Data merge options

Hi everybody. Does any one know of a good tutorial or article on how to use the data merge option in INdesign cs5? I am makeing business cards for a large company and am looking to use date merge to populate all the names, phone numbers and email address. I have had limited success with using data merge to make single record layouts with one card per page. However every time I try to use the multiple record layout I run into isuues. One of which being the whole document moves down and to the left. I am sure it is something simple I am doing wrong but I am having trouble finding any good information on the subject. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks.

fwiw, I find designing multiple up leads to more complications than it's worth. Unless you're going to be doing the final press run, you're effectively trying to impose these cards to early.
Consider doing the merge to a business card size document -
You won't have to meddle with the multiple records per page dilemna .
You can send proofs of the cards as designed at actual size.
You'll eliminate redundant stories and graphics. (The logo stays on the master page in my bcd files. You will have 10 - 100 + instances of the logo in you file. Thinking about it, I'd leave it out of the merge source doc and drop it in the final merged document on a master page)
Future runs are not going to entail the exact qty's and persons (99% certain on this).
Occasionally, not all the persons in company are going to receive the same number of cards initially; Sales staff may receive double the qty as HR and the shipping clerk.
You're not going to have crops marks for these cards. (You could merge 2 wide by 5 down to a 7 x 10 document and print that with crops or add crops after the merge of course.)
It's been a long time, but I'm not fond of grouping and picking apart stories and graphics for cards from a final imposed document for reprints. Rather, I have BCD files that have one page per person, and the source file or pdf proofs get imposed as needed.
Just my thoughts, I manage many business card documents.
This forum can get you over a standard merge document or a mutliple records per page doc in half a day.

Similar Messages

Data Merge Multiple Records Per Page Greyed Out

I am using InDesign cs5.5. I am attempting to create a catalog with the data merge option. I am attempting to do a data merge from the Master Page.
As you can see in the image, I have inserted my fields from the data source file. All images, original file, and data source file are in the same folder. I am inserting this info on the left sheet of the master file. When I select "Create Merged Document" the "select multiple records per page" is greyed out, however, there is plenty of room on the page for the 8 records I want it to show. See image below.
After watching tutorials, reading, etc. I made sure that my document does not have facing pages. I deleted my "page 2" to avoid that conflict. I made sure that the placeholder "allows overwrite from the master". I also deleted my "cache"/settings" by doing "ctrl, alt, shift" when reopening the program. I read that it may be because the files need to be on the right hand sheet of the master, however, when I move my info to the right sheet, I get the following message.
I have watched the tutorial videos, read the entire help section regarding data merge, and have correctly created my data source file. I've tried everything I've seen on the forums, apart from uninstalling and reinstalling. Please tell me that someone can help me figure this out as soon as possible. I'm in crunch time!
Thanks a lot.

Thanks Peter. That helped me un-grey the multiple records. I was able to complete a data merge, however, this is what happens.
As you can see in this image, I have the margins setup the way I prefer, and the data merge previews correctly.
Once I click to merge, this is the new document I get - it's only putting one record per page (even though the multiple records per page is selected), and it inserts this layout, not onto actual pages in indesign. It looks reall odd.
And when you scroll down,
Any suggestions on fixing this?
Also, my InDesign freezes up when I try and do a merge of my entire sheet (182 items). The images above are when I tested doing just records 1-32.
Thanks in advance and thanks for being so prompt yesterday. Very helpful.

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!

Option to auto-fill data merge text?

Is there a way to auto-fill or auto-shrink/enlarge my data merge text entry so that the font size changes automatically and each entry can perfectly fill my text box space? I haven't been able to locate this option...I'm hoping it is possible. Thanks!
I forgot to mention - I'm using InDesign CS4.

Thanks! I did some digging and found a link to scripts...now I just need to figure out how to use scripts!
http://in-tools.com/article/scripts-blog/fun-with-text-fitting-in-indesign/

Data merge frame placement options

Hi
I'm using data merge for a layout which needs a series of black frames stacked on top of each other.
If I have a black keyline all the way around, I get a double thickness line between the frames.
If I have a black keyline around the top and two sides, it works fine apart from the frame at the bottom of the stack as it has a missing line.
The way to get around it to my mind would be to be able to put a negative measurement between the frames, but it's not an option:
Any ideas?
Thanks

It was ticked, but unticking it makes no difference I'm afraid.
It's not a massive issue, it just means I have to add a horizontal rule at the bottom of the stack each time.

Data Merge Layout Options

I am using 5.0.3. on my mac with Leopard 10.5.5
I created a master layout, with a table for a data merge. The table appears on the page one time, but there is definitely room to have it appear more than once.
I want to have the first record appear on the page, and then the second record appear on the same page.
When I click Create Merged Document, the RECORDS tab will not let me select Records Per Document Page; it is greyed out on Single Record. Therefore, when I select the Multiple Record Layout Tab, I cannot set margins or do anything, since it says the options are disabled because Single Record is selected for Records per Document Page.
How do I fix this?
Thank you -
Marion in Rochester

I figured it out.
My master layout was only 1 page but I had inserted about 26 pages in the document, in anticipation of the merge.
once I removed all but one page, everything was fine

Automatization and data merge in CS3

Hi there,
Let me first sketch the problem. As an organization we publish a weekly booklet with a calendar and information about things about to happen, etc. This is all made in InDesign with a header on the first page (only on the first page), followed by the calendar and then a big text field on multiple pages with all the different subjects (and not in different text fields because it's the only way to be able to add an extra topic without having to move all the fields automatically). All the different topics are sent to us by mail, but it's a very time consuming job to sort them all out and some topics are easily forgotten.
So, our goal is to let people add topics on the server, which returns - when the deadline is due - us a txt file with all the information (title, text, author, email, calendar item yes or no, calendar information, ...) needed. We then tried to use Data Merge to do the job, but this messes the pages up (the header we only want on the first page comes on every other page as well), it's not so easy to make the calendar items separately and instead of putting all the topics in order in the big text field it creates a new page for every topic.
Is there an efficient way of doing this job, or are we overlooking some options to make it work with Data Merge? Thanks!

That sounds to be beyond the capabilities of DataMerge. Investigate setting up an XML structure and importing your data
as a tagged XML file.
k

Page Numbers Not Appearing in Data Merge Document?

Hello, hopefully someone can help. I am pretty new to InDesign but learning a lot. I am creating a member directory of about 200 pages (about 2800 records merged from .csv to InDesign 6). Everything is working fine with the merge, except generating the page numbers. I tried adding page number at the bottom of the page to the master BEFORE merging. But if I do that, it greys out the "multiple records per page" option when trying to perform the Data Merge (using "Create merged Document"). So, I tried adding the page number to the A-master AFTER creating the merged document, but the page number is not appearing on any of the pages. There must be a way to do this, can anyone help?
(FYI - to generate the auto page numbers, I am going to the Type-Insert Special Character-Markers-Current Page Number, and placing that within a text field at the bottom of the page. Thanks in advance. )

Here is a screen shot. I have placed it on the A-Master. See Screenshot#1. Screenshot #2 shows Page 70 with no page number (and no other pages have page numbers that I can see. Thanks for your advice on fixing....
Sorry, here is screenshot #2, (with personal details redacted but the records are there behind the grey boxes):

Indesign CS3 Data Merge "Merge Records" Command. Help?

I'm looking to automate the merging of a mountain of records. I have 587 tab-delimited text files with 40 records each. I want to process these via Data Merge using a single pre-designed template with built-in placeholders and variable data fields, including a variable barcode graphic. In the end, I want to create 704 multi-page, 6-up per page, indesign files with merged data, and 704 multi-page PDFs.
Here's where I am at. Using a combination of AppleScript, TextWrangler and InDesign CS3, I am able to set up a loop where I can open the single template, save it to a new file with a new name, change its data source to the appropriate text file, and as a test, make a PDF of the template using the correct export preset. What I cannot seem to do is get the template to perform a "Create Merged Document...".
In InDesign CS3's AppleScript dictionary there is a command called "Merge Records" under the Data Merge section. It appears to do exactly what I am after. But when I try to use it (and the good Lord knows I have tried numerous permutations), it only returns errors like "Adobe InDesign CS3 got an error: active document doesn't understand the merge records message."
Anyone know what I am doing wrong? I have set up a separate AppleScript for testing purposes that opens up the template, saves it under a new name, and attempts a "merge records" command. Here it is. Maybe someone smart out there can tell me what I am doing wrong.
set templatePath to "Welch_Jobs:0_JOBS:280019_Churchill:WPC FILES:Workup:280019_6up_master template.indt" as text -- the main template file that will be modified, saved with a new name, then merged with its data to create a new merge file
set newTemppath to "Welch_Jobs:0_JOBS:280019_Churchill:WPC FILES:Workup:goody.indd" as text
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
open file templatePath
tell active document
save to newTemppath
merge records
end tell
end tell
I have this feeling that this is a command that is actually unsupported. Google searches have been fruitless except for one poor soul who can't get it to work either. I have, however, seen that a similar JavaScript command exists called "DataMerge.mergeRecords". If it is impossible to do this via AppleScript, is it possible to make a JavaScript that will do it, and access the JavaScript with a "do script" command in the main AppleScript? If so, how would I accomplish this? What whould the JavaScript look like, and where do i need to put it?
I would greatly appreciate any help you, dear reader, can give me on this.

Well, did you look at the dictionary?:
merge recordsv : Merges records and produces an optional overset report.
merge records
data merge
output overset report file alias or
text] : The path to the file in which to store the overset report.
Note also that it's part of the Preferences Suite, not the Datamerge suite. Do you see differently?
Anyhow, you're clearly not calling it with a data merge parameter.
I also have a suspicion that it needs to not be inside a "tell active document" but it probably doesn't matter.
But my AppleScript is rusty.

Can I use InDesign's Data Merge for more than just address labels?

I am a Graphic Designing working on a new science exhibition in Melbourne, Australia.
I'm trying to streamline the way we import our label content into InDesign (currently cut and paste from Word which is slow and leaves room for error). I've been going down the path of having a macro developed which converts the Word content into a csv file so I can then import this into InDesign through data merge, however the import is falling over.
Through testing we can conclude that data merge doesn't like paragraph breaks, en-dashes and apostrophies (and possibly more we haven't come across) and will only import data up until one of these items occurs in the data. We've tested a number csv file formats however we can't find a solution.
Has anyone come up with a solution for this? My macro developer would be keen to get a hold of a working csv file that deals with these issues...
Thanks!

I have done what you are describing, with Word & InDesign, on a daily basis, for years. Word is not the best choice for this kind of workflow, of course, but if I had to choose between placing Word & doing a data merge with CSV, I'd be torn. Neither one is really the tool for the job. XML import would suit you better, but if you're already midstream in VBA development, there's no point in trying to describe why placing carefully styled RTFs and clearing overrides is better than writing VBA to clean up Word files and turn them into CSV.
(Look at style mapping in Import Options when placing a Word file for future projects.)
(Also: it's not extra codings that you want to apply in VBA, it's purging Word-specific "Symbols" and just using true Unicode values for em dashes and other typographical symbols.)

Data merged text into boxes assigned for InCopy doesn't display merged text, only the placeholder

I think I found a bug.
I created an InDesign document for use in InCopy for a client. The end goal is to data merge a whole array of documents for the client, who can open them in InCopy and update the text.
I designed the layout
I created the assignments for InCopy (which stories and images the InCopy user could edit)
I then set up a data merge to pre-populate content like contact details, portrait photos etc
When I merged the final document, two things happened.
The images didn't respond to the Content Placement Options (fill proportionally), they all just got placed at 100% size ratio (they did centre though)
The data merge fields didn't populate the placeholders with the relevant text. All of the fields just came up as their placeholders <<Phone>> <<Fax>> etc
As soon as I deleted the assignments and re-merged, the image settings were being applied and the fields were populating the documents.
I'm using the latest version on CC, 10.0.0.70.
Anyone else had this issue? It's very specific but it is a bug.

A couple of other users have reported similar problems, and it appears to be a bug when you go from preview to merge. If you undo out of preview, or skip it entirely, before hitting themerge button, does it work?

Data Merge with photos, for a photobook, and also a DVD(?)

I'm using CS4 on a Mac - am considering upgrading to 5.5.
I've used Data Mege to create documents for in-house printing with good success. It seems nearly fool-proof. I viewed a David Blattner video on Lynda.com that shows how easy it is to incorporate photos into Data Mege as well.
Have any of you used InDesign to create a photobook, and if so, can you reccomend a company that can work with InDesign files rather than requiring you to learn their proprietary layout software? I want to preserve and share several old family photo options. I'm scanning the photos and typing their captions into a spreadsheet.
Is there some way this could also be turned into a DVD using the same set-up so that I can make the individual photo files and their captions available to other family members?

For a multiple record merge you need one set of placeholders, then set the margins and spacing in the merge options so the positioning is correct.
Warning: Using Preview in a multiple record merge will corrupt the file. If you press the preview button, Undo after looking at the preview, then merge without using preview.

Multiple records in Indesign Data merge

When I select the option for multiple records in InDesign Date Merge, I still only get one record on a page in preview. When I ask it to create a merged document, each item from the excell file is put on a separate page. Why is this happening, I want 4 items on a page.

Message was edited by: p_lue
I figured out the problem. The margins would have to be smaller for the page to accomodate multiple records. Thanks for offering to help.

How can I utilize text variable in my book which only uses data merge on the first chapter?

Hey ladies and gents, I'm trying to automate a process here and running into trouble. I have the first chapter of a book with several data merge fields (legal documents etc), and want the later chapters to pick up from what I have already merged via text variables or SOMETHING. From what I've tried, the options available to me are limited and buggy.
Using the running header with character styles almost worked, but it removes all visual tracking in text around it (I assume this is a bug) and it only works for the first/last instance of the style. I need something that will fill in all instances.
Here is an example of what I'm doing. In the ch1 document of my book I data merge the Name, Age and Occupation of a person. In chapter two I want to have a variable that takes the name that was merged in ch1. Any ideas? Doesn't seem possible!

I need some solution that references live text, specifically different fields that have been data merged. This solution needs to work between documents, so your cross-reference suggestion was in the right direction. If I data merge 'Plan Name' from a CSV file into my first document and mark it with something (character style, paragraph style, text anchor etc), I want to have places in my other documents that pull that exact text from the first.
If document 1 says 'the plan is XXXX', document 2 will copy that name, i.e. 'According to plan XXXX'. Whatever solution this is it's what I'm looking for.

Multiple record data merge into paragraph styles-applies the wrong style

Hi, I've been working on this project for sometime and everytime I manage to get one part of the workflow to work another seems to break. My agency publishes catalogs in multiple formats: large-print, audio, braille, and HTML. I've been trying to redesing our work process so that the catalogs will be laid out from merged data out of comma-separated file. The data merges have worked fairly well in Word, but InDesign is a challenge. I'm merging multiple records on a page, like a mailing label. The paragraphs need to be formatted and I'm trying to apply a paragraph style to them. After much work, I think I've finally got the data merge to work correctly, but the wrong paragraph styles are applied. I'm going to apply a new master page to the data once the data is merge that uses the paragraph styles for text variable running headers and I need to build a table of contents based on the paragraph styles so I need this to work. Attached are some screenshots.
Master page set up for data merge with paragraph styles:
Here is the merged document with the wrong paragraph styles applied:
I have only a few weeks to get this process ironed out to keep to our rigorous production schedule. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.
thanks,
Lina

I don't remember this happening in past versions. But I mainly use XML. And a quicky test converting your file to XML worked fine (and besides, it ends up all in continuous text frames...).
I don't do much GREP. But you can do this via a Find/Replace.
First, in your main document, you can delete the tags--but do this on a second copy of your working file!
Change your Content Placement options to not remove blank lines (these are in the Datamerge panel).
Then after the merge, change the format of the two blank lines at the beginning of the records without the two lines of data:
Note the Change Format style is changing those two paragraphs to Title.
Then rerun the find to remove the two blank paragraphs.
I suspect this can be done easier. I am sitting awaiting an appointment and cannot go much further than this for now, sorry.

Data merge options

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