Data Merge, non sequential

I have a job which consists of 1200 records in an Excel .csv file. I have a 4 up template with I want the first page with csv file number 1, 401, 801 and 1200 for cutting purposes. Is there a way to do this, or would I be better looking at another option and if so, what option? Maybe an imposition software adon?
Thanks a bunch for any help in advance..
John

No, you need to arange the data file in the correct order. It's pretty easy for a single field -- you just break out columns in the spread sheet for each position on the merge template, then fill downwards until the correct number of rows is reached, which is one row per sheet in the stack, then fill the next column, and so forth. I don't see any reason why you can't do the same with multiple fields, in other words have a record with Stack1field1, stack1filed2, stack1field3 ... stack4field1, stack4field2, stack4field3. Then just drag the fields int the correct positions. Do a single record/page merge.

Similar Messages

Why won't data merge allow more than one data source at a time?

I need to number tickets, 8 up on a tabloid page, in InDesign (CS5)
I have found out how to use data merge, but it won't allow me to select more than one data source at a time, therefore, making me use 800 sheets of paper instead of 100. That's not acceptable!! Is there a way to merge the pdfs if I make 8 different ones in the places they need to be? Each file that I export will have 100 pages, so is there a way to merge the files to put all eight tickets on each sheet, sequentially? This is driving me nuts!!!!!!!

Past users have solved this frustrating problem. You can find their solutions with a Google search like "InDesign data merge multiple sequential items on one page" without quotes.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices
Frankie at Quad wrote:
I need to number tickets, 8 up on a tabloid page, in InDesign (CS5)
I have found out how to use data merge, but it won't allow me to select more than one data source at a time, therefore, making me use 800 sheets of paper instead of 100. That's not acceptable!! Is there a way to merge the pdfs if I make 8 different ones in the places they need to be? Each file that I export will have 100 pages, so is there a way to merge the files to put all eight tickets on each sheet, sequentially? This is driving me nuts!!!!!!!

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

How Do I get data merge to work without creating duplicate pages in a single page native file?

I've called Adobe about this and they indicated it was some kind of setting that needed to be changed in InDesign, but wouldn't tell me how to do it unless I paid for an "incident pack" and talked with technical support.
Problem: I have a single page document in InDesign CS5. It's a direct-mail postcard with large high-res images and complicated graphics on it. I want to merge a list of recipients names/addresses from Excel with this single-page design. Excel document has 2,000 names in it.
I successfully create the merge using InDesign's data merge feature, but it creates a new InDesign document with 2,000 pages in it. Each page is a duplicate of my original file, but with different addresses on each page. Because of the multiple records and the high res images it has created 2,000 duplicates of - InDesign crashes. It also took about 4 hours to do the merge.
There has got to be a better way to merge data w/o it created the same page over and over again.
I can't make a pdf to solve this problem becasue I have to work with an in-house printer and they do a poor job of printing from pdf. So, I always send them native files. This printer does not have variable data software. However, if that is the fast and easy solution to this problem - I will force them to purchase it.
Any advise or solution to this problem would be appreciated. Is there a setting in InDesign that needs to change so it doesn't repeat the single page design 2,000 times and cause InDesign to crash?
Thank you.

That's exactly how Data Merge works. If it's on the page, it gets duplicated. 2000 records is a lot, so I'm not sure if the images or the sheer number is what's slowing things down.
One thing you can try is to moove everything EXCEPT the merge placeholders to a master page, then assign the [None] master to the page with the placeholder anbd do the merge. Change the master to the one with your static content after the merge. That might speed up the merge, but it won't do anything for the file being 2000 pages that each has to RIP for printing. The best way to deal with this is to find a printer who can do VDP printing and give him the template file and your data file, and let him do the merge in the print stream.

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

Is there a way to name the .indd files created by a data merge with values in the CSV file

I have a data merge document that is set to single Record per Document page and 1 page per document. In my CSV file I have a field for Part Number. If I run a data merge with 10 records I end up with 10 .indd files. I need a way so that the resulting .indd files are named the same value that is in the Part Number field.

Loic has provided a link for my original piece, and I've written up some follow-up pieces for indesignsecrets.com:
http://indesignsecrets.com/data-merging-individual-records-separate-pdfs.php
http://indesignsecrets.com/data-merging-individual-records-separate-pdfs-part-2-scripting. php
So there are several ways to get unique name PDFs from an indesign Data Merge. However, none of these 3 articles will truly answer your question of how to get unique indesign filenames using the database. I can see a practical purpose for this as merging business cards directly to PDFs is great, but I can be guaranteed that while on proof, there will be alts to the business cards that need to be done outside the merge, meaning specific records need to be exported to indesign files for further manipulation.

Data Merge not picking up all data fields

Hi,
I've been having a problem, posted here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1217090
Essentially, I have been using the script 'CSV2Tables' to prepopulate simple 2 column tables with information drawn from a CSV data source.
The tables consist of a title, and a block of information about that specific subject. Many of the blocks of information I am importing also contain data tags (<<DataTag>>)
The plan is to use CSV2Tables to populate the tables, then change data source and run a normal ID Data Merge to replace all of the <<tags>> within the tables with information from a second CSV data source.
The problem is, CSV2Tables is importing the data and prepopulating the tables just fine, but the data tags that are found within each body of text are being picked up as plain text (as Peter Spier has pointed out, they are being drawn from a plain text stream rather than being dragged from the Mail Merge panel) so when I try to run the ID Mail Merge, none of the fields are found within my document.
My question is - is there a method, or script available out there that can essentially do a Find/Change within a document, and replace plain text that appears like this <<PlainText>> with a Data Tag that is recognised by ID, which will allow me to run a Data Merge?
I have been told to check out some of the commercial plugins available out there, but registering and setting up demo's would require me to contact our IT provider for each, and that would be an exhaustive process.
Any help is much appreciated.

Hi,
is modyfied
Array.prototype.find = function (string) {
    for (var s = 0; s < this.length; s++)
        if (this[s] == string) return s;
        return -1;
var mFrames, mFile, mDoc, mFields, mFieldsNames, mStory,
     mPlainTxt, mNameToCompare, mField_ID;
// edit this with proper .csv path
mFile = File(Folder.myDocuments + "/" + "Merge.csv");
mDoc = app.activeDocument;
mDoc.dataMergeProperties.selectDataSource(mFile);
mFields = mDoc.dataMergeProperties.dataMergeFields;
mFieldsNames = mFields.everyItem().fieldName;
mFrames = mDoc.textFrames.everyItem().getElements();
for (var i = 0; i < mFrames.length; i ++) {
    if (!mFrames[i].name.match(/TF\d*$/) ) continue;
    // script assumes a targered text boxes are named like: TF1, TF2...
     // (TF plus any integer) or just TF (no integer)
    // - they could have the same name
    // any other name exludes frame from this loop
    mStory = mFrames[i].parentStory;
    app.findGrepPreferences = null;
    app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "<<.+?>>";
    mPlainTxt = mStory.findGrep(true);
    for (var k = 0; k < mPlainTxt.length; k++) {
        mNameToCompare = mPlainTxt[k].contents.slice(2,-2);
        mField_ID = mFieldsNames.find(mNameToCompare);
        if (mField_ID > -1) {
              mField = mFields[mField_ID];
            mDoc.dataMergeTextPlaceholders.add (
                mStory,
                mPlainTxt[k].insertionPoints[0],
                mField
        mPlainTxt[k].remove();
script assumes a targered text boxes are named like:
TF1, TF2... (TF plus any integer) or just TF (no integer) -
- they could have the same name.
Jarek

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

Scripting a file name change as a data merge element.

My goal of the work being done with InDesign is to utilize the Data Merge functionality of InDesign and the, already available, ability to create a new document per record in your data source where the docuement name is changed based on data contained in the data source.
A very simple example of this would be the following:
EXAMPLE
======================
Given the following data source in excel:
First_Name
Last_Name
ResultingFileName
George
Smith
c:\A45.pdf
Mary
Lopez
c:\C99.pdf
Steve
Barns
c:\tmp\XM96TR.pdf
Along with a simple two text box InDesign documents, I would perform a standard data merge with First_Name linked to one text box and Last_Name linked to another. By setting the “Record Limits Per Document” to 1, I would end up with three different documents. By default, the documents would be named Untiltled-1, Untiltled-2 and Untitled-3.
Untitled-1 would contain George and Smith. Untitled-2 would contain Mary and Lopez and Untitled-3 would contain Steve and Barns.
At this point in time, I would run the new created script, which would do the following:
            Rename Untitled-1 to A45 and/or save Untitled-1 as C:\A45.pdf
            Rename Untitled-2 to C99 and/or save Untitled-2 as C:\C99.pdf
            Rename Untitled-3 to XM96TR and/or save Untitled-3 as c:\tmp\XM96TR.pdf
I am open to modifying the manner in which the data merge source is created. For example, separating the path and the file name into separate columns. In addition, I am flexible in putting preset information and/or file save types into the data merge document.
Please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]
Thanks in advance for the help.
Matt

Hi Matt,
I think it’s better to use an XML-based approach for your task.
I’ve never scripted Data Merge process, but I don’t see a straightforward way of doing it. May be you can create the 3rd textbox on pasteboard or a non-printing layer, which will contain the file path from ‘ResultingFileName’ field, and the contents from which can be used for naming & saving the current file and exporting it to pdf-file. But this approach is so clumsy.
Instead, you’d better to keep your data in excel file, or even better Access or some other database program.
Export the data from it in XML-format.
Then import it to an InDesign file and process it by script. XML support is very powerful in InDesign: you can process your data by xml-rules. I once made a script for a newspaper, which processed data for classified ads. The script applied all formatting, changed colors for different headings and placed images.
Kasyan

Data Merge character set problem

Hi all,
i am trying to use data merge function. Whatever i do i cannot able to import my csv (or tab delim.) properly. I have Turkish characters in data file. When i open file from text editor i can see the chars. properly. I can also write in InDesign properly(my normal workflow).
After i import into InDesign(from data merge) some chars doesn't show properly. I changed text field language Turkish, or none. whatever i did, i failed. I will be glad if someone help me with this.
Thanks again.

I don't have any Turkish text handy, but I recently did data merges in Chinese, Croatian, and Russian, and they all went off without a hitch.
Do you know what encoding your Turkish CSV file is in? I'm guessing that it's not in Unicode. When you go to select your file for the data merge, make sure you click the "Import Options" button. This will allow you to select a delimiter character and encoding for your data file.
The only way I'm sure that it works is to save a Unicode Text file out of Excel (it's one of the options in the dropdown) and import that as a Unicode tab-delimited file in the "Import Options" menu. There may be other methods, but this is the way I've been doing non-ASCII data merges.
If my summary above doesn't work for you, let me know; I'd be happy to go dig up some random Turkish text and write up some step-by-step instructions for doing a problem-free data merge in Turkish.

SAP (ECC) extractor to transfer data into Non SAP System

Hi Experts,
Scenario : We had a requirement to decommission the existing SAP BW system and merge it into Non SAP BI system (say MSBI).
Existing BW system getting data from standard extractor and populating till cubes.
Now If this SAP BW system will be decommissioned and all the data needs to be moved to new Non SAP System BI.
What will be the approached for this smooth transfer.
Will SAP (ECC) std extractor will be used to move the data into non SAP BI system ? How ?
Any documentation and experience will be helpful.
Thank-You.
Regards,
VB

Hi VB,
First you need to identify that your MSBI system support BCI(business content integration) method. For example Informatica support BCI and provide RFC plugins to integrate with SAP. If your MSBI support BCI method then you can use standard dataextractors to extract data in new BI system. You will also need to plan the reporting model and how the extracted data will be feeded in your BI datamodel/reporting side. You may use some transformation reference from your existing SAP BI system.
Thanks
Amit

Multiple Data Merge - Problem Resolve... Sort Of

I've researched this issue all morning and found issues dating back to 2012 regarding the problems with Indesign's Multiple Record Data Merge. Many of the issues are answered with the basic set up. Create a new page as a single page and non facing page document. It appears that an earlier bug was resolved that caused data merge documents to be placed off center when produced. The issue that I was experiencing was similar to what I had seen but not covered or not answered when it appeared someone was posting a question about it.
I started with a single page document, non-facing page, no initial text box, and sized to 8.5'' x 11''. I'm layout out name badges 10-up on a page. I had a previous template that had some graphics in the background for alignment purposes. I created a blank master page and a record holder for the name badge then loaded my data source, placed my data entries, and styled accordingly. Upon creating a data merge I selected Multiple Record and then previewed the data merge and positioned the elements on the page using the data merge controls top, left and column placement commands.
The preview looked perfect. The problem came when I finished the final data merge. The resulting page was not correct and looked nothing like the preview. Records were strewn about the page and excessive amounts of pages were created. I spent 4 hours trouble shooting this, far more than this project was billed. At this point it was a mission. In a reply dated back around 2013 I found that someone had removed a layer from their document. I had no layers. The only thing that was not a part of the actual data merge was the graphics that I had on the page for positioning that were not tied to the data merge at all.
I decided to delete these graphics and try to apply the data merge again. The results were perfect. I'm deducing from this experiment that the data merge needs to be done on a blank page. Which is counter productive to the Indesign mater page template. Any elements on the page need to exist as a a part of your data entry group and no other elements on the page. You only create one data entry group in the top corner of the page then use the data merge panel to position and duplicate. Otherwise, you will get a single page for each record you have with each record set 10-up in my case.
Recap:
Create a single non-facing page document with no intial text box. (if you have more than one page the Multiple Records option will be grayed out)
Only have 1 layer in this document
Set a single data entry set/group on the master page.
Do not include any other graphics. Put them in after the data merge.
Click the Create Merged Document button in the data merge panel
Select "Multiple Records" from the drop down list
Click the Multiple Record Layout tab at the top of the Data Merge panel
Click "Preview Multiple Record Layout" at the bottom of the Data Merge panel so you can see the Entry Sets with the data in place
Use the Margins and Layout or Records inputs to position the elements on the document (see note below)
Click OK when everything is in place the way you like it.
After the data merge is complete you will have a new document that should look like you want it to. Now you can go into this document and start adding your design elements.
NOTE: Positioning the content without the base graphics can be tough if not impossible. What I did in this situation is placed my positioning guides on the page then went through Steps 1-9 to set up the document for merge. Once my settings were set I then clicked "Cancel" and deleted my positioning guides and graphics. The problem I was having was due to these elements being on the page. Once I created the document I then pasted my template guides back into the final data merged master page for production.
Request to ADOBE: Fix this issue so we can design our layouts and position our data merge elements without having to backtrack.

If you insist in multi-record data merge, you can have static/variable graphic and text components work. But, create a 3.5 x 2 frame (3.75 x 2.25 card w/bleed) around all of these components, and make sure nothing extends beyond this bounding frame. If the composition prevents you from enclosing all components, then make a PDF of content that is imported in as one graphic.
Another suggestion: don't combine the functions of variable data merge with imposition.
Create a 1up layout of business card to data merge the variable info.
From this file, export to PDF.
Then impose the individual cards with: an imposition app, PDF plug-in, Indesign script, or even manual placement into another document.

"ghost" links in altered data-merged document

I created a catalog using Data Merge. After it was finished, I was asked to remove seveal of the items. I didn't go back to the database and remerge the document, because I'd already done a lot of minor revisions to the finshed document. After collecting for output, I noticed that all the photos that were removed from the finished doument are still showing in the links panel as missing. They show < > for the page, and "go to link" doesn't work.
I'd like to get these out of the Links panel to avoid confusion when the file is sent to the printer. Any ideas how to delete a link that doesn't seem to really be there?

Thanks, Peter
When I tried that, InDesign chocked on the resulting INX file. But that did give me the idea of using the "move pages" feature to move all 68 pages to a new document, and that got rid of the non-existant links.

Multiple Records Data Merge issue

Hi all, could really use some help here, I've been trying to solve this for hours now:
Made 3 different designs for labels that I'm printing based off of Avery label templates for InDesign. When I go ahead to do my data merge on any of them, I select "Multiple Records" under Records per Document Page, but the preview and the actual creation just spit out a single unique label onto each new page. For example, I'm using 2x4" labels on 2 of these, so it should print 10 per page, but instead of putting 10 unique labels on a page, it puts each new label on a new page. Therefore, instead of 100 pages for the 1,000 labels I'm printing, I end up with 1,000 pages.
I know to double check the size constraints on the text box and make sure it fits when duplicated, and to my understanding, that is looking like it's fine. I'm also fairly certain that the CSV files I'm using are in the right format, too. I'm pretty stuck at this point as to what I need to do to fix this problem, any guidance would be awesome. Below are screenshots of what I'm looking at, please let me know if there's anything else I can provide that would help diagnose the problem.

I thinnk the easiest way to deal with this would be to make sure all the template information from Avery is on the master page. Leave it active while you do the layout in the upper left position ON THE DOCUMENT PAGE, then assign the None master to leave nothing showing but your placholders and added art.
Reassign the template master after the merge.

Data Merge: Layout Adjusting to Varying # of Fields?

Greetings all,
A friend is producing a PDF report for different countries to show what diseases exist in each country. I think a data merge might work, but she will want to list information only about diseases that are present in a given country. Right now, there are blank / null cells in the spreadsheet for non-applicable diseases. Essentially, we’d like to collapse the display of any missing data fields (and its accompanying table) so that only relevant data is shown. So if we had three diseases total (A, B, C) and only two were present in a country (A & C), we’d like to produce:
Table. Disease A
Info, data in table
Table. Disease C
Info, data in table
Is this possible using InDesign’s data merge (or another feature)? Perhaps using content placement options? Any other ideas? I think the goal is to have different tables for each disease, though I’m not sure if that will affect the process. Many thanks in advance for the help; my InDesign experience is very limited!
Sincerely,
Eric

Awesome, thanks Eugene! I'll do some reading on table looks and styles. It sounds like we may be able to suppress tables if all their fields are left blank (or something similar)? If another question comes up, I'll post a mock-up of the final product.
Many thanks for the prompt reply.
Eric

Data Merge, non sequential

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