file. Each row in the CSV file holds the data for each individual report - 135 reports in total.
The thing is, each report contains a text comments from some research interviews - but some reports have maybe 10 or so comments, others have over 600! The fields are called comment001, comment002 ... right up to comment620 (or so).
InDesign only seems to let me insert fields from the Data Merge one at a time - it won't let me Shift-select a range of fields ... the alternative is to manually insert about 620 fields one click at a time!! Ouch...
Does anyone know of a way around this?
(Hope I've explained the problem properly!)
Cheers,
F13

We see a few Adobe employees from time to time, notably Dov Isaacs and occasionally Matthew Laun (from the InDesign development team), but they are here on their own time and in an unofficial capacity, though they are extremely helpful when they do drop in. Employees are encouraged, at least on the ID team, to monitor the forums, but not necessarily to participate, so they probably do see most of the reported problems, but their jobs are to do development, not provide tech support, and I for one would rather they spend their time fixing bugs and developing new features than have them actively engaging in these threads.
And rest assured that Adobe appreciates the work that the user community is doing here. It's no secret that we are far better than the free telephone tech support, largely becasue we work with the programs every day while the suppot contractor only has relatively untrained folks reading from the knowledebase unless you can get escalated very high up the chain.
As for the feature request, by all means file it. I think you are correct that it would be nice, though I can see some issues, too, like how do you decide how multiple fields will be strung together (one after another would be the same as your concatenation problem and using separate lines might not be approprtiate in all cases, either). The place to file is Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Data Merge: How to make images skip and continue after an ad or coupon?

Using Data Merge to create a catalogue of images but through out the layout there are Ads spaces that I need to have control of the images not to be layout in that particular space. How do I go about having that control using Indesign Data merge?
thanks

Thanks ja3754 for responding but you I went to a job interview and they explained the procedure to me but did not showed me the steps. I told them it was news to me since I am aware of data merge doing business cards, variable letters and brochures but nothing to this level. So "unless they were not clear on the steps" according to them it is doable in data merge. But I am having a hard time finding any information on this procedure.

How can I generate a data merge that includes a barcode from excel spreadsheet to InDesign?

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?

See second posting atHow do I generate a data merge in InDesign from an excel spreadsheet which includes a barcode

InDesign Data Merge / Image Frame Options

Hi! I am learning Data Merge and am trying to set-up some product sheets using it. I have done pretty well so far but have an issue with the way images are importing into the different image frames. There are a few different image frames on the layout (main product image, tech drawing, tech icons, etc.), and I need each image frame to have different frame options set.
So far using the general "Frame Fitting Options" for each has worked for all imported images except for my tech icons (which I can get to import correctly if I choose "Content Placement Options > Fit Frames to Images" from the Data Merge side menu --but when I do this, it applies to all image frames on the page and not just the one selected (which does not work overall).
Is there another option to get the icon image frames to "Fit Frame to Image" automatically without using the Content Placement Options from the Data merge menu? Is there a way to use the Content Placement Options so it works for individual frames vs all on the layout?
Any help is much appreciated!
Liz

Within the data merge, the frame fitting options apply to all frames that contain variable images, so if you want one variable image to fit image to frame, and another variable image to preserve its size, that cannot be done in the main file, but by manipulating the resulting merge file as P Spier suggests. With Data Merge, there are 8 ways an image can fit inside a frame - see the linked pdf: http://colecandoo.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/framefit.pdf
This is further complicated when importing ai or pdf images that contain different possible sizes to import (e.g. trim box, bleed box, bounding box, etc). If the "show import options" dialog box is used when placing an image into a data merge file, the settings used in those import options are maintained in the file for the importing of any pdf/ai files via the data merge. What this means is that a data merge containing pdf/ai images can go haywire quickly if the import options change.
There are some tricks that can be used to control a size of an image in a data merge, provided the images are pdf/ai. If images are being placed by bounding box size in the import options, a way is by drawing a no fill/stroke box behind (or on another layer) of the pdf/ai - this will be used to define the actual size of the image, instead of the top left/bottom right of the image. Similarly, if images are being placed by media box, a similar technique can be used by making the illustrator artboard the size used to define the incoming image size.
There are also other ways to control the way an image grows/shrinks when importing via the data merge. I have written about that elsewhere, but the trick relies on using making the variable image an anchored object in a larger text frame and controlling its coordinates with text and textbox formatting (e.g. top/bottom/center align; left/right/center, or tab position): Centering “fit frame to images” using InDesign CS6 | Colecandoo!

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

[CS5.5/6] - XML / Data Merge questions & Best practice.

Fellow Countrymen (and women),
I work as a graphic designer for a large outlet chain retailer which is constantly growing our base of centers. This growth has brought a workload that used to be manageable with but two people to a never ending sprint with five. Much of what we do is print, which is not my forte, but is also generally a disorganized, ad-hoc affair into which I am wading to try to help reduce overall strain.
Upon picking up InDesign I noted the power of the simple Data Merge function and have added it to our repetoire in mass merging data sources. There are some critical failures I see in this as a tool going forward for our purposes, however:
1) Data Merge cannot handle information stored and categorized in a singular column well. As an example we have centers in many cities, and each center has its own list of specific stores. Data merge cannot handle a single column, or even multiple column list of these stores very easily and has forced us into some manual operations to concatenate the data into one cell and then, using delimiter characters, find and replace hard returns to seperate them.
2) Data Merge offers no method of alternate alignment of data, or selection by ranges. That is to say: I cannot tell Data merge to start at Cell1 in one column, and in another column select say... Cell 42 as the starting point.
3) Data merge only accepts data organized in a very specific, and generally inflexible pattern.
These are just a few limitations.
ON TO MY ACTUAL DILEMMA aka Convert to XML or not?
Recently my coworker has suggested we move toward using XML as a repository / delivery system that helps us quickly get data from our SQL database into a usable form in InDesign.
I've watched some tutorials on Lynda.com and havent yet seen a clear answer to a very simple question:
"Can XML help to 'merge' large, dynamic, data sets like a list of 200 stores per center over 40 centers based off of a single template file?"
What I've seen is that I would need to manually duplicate pages, linking the correct XML entry as I go rather than the program generating a set of merged pages like that from Data Merge with very little effort on my part. Perhaps setting up a master page would allow for easy drag and drop fields for my XML data?
I'm not an idiot, I'm simply green with this -- and it's kind of scary because I genuinely want us to proceed forward with the most flexible, reliable, trainable and sustainable solution. A tall order, I know. Correct me if I'm wrong, but XML is that beast, no?
Formatting the XML
Currently I'm afraid our XML feed for our centers isnt formatted correctly with the current format looking as such:
<BRANDS>
     <BRAND>
          • BrandID = xxxx
          [Brand Name]
          [Description]
          [WebMoniker]
          <CATEGORIES>
               <CATEGORY>
                    • xmlns = URL
                    • WebMoniker = category_type
          <STORES>
               <STORE>
                    • StoreID = ID#
                    • CenterID = ID#
I dont think this is currently usable because if I wanted to create a list of stores from a particular center, that information is stored as an attribute of the <Store> tag, buried deep within the data, making it impossible to 'drag-n-drop'.
Not to mention much of the important data is held in attributes rather than text fields which are children of the tag.
Im thinking of proposing the following organizational layout:
<CENTERS>
     <CENTER>
     [Center_name]
     [Center_location]
          <CATEGORIES>
               <CATEGORY>
                    [Category_Type]
                    <BRANDS>
                         <BRAND>
                              [Brand_name]
My thought is that if I have the <CENTER> tag then I can simply drag that into a frame and it will auto populate all of the brands by Category (as organized in the XML) for that center into the frame.
Why is this important?
This is used on multiple documents in different layout styles, and since our store list is ever changes as leases end or begin, over 40 centers this becomes a big hairy monster. We want this to be as automated as possible, but I'd settle for a significant amount of dragging and dropping as long as it is simple and straightforward. I have a high tollerance for druding through code and creating work arounds but my co-workers do not. This needs to be a system that is repeatable and understandable and needs to be able to function whether I'm here or not -- Mainly because I would like to step away from the responsibility of setting it up every time
I'd love to hear your raw, unadulterated thoughts on the subject of Data merge and XML usage to accomplish these sorts of tasks. What are your best practices and how would you / do you accomplish these operations?
Regards-
Robert

From what I've gleaned through watching Lynda tutorials on the subject is that what I'm hoping to do is indeed possible.
Peter, I dont disagree with you that there is a steep learning curve for me as the instigator / designer of this method for our team, but in terms of my teammates and end-users that will be softened considerably. Even so I'm used to steep learning curves and the associated frustrations -- but I cope well with new learning and am self taught in many tools and programs.
Flow based XML structures:
It seems as though as long as the initial page is set up correctly using imported XML, individual data records that cascade in a logical fashion can be flowed automatically into new pages. Basically what you do is to create an XML based layout with the dynamic portion you wish to flow in a single frame, apply paragraph styles to the different tags appropriately and then after deleting unused records, reimport the XML with some specific boxes checked (depending on how you wish to proceed).
From there simply dragging the data root into the frame will cause overset text as it imports all the XML information into the frame. Assuming that everything is cascaded correctly using auto-flow will cause new pages to be automatically generated with the tags correctly placed in a similar fashion to datamerge -- but far more powerful and flexible.
The issue then again comes down to data organization in the XML file. In order to use this method the data must be organized in the same order in which it will be displayed. For example if I had a Lastname field, and a Firstname field in that order, I could not call the Firstname first without faulting the document using the flow method. I could, however, still drag and drop content from each tag into the frame and it would populate correctly regardless of the order of appearance in the XML.
Honestly either method would be fantastic for our current set of projects, however the flow method may be particularly useful in jobs that would require more than 40 spreads or simple layouts with huge amounts of data to be merged.

Need to create a directory in inDesign using data merge

Need to create a multi paged document that contains fields with persons pix, name, address, and phone number.
It will be alphabetized and searchable using an index.
I want the end result to be a multi-page pdf.
Is data merge the tool to use?
Or please suggest some other application, mac please!
Any advice...
Lisa-renee

Yep, Data merge can do that. You'll want to make multiple records per page, have a look at the help here and report back with specific questions if you have them.
You need to get your document that you're merging from sorted first though, there's a script here that will help you arrange your images.

Data Merge Where Same Last Name Swaps Other Fields

I'm working on a data merge document of several thousand records (too many to efficiently rename anything by hand). In a record of employees, anyone who has the same last name as someone else gets their departments randomly scrambled among others with the same last name. So if there are two employees with the same last name, their departments are switched. If there are more, they are scrambled.
I have 6 fields: First name, Last name, Box number, Phone extension, Department, and Job title. The only field that I am seeing problems with is Department.
I have no idea why this is happened. It looks like it's all in InDesign. I really don't want to change these all by hand.
The excel spreadsheet is accurate and has all the information arranged correctly.
Any ideas?

RawrArt wrote:
I'm working on a data merge document of several thousand records (too many to efficiently rename anything by hand). In a record of employees, anyone who has the same last name as someone else gets their departments randomly scrambled among others with the same last name. So if there are two employees with the same last name, their departments are switched. If there are more, they are scrambled.
I have 6 fields: First name, Last name, Box number, Phone extension, Department, and Job title. The only field that I am seeing problems with is Department.
I have no idea why this is happened. It looks like it's all in InDesign. I really don't want to change these all by hand.
The excel spreadsheet is accurate and has all the information arranged correctly.
Any ideas?
I can't guess why this happens; perhaps others on the forum know with some certainty.
However, one workaround might be to create a unique identifier for each employee in a new column in the spreadsheet. After sorting the records as you like, use an Excel formula or Fill command to insert a sequential number for each row, in the new column's cell. Include the unique field in the merge in a tiny text frame, with white text color, or non-printing property.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

Data Merge with books

I am working on making a book with InDesign and have prepared with data merge a sequence of images to appear on each right page. If I create a merged document, it works fine as long as the target is a single document. I have many documents I wish to apply the sequence to, in a book. If I try to make a merged document with the book, it only merges a single document. How can I apply data merge to the entire book? This is urgent.

I think you should back up and describe what you're trying to do with more detail. What Data Merge does is it creates a new InDesign document. If your document is already done and you want some way to add an image in the whitespace of your right margin on each page, then Data Merge (at least by itself) is not the tool you want to use. Have you tried it yet? Try a really simple data merge. Make a CSV with a few values, then
1) Start a blank InDesign doc
2) Select your data source from the Data Merge panel
3) Insert your placeholders
4) Create Merged Document
5) ... and watch as Data Merge makes a brand new document with your merged data. You can't use Data Merge if the chapter INDDs in your Book file are already complete.
So, if you already have a Book file and a bunch of completed chapters, then Data Merge won't work for you, without some additional steps. Maybe we can suggest a workaround? That will be hard right now, but if you tell us more about how you are using your Book file, and how many chapters you have, and et cetera, then perhaps we can come up with something better than:
1) Start a blank InDesign doc
2) Select your data source from the Data Merge panel
3) Insert your placeholders
4) Export to PDF
5) Open your first chapter file
6) Make a new layer for your image (optional)
7) Use the MultiPageImporter script to import just the pages you need for your first chapter from the PDF you made in no. 4 above
8) Save your chapter
9) Open your next chapter file
10) Go to no. 6 above, and repeat the cycle until all of your chapters have your right-hand-images
So, yeah, that would be a lot of work for a large book. But it would be less work than placing your images manually, right? We might be able to suggest something that takes even less work if we knew what you were doing.

Variable text files in CS 5.5 data merge

I have a document that I need to change the text in the document based on a variable in the data file that is being used for the data merge. For example if the are in group A the get letter from text document A, if they are in group B they get the letter from text document B.
Can the data merge in CS 5.5 do this?

not with text and not by itself, but a solution is workable.
indesign's data merge can't place text files as if they were merging pictures, but it can place pictures from jpg, eps, pdf... if the text which changed was a picture, say a PDF, then this would be fine.
as to telling data merge what is variable, indesign won't parse the data as such... it'll just put the data wherever the placeholders were. if you want if/else statements, these need to be done in the excel file first prior to saving as a text file for indesign.
so yes, what the OP wants is do-able, but not "off of the shelf" - some manipulation in excel is required.

Using Data Merge to Create a 508 Compliant Document

I've been tasked to create a 508 compliant document from an existing InDesign document. This is a document that uses Data Merge to fill in a form along with 2-3 photos, and a location map. Each photo and the map need to have Alt Text descriptions. I know how to apply Alt Text in the structure panel. I would like to add Alt Text to these graphics in the document I am using to create the merged document. When I do so then create the data merged document it drops all of the Alt Text. Does anyone know a remedy for this problem?
I appreciate any input. Thank you.
-Ben

Australia doesn't have section 508 so I'm not quite sure what is required by law... but if it's a line of type such as a description, should be do-able.
Two ways:
1) If the images have a description or a title in the IPTC metadata, the data merge frame containing the image could simply have a caption containing either the description or title on another layer (that is possible from captions) and then that layer is toggled on/off depending on what output is required
2) Much the same as above, but instead of using the IPTC metadata, this uses an additional field in the datamerge database. A textbox is put above the image (again, in another layer) and that textbox contains the description from the datamerge database. Just as in the previous solution, the layer is toggled on/off depending on what output is required.
Or am I barking up the wrong tree and need a layman's definition of what section 508 requires?
Colly

Data Merge - many records, good alternative?

Hello,
I need to data merge 780 records. And to top it all off, each record will be two pages...So we're looking at a total of 1560 pages. I know InDesign data merge isn't meant for this many records.
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good alternative. Perhaps a plugin or another program?
Thanks a lot,
kdubbie

I think Data Merge could handle it just fine, but if there is other static content on these two pages, you'd be far better off finding a printer with VDP capabilities. The Data Merged doc requires processing ALL of the content on each page before printing it where a true VDP solution like XMPie would process the static data once, then insert the varialbe data into the print stream.
Are you concerned about the merge itself, or printing it after?

Can i use data merge with pdf images in indesign?

Hi need to do a data merge but with pdf's not jpg or tifs. I am having the result with jpgs but not with pdf's.
Can i do it with pdf's?

in fact that is not a problem because i have both pdfs same size and orientated, the only thing is that i cannot use the pdf docs for some reason.
eg. in the csv file i have (this is not working)
Field 1                                      Field2
'@background                          '@page
Machintosh HD:bg1.pdf           Machintosh HD:page1.pdf
eg. in the csv file i have (this works)
Field 1                                      Field2
'@background                          '@page
Machintosh HD:bg1.psd           Machintosh HD:page1.psd
I would like to use the pdf file is there a different way to do so?

Data merge can handle several images por module?

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