Data Merge shifts page content

I am using Indesign CS6 (Creative Cloud) on a PC with XP as the operating system. I have a finished size card of 4 X 6 and want to place a single field on the card. When I select multiple copies per page, preview and in the merged document, the content shifts off the page to the left. How do I stop this from shifting?

From what I've read here, this is a known issue, and the only remedy is to not preveiw multiple item data merges.
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4855221

Similar Messages

Data merge shifting objects inaccurate

I'm using Data Merge to create adress labels. When I setup border and activate Preview (or create the merged Document) Objects are shiftet wrong. See attached screenshots; please advise. Thank you!
d.

Hi Peter,
thank you for your answer.
I tried skipping the preview, it is shifted in the same way.
(The zero point is set to page corners in both documents - in template doc the margin guides are set to 0 so it maybe looks just different; anyway )
Here I startet a new document, zero set to page corners, skipped the preview - and the objects are again shiftet by 0,122 mm in the merged document
This looks like a rounding calculation error somewhere … why should 10mm suddenly become 9,878mm?

Data merge in pages 5.51

Can anyone help me with a mail merge into Pages 5.51 (OS X Yosemite) from Numbers?

Mail Merge has been removed from Pages 5 along with 100 + other features.
There is an AppleScript floating about these forums that might work if you fiddle with it enough.
Otherwise just use Pages '09 (the one that works).
Peter

Most efficient way to globally shift page content

Hi folks,
I decided to start my InDesign career with something nice and simple: a 326-pp book divided into 57 sections. I just got my first POD proof back, and it all looks good – except that I would like to shift everything down the page by a pica or a quarter of an inch.
The master page setup in my book is not the most efficient. I have an A-master in each story document (= chapter = section) with nothing on it but a single column with margin settings. Then I have two chapter title page masters (recto & verso) and two body text masters (recto & verso). I can modify the masters on my sync source story document, but when I try to sync the changes through the other story documents, I get erroneous placement of headers, and I lose the story- (i.e., chapter-) specific title text (which is entered in the title master pages).
I have been looking for a global fix. I tried adjusting the top margin in the A-master page, but the margin doesn't seem to push page elements down. Another possibility is to set up a global crop routine in Acrobat (my final output is PDF), and then add the material chopped from the bottom back to the top (also in Acrobat). I'd like to find some way of pulling off the necessary shift in InDesign, however. I have a gut feeling it's possible, but a search of the InDesign Help material hasn't turned up anything yet.
Any thoughts?
TIA
Richard Hurley
Grass Valley MultiMedia

"Use the AdjustLayout.jsx, a sample script that ships with InDesign. Go the the Scripts Panel and find it there and double-click it,"
Neat.
The Acrobat crop is the way to make this happen in a hurry, but I had a good time playing with the Script Panel. Thanks for letting me know about it.

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.

Data Merge with images - how to link/embed?

My data merge is working beautifully but I cannot figure out how to properly include images in the data source so they appear in the target document. I'd love a tutorial on this. Anyone?

You can get detailed info about data merge or any content on indesign help itself
Add image fields in the data source file
By adding image fields to the data source file, you can allow a different image to appear on each merged record. For example, when you merge documents that include information from various companies, you may want to include an image of each company’s logo as part of the merge.
Open the data source file.
At the beginning of the data field name, type an “at” symbol (@) to insert text or paths that refer to image files.
The @ symbol is required only in the first line; subsequent lines should include the image paths. Paths, which are case-sensitive, must follow the naming conventions of the operating system in which they’re stored.
(Windows) Example of image references in data source file
Name                    Age                                       Photos
Bill Tucker            36                                          C:\Photos\BillTucker.jpg
Dat Nguyen         53                                          C:\MyDocuments\dat.gif

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 tailor a data merge to reverse the layout for facing pages?

I have used multiple record data merge to create a product catalog. I would like to reverse the content on only one side (i.e., the left pages) so that facing pages are mirrored. I can do this easily one page at a time using Flip Horizontal (and Clear Transformations), but I have not found a way to apply this to half of the document in a more automated way.
Any help would be much appreciated!!

Data merge with multiple records doesn't work that way. All the pages will be identical after the merge, no matter how you set up the template (and the template itself can have only one page).

Create data merged document with data on every second page?

Is it possible to create a data merged document with the variable data only on every second page?
I have set up the pages with the variable data as a master page (on every odd page) with the text box and paragraph style all set up, and I have set 'override master page items' so the data can be placed, but InDesign seems to freeze up when I try to create the merged document?

There should be no problem doing the merge with a two-page master and a two-page template document with fields only on one page (and off the top of my head there's no reason to move them off the master page if that's where you put them). I think the problem here is that rachrachm already has a file of 500 pages (based on another thread asking how to apply masters to every other page).
It's potentially possible to simply place the data file (without the header row) as a text file and auto-flow through the master page frames (can't say for sure without seeing the files), or if the pages without the merge fields are the same just, remove all but the first two pages from the template and do the merge.
As I metioned earlier, though, this is a very inefficient method of producing that sort of document. A true variable data print flow would be better (you'd need to find a commercial printer who can do it with your data file), or the home version would be to make one single page file for the static content, print 250 copies (plus a few extras, just in case), then make a single page merge template, do the merge, and print that on the back of the already printed pages, or as a separate page. It is immeasurably faster to print multiple copies of a document than it is to print a document that has multiple identical pages.

Data Merge: Cannot get multiple records per page

I am working with a client who is trying to do a directory in Indesign. There are about 1,800 people with information like address, title, employer, phone, etc. This info is on an Excel spread sheet. I made a text, tab delimited and a CSV file from the spreadsheet. I set up a two column text box on each page and want these entries to fill the columns. I am only able to get one person's information per page. Multiple records per page yields no different result. I also had the multiple records option grayed out on a couple tries. I have tried this many times, even tried setting up a simple spread sheet with 9 items. No luck. HELP! I'm brand new to this feature.
Chris

the data merge function in indesign doesn't make "next record" merges like word does, but instead merges to fields within fixed text boxes, so one frame = one data merge result. when doing mailing labels in word, there is a field called "next record" which then calls in the next piece of information.
the "next record" field is a vital field which indesign doesn't have and i'd like… but that doesn't answer your question. i can see four ways of doing what you want to do:
1) do a mail merge in word and use the "catalog" feature and do the merge in word. format the word file appropriately using stylesheets, and once the merge is made, save the file and close it. THEN, place the file in indesign and then change the imported stylesheets into something which resembles more like what you want.
2) use indesign's data merge but make sure that multiple record layout is selected in the first dialog box when creating merged document; and that when previewing the records, the records appear to be in one column (even though they are still in separate text frames). merge the document, and in the new document, select all the text frames in the page and then run the MergeTextframes_ID.jsx script which can be found at http://ajarproductions.com/blo…..-indesign/ .this will have to be done page by page and then rethreaded each page, but it's a workaround
3) if the data in the datamerge is a csv, convert the csv to xml. if the csv is small (less than 100K) there is a converter online where the contents of the csv is copied into the converter. it is at http://www.creativyst.com/Prod/15/ . The next step is complicated and needs some knowledge of XML. my advice is to get hold of a book called "Designer's Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML" by James Maivald, and specifically read chapter seven and base your merge on this.
4) visit the third party providers link within the indesign page of the adobe site and have a look at products marketed there... i think teacup software and cacidi software sell products which do more advanced merges within indesign. they're not free though but are designed to handle big catalogues.
hope that helps.
colly

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.

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):

Shift or Adjust All Pages/Content for Print

Is there a way to shift all content in an entire publication by specified amounts, from one central location or command - as a temporary "effect"?
I work with a document containing a set of labels (@70) that print the variable, b&w text portions of products onto otherwise pre-printed labels (color background images and logos).
I export the document to PDF for printing the labels, because the production crew that prints the labels on demand doesn't have access to InDesign (nor do I wish to teach them to use InDesign). So I'm actually printing from the PDF, but nevertheless all the content therefore has to be shifted in InDesign.
When printing, the printer always prints off by @ 1/16" in one or more dimensions. (Changes with the weather, too; or maybe with wear on the printer.) This printer does not have functionality in its driver to shift the page images.
(Getting a different printer is not an answer. We have to have certain printers because they set the ink hot enough to make it stick to the labels, but are still affordable enough. Besides, every printer ends up having its quirks - even our larger printer that is the exact same as those used by Kinkos for more routine color printing.)
Given the quirks printers always have, I'd be sorely surprised if InDesign doesn't offer some functionality to easily allow shifting of all content before printing, exporting to PDF, or other purposes; but I can't find any sign of such a feature. This would be a useful feature, Adobe folks (hint, hint ).
My prior solution for smaller label sets I've created in InDesign, is to create a new layer, copy all content, including those on master pages, and then shift that content, thereby maintaining an exact, true layout for future needs, too. I really don't want to do this for 70 labels, though; plus it'd be nice to not have the worry of potentially creating out-of-sync content between the different layers.
I see Liquid Layouts, but I don't think that'll accomplish what I need any better. I need the page to stay the same size with the content in a slightly different place on it, not to change sizes. Can Liquid Layouts be made to work anyway? It could at least keep the content synced.

I tried to dig up some links for you re: InDesign's excellent support for automation in Javascript, but it seems like recent changes to Adobe help resources have caused link breakage, e.g. what should have been a link to the CS5 Scripting Guide was actually a page about how cool InDesign CS6 is going to be. In Turkish. You don't read Turkish, do you?
If not, forums regular Jongware has a bunch of really useful Javascript reference material publicly available in a variety of formats.You may want to pay a visit to the InDesign Scripting Forum if you are interested in that kind of thing.

Data Merge: Multiple records in a Multiple Page Document

I looked in the InDesign help and under Limitations for merging multiple records it reads:
You cannot merge multiple records if the data fields appear on a document page in a document with multiple pages, or if data fields appear on multiple master pages.
I'm using InDesign CS 5.5. I produce a 4-page newsletter printed on both sides as a booklet, folded and stapled and each folded page size is 8.5 x 11 (a four page booklet on 11×17 paper) I want to print our 250-name mailing list on the outer cover but have discovered that it only prints the whole thing then staples it or I need to manually print each issue per name.
Is there a way around this? If we have to use a third party software, would you let me know what to look for? Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks for your help.
Amy

How many names are you trying to put on each newsletter? I suspect only one, and that you've misiniterpreted the Help file. That warning applies to putting multiple records from the data file on the SAME page, like a sheet of labels.
Just so you know, using Data Merge to do a mailing where you are addressing multiple copies of a static document is potentially VERY inefficent. Data Merge needs to make a page for every page that will be printed, so if you have a 4-page newsletter with 1,000 subscribers you will wind up with a 4,000 page document just to get the name and address on one page, and your printer will be re-processing all those duplicate pages for each newsletter. If you have a commercial grade copier/printer there may be a variable data printing module availble for it that will merge your list at print time so you need only send a 4-page file and print 1000 copies (or you can send the job out to a printer who can handle this kind of work), or if you want to print in-house anddon't have VDP capabilities, I recommend doing two files.
The first file should be the side of the sheet that doesn't change. Print that first as a single page doing x plus a few extra copies (in case of jams in the printer when doing the second half) where x is the number of newsletters you need. The second file is the other side of the sheet with the addresses, which you do as the Data Merge, and will end up as x pages. After printing the first side, flip the stack and reload so you are printing on the blank side, then send the merge document, asking for one copy.

Make Data Merge import certain page of pdf or indesign document

I don't know if it is possible but can you make Data Merge import certain page of pdf or indesign document, this would be great addition for indesign

Here are a couple of questions that might help understand what might need to be done to achieve your request:
* How do you propose to identify the desired page(s) within a PDF and an ID document, so the merge field placeholder knows how to find it?
* How do you propose to keep track of the page if they're re-ordered in an updated document?
* What if the identification marker is within text and flows to a different page - would you want to retrieve the original page (before the reflow) or the new page to which the marker would have flowed?
Perhaps the scripters could comment on the possibility of scripting these.
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices
aybekDes wrote:
I don't know if it is possible but can you make Data Merge import certain page of pdf or indesign document, this would be great addition for indesign

Data Merge shifts page content

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