Data merge skipping one cell

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

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

Similar Messages

Data Merge - Change Text/Cell Characteristics based on Data Value

I am working on a letter that is sent to our diabetic patients during their birthday month...the letter will contain the last known test results and date for several measures and then recommend action based on those results.
The data comes from a text file (csv file separated by "^") generated by our Electronic Medical Record (EMR) database...
What I need is a script or tool that will recognize specific text and then change the font size and cell background for that particular field...
In the first example below, everything is normal, so there is no notification necessary...
In the second example, the BP is too high (calculation is performed by our EMR), so the csv file includes "Due Now" and "Yes" for the final two columns in the table. The script needs to recognize "Due Now," enlarge the font, change the color, and change the background color of the cell, and then recognize "Yes" and do the same.
Is this possible? Is there a tool/script/method that I need?
Example 1
CSV File Text:     ^130/70 (3-28-2011)^Next Visit^No^
InDesign Table:
Measure
Your Goal
Your Results
Next Test?
Contact Doctor?
Blood Pressure
< 130/80
130/70 (3-28-2011)
Next Visit
No
Example 2
CSV File Text:     ^160/90 (3-28-2011)^Due Now^Yes^
InDesign Table:
Measure
Your Goal
Your Results
Next Test?
Contact Doctor?
Blood Pressure
< 130/80
160/90 (3-28-2011)
Due Now
Yes
Thanks!
B. Mark Hooten
Medical Media, Mail Room, Print Shop
O k l a h o m a C i t y V A M C

Mark.Hooten wrote:
I am working on a letter that is sent to our diabetic patients during their birthday month...the letter will contain the last known test results and date for several measures and then recommend action based on those results.
The data comes from a text file (csv file separated by "^") generated by our Electronic Medical Record (EMR) database...
What I need is a script or tool that will recognize specific text and then change the font size and cell background for that particular field...
In the first example below, everything is normal, so there is no notification necessary...
In the second example, the BP is too high (calculation is performed by our EMR), so the csv file includes "Due Now" and "Yes" for the final two columns in the table. The script needs to recognize "Due Now," enlarge the font, change the color, and change the background color of the cell, and then recognize "Yes" and do the same.
Is this possible? Is there a tool/script/method that I need?
Example 1
CSV File Text:     ^130/70 (3-28-2011)^Next Visit^No^
InDesign Table:
Measure
Your Goal
Your Results
Next Test?
Contact Doctor?
Blood Pressure
< 130/80
130/70 (3-28-2011)
Next Visit
No
Example 2
CSV File Text:     ^160/90 (3-28-2011)^Due Now^Yes^
InDesign Table:
Measure
Your Goal
Your Results
Next Test?
Contact Doctor?
Blood Pressure
< 130/80
160/90 (3-28-2011)
Due Now
Yes
Thanks!
B. Mark Hooten
Medical Media, Mail Room, Print Shop
O k l a h o m a C i t y V A M C
Have you considered programming the database application to perform the logic tests, combine the data with the appropriate InDesign tagged text markup, and output the result as an InDesign tagged text file in .txt format? You can then place the tagged .txt file in a new blank InDesign file.
Search Google for terms like "InDesign tagged text user guide" without quotes for the tagged text guide and related links. Export an InDesign file as tagged text to get an idea of what's involved. In fact, you can use the tagged text exported from your data merge setup as the basis for what the coded database needs to do. You need to open the tagged text file in a text editor, not in InDesign.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

Multiple data merges on one page

I have created a postcard that I need to be sent out to clients. To save money, we have put three postcards on one 12 x 18 sheet of paper. I am trying to put three data merges on each sheet for customers addresses. Is this possible? I can provide an image if necessary.

Hi ryaniscreative,
This is absolutely possible, I do this often for variable data nametags on Avery labels. However, our printer should be able to automatically get this done for you if you are printing this digitally. Our Cannon printers have the capability position files (front and back) 2-up, 3-up, etc. I am sure this is the case for most digital printers on the market. Ask your printer and they should do this automatically, in which case you would build the file at full-size and Data Merge as normal.
Never-the-less, here is how to do it manually:
1. Create your 12" x 18" document in InDesign CC(2014).
2. Drag your postcard art into the 12" x 18" document and create Crop Marks manually for this postcard template art.
3. Position this postcard template art to the upper left corner of the document.
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5. In your Data Merge Palette, and in the Drop Down Menu in the Upper Right Corner, select Create Merged Document.
6. Under the Records for Document Page section, select Multiple Records and then at the bottom of the dialog box select Preview Multiple Record Layout.
7. Click on the Multiple Record Layout tab.
8. Adjust the margins and column spacing in the dialog boxes according to your intent of positioning and the specs of the design.
9. Hit OK to have InDesign begin creating a merged document out of all of your list variables.**
**If you want to simply generate a PDF then in Step 5, instead of selecting Create Merged Document, hit Export to PDF.
NOTE: This can only be done with a one-sided design. If you need to print graphics on the other side of the postcard (for mailing purposes of course) you will have to do this process again exactly the same way, in a separate InDesign document and then manually create new pages between the existing front side pages and paste in place, from one InDesign document to the other.

CS4: can I apply logic based on data merge?

Hello all,
I'm creating an InDesign document using CS4 that has variable text in it. Some of that variable text is "static", in that it's inserted directly from a data merge. In other cases, though, I'd like to display one block of text (I'd specify) if an element in the data merge had one value and another block of text if the data merge element had a different value. Can I do that with a script? Here's an example: in the data merge file I have a "WorkingHours" element. It can have a value of either "8-5" or "24x7". If the value is "8-5" I want to display "8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday" and if the value is "24x7" I want to display "24 hours, 7 days a week". I want the text to display in a cell in a table in my document.
If I can do this, do I just create the script, save it, then select it via the data merge panel to insert it in the cell where I want the output data to be displayed?
Thanks a lot,
Ed

EdwinJaquaAtWork wrote:
Hello all,
I'm creating an InDesign document using CS4 that has variable text in it. Some of that variable text is "static", in that it's inserted directly from a data merge. In other cases, though, I'd like to display one block of text (I'd specify) if an element in the data merge had one value and another block of text if the data merge element had a different value. Can I do that with a script? Here's an example: in the data merge file I have a "WorkingHours" element. It can have a value of either "8-5" or "24x7". If the value is "8-5" I want to display "8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday" and if the value is "24x7" I want to display "24 hours, 7 days a week". I want the text to display in a cell in a table in my document.
If I can do this, do I just create the script, save it, then select it via the data merge panel to insert it in the cell where I want the output data to be displayed?
Thanks a lot,
Ed
Hi, Ed:
It's probably more conventional to perform this kind of logic when creating the source material for the merge, However, if the text items "8-5" and "24x7" will always require the exact substitution that you describe, you can probably create a GREP paragraph style for the cells that expect the content that needs substitution. I'm not a GREPper, but perhaps a GREP guru on this forum will suggest the proper notation to make it happen...automatically, of course. The GREP action will ignore any paragraph that lacks the exact item to be substituted.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

Data copying in multiple cells

I transferred a file from a database that will only save reports in Notepad.
I then, cut and paste the data into Excel. However all of the info is merged
into one cell. How can I format this data, so that it will be a simple
worksheet with more than one cell? i.e. Name, SSN, Home address should all be
in different cells

In addition, you can use SSIS import/export wizard to export data into Excel:
http://www.sqlusa.com/bestpractices/ssis-wizard/
Kalman Toth Database & OLAP Architect
IPAD SELECT Query Video Tutorial 3.5 Hours
New Book / Kindle: Exam 70-461 Bootcamp: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Inconsistent placement of anchored text frame in data merge document

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

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

Data Merge Multiple Records Per Page

I am working on a directory of 235 names. All the information, ie., name, addresses, emails, phone numbers etc. are in an excel file.
What I need is not each name on individual pages. Is there a way to have the data flow together, like a phone book.
Thank you

If you want to data merge into one text frame without the fuss of stitching lots of frames together, check out a script by Loic Aigon called Inline Merge: http://support.ozalto.com/downloads/inlineMerge.zip
For more information, see a write-up on InDesignSecrets: http://indesignsecrets.com/data-merge-into-inline-anchored-objects-so-they-flow-in-a-story .php/comment-page-1
Colin

Data merge multiple recrds per page

i am rying to place an illustrator file on an "in-design"page and have it print two up on one piece of paper with two seperate address then cut them apart to same money on my printer/contract
all the proper choices are available - IT SEEMS - but i can't get it to work the second record seems to be placed on the second document in my two up layout HELP PLEASE
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If you want to data merge into one text frame without the fuss of stitching lots of frames together, check out a script by Loic Aigon called Inline Merge: http://support.ozalto.com/downloads/inlineMerge.zip
For more information, see a write-up on InDesignSecrets: http://indesignsecrets.com/data-merge-into-inline-anchored-objects-so-they-flow-in-a-story .php/comment-page-1
Colin

Data merge with football tickets. Printing causes out of memory errors. Can only print 10 at a time!

Here's the deal. Printing football tickets for the local high school. 10 tickets per 8.5 x 11 sheet. All black and white. I couldn't data merge into one whole document of tickets because it was failing to do that. So, I end up with 3 documents. First two have 50 pages of tickets and the last has 37 pages.
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Here's a video I took of it ripping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCjvdmXuaYs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUf_1UFp80YLZJfCyIxXEg kg
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IDCS 5.5
OSX 10.8.4

I just ran a sample on my laptop.
AI file, duplicated, is 284k. Image is roughly 200k. The CSV has 2054 records, and the merged document with 10 per page is 250 megabytes. PDF is just under 50 megs.
This laptop has only 4 gigs memory but has a lot of free disk space. It took a good amount of time to do the merge, a bit longer to create the PDF-X1a PDF.
Mike

Data Merge specific cells, multiple (unlimited) entries on one page

HELP!
I've used the mail merge in the past with publisher to create labels and the like....in it on a single page I would code
<<address>> and in another part of the page <<next entry, address>> <<next entry, address>>
and so on and it would fill every area with the next entry in the excel file ad nauseum till complete. It was a simple way to extract specific continuous bits of information and apply it to a document on a single page.
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ewkwgmerz89ggf/Sample.pdf
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We use CS3 in case that is relevant for the topic.
Thanks,
Tinker

I'm looking now but not finding anything promising. The calendar scripts all were for formatting very specific calander shapes and I need to be able (on one page) to have 7 entries in a non symmetrical layout (5 works days, then the weekends one over the other). Do you have any recommendations for scripts you like?
Maybe I'll create a document the holds the information a few date entires per page then place that into the master cropped and moved around as needed. I'm still looking through the exchange for something that makes the tool a little more powerful for me. I'll post it here if I find something that does what I need as that doesn't sound like a very efficient workflow.

I have 20,00 images in my iphoto they have all been merged into one event. How do I restore them to the original events and dates? them

I have 20,00 images in my iphoto they have all been merged into one event. How do I restore them to the original events and dates?

Load the backup from before this happened
LN

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 from one cell to another

Hi when I type in one cell can that data automatically appear in another?

Hello Phij,
Yours is a very basic spreadsheet question. It would be a good idea for you to download the Numbers User Guide PDF that's available from the Numbers Help Menu. There are sure to be many other similar questions that will also be answered by taking a look at the guide.
You can cause the content of one cell to appear in another cell by entering a reference to the first cell in the second one. If the first cell is located at B2 (second column, second row), the equation to make the content of B2 appear in another cell is =B2, in the second cell.
Regards,
Jerry

Multiple indesign files for product brochure one data merge file

I have multiple indesign files for product brochure and there are price changes for various products.
attached is a screen shot of the folder where all the indesign files are located as you can see each one has been laid out as a spread.
Rather than opening each individual indesign file to amend prices can i quickly? or is there a way of compliling all documents into one file and quickly updating the price with the data merge file.
thanks in advance.

Absolutely not.
(1)     PDF/VT-1 files must also be PDF/X-4 files. The “create PDF via distillation of PostScript” method precludes this since PostScript supports neither live transparency nor color management.
(2)     The efficiencies of PDF/VT-1 require use of Forms XOjects and Image XObjects in the PDF file. That requires direct PDF creation that you get from PDF export. This is not available via any route that uses stink'in PostScript as an intermediary.
(3)     Adobe most strongly endorses PDF creation from InDesign via the export function, not printing to PostScript and distilling. Such PostScript is optimized strictly for printing and not for PDF file creation.
          - Dov

How can I select rows of cells and merge them vertically into one cell in each column?

I'm working in CS4 and need to be able to select 2 to 6 rows of cells (with many columns) in a table and then merge the selected cells vertically into one cell in each column. A few cells in the chart will not need to merge so I must select the ones that do. I have almost 100 pages of charts with cells that need merged this way by Tuesday. Please help!
Top chart example needs to change to the bottom example.
Header 1
Header 2
Header 3
Header 4
Header 5
Header 6
100
600
300
600
20000
120000
2000
500
400
50000
10000
5000
3000
200
700
67
122
600
900
100
2
7
123
1110
Header 1
Header 2
Header 3
Header 4
Header 5
Header 6
100
500
200
100
600
400
700
900
300
5000
30000
2
600
10000
67
7
20000
2000
122
123
120000
5000
600
1110

SmartCellMerge may help you:
http://www.indiscripts.com/post/2012/04/improve-the-way-you-merge-cells-in-indesign
@+
Marc

Data merge skipping one cell

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