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

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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.
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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

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How do I generate a data merge in InDesign from an excel spreadsheet which includes a barcode

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