InDesign Data Merge problem with field names

Hi to all.
I am trying to create a sales catalog with data merge. I have product name, description, old price, new price and image. However, when I select my .csv file as data source, InDesign recognizes different fields as one and puts them all together. I tried copying and pasting to new spreadsheet, retyping the info myself, saving as tab delimited and as comma delimited file. To better illustrate, here are exemplary screenshoots:
Please help, I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I'm a regular InDesign user for almost a decade, but I haven't used DataMerge until now, never needed it. I have basic knowledge in Excel, so if I did something wrong there please inform me (do I have to tell it somehow to "split" them into fields?).
Thank you in advance!

I would recommend to test with different export types in Excel like:
Tab-Divided txt files instead of csv or with different decoding.
When you have learned which is working fine, you can select this always in the future.
(There is also a possibility inside InDesign to change the type between tab separated text and CSV. In my experience it depends very much on the Excel version which would work. Microtrash has a bad history in localizing their programs, e.g. here in German, in numbers we write coma instead of a point, a point of a coma, so decided MS to exchange it every where on the Mac version with the outcome, that CSV files are not coma separated but dot separated and are not working on any data base import. So I can only use tab separated files.)

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Hi there,
I've been doing data merges in InDesign for quite some time now and I've always had this problem. I don't know of any other way, besides to go in and manually delete every line, to get rid of this issue.
Here's my data block:
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<<Spouse First>> <<Spouse Last>>
<<Address 1>>
<<Address 2>>
<<City>>, <<St>> <<Zip>>
Normally, I can just combine address 1 and address 2 into one line separated by a space and it's no big deal. I've tried using the merge option to delete the empty line, but it has never worked properly.
My main concern is the second line. Not all records have a spouse associated with them and when merged, I have to go in an manually delete the entire line. Is there a way to fix this?

I've tried using the merge option to delete the empty line, but it has never worked properly.
That's odd; it's pretty much exactly what you are asking after. Can you tell us anything outside of "it has never worked properly"?
Is there anything non-standard about your merge? (I.e. unusual text encoding, images, master pages, n-up merges, et cetera.) Can you take screenshots of your merge dialogs? Or give us a step-by-step rundown of what you are doing? Are you previewing before merge?
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wouldn't use data merge for this kind of automation, but rather XML, which is a bigger learning curve but worth the effort. a book by james maivald called
A Designer Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML.
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I have a form (actually several) that is gathering data for a survey. I tried to use cfupdate to update the data elements and got a string index out of range error. I tested again without the form fields that began with numbers and it worked just fine. I then tried to enclose the offending field names in () and []. Both times I got same error. Does anyone have a work around for this? The code and error are below.
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Thanks
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<cfupdate datasource="#application.fdp_datasource#" tablename="arra_survey1" dbtype="ODBC" formfields = "entry_no, 2_a_fy09, '2_a_fy10', '2_a_fy11', '2_a_fy12', '2_b_fy09', '2_b_fy10', '2_b_fy11', '2_b_fy12', '2_c_fy09', '2_c_fy10', '2_c_fy11', '2_c_fy12', '2_d_fy09', '2_d_fy10', '2_d_fy11', '2_d_fy12', '2_e_fy09', '2_e_fy10', '2_e_fy11', '2_e_fy12', '2_f_fy09', '2_f_fy10', '2_f_fy11', '2_f_fy12', '2_g_fy09', '2_g_fy10', '2_g_fy11', '2_g_fy12', '2_h_fy09', '2_h_fy10', '2_h_fy11', '2_h_fy12', '2_i_fy09', '2_i_fy10', '2_i_fy11', '2_i_fy12', '2_j_fy09', '2_j_fy10', '2_j_fy11', '2_j_fy12', '2_k_fy09', '2_k_fy10', '2_k_fy11', '2_k_fy12', '2_l_fy09', '2_l_fy10', '2_l_fy11', '2_l_fy12', central_office, dept_office, incl_other, 3_a_fy09, 3_a_fy10, 3_a_fy11, 3_a_fy12, 3_b_fy09, 3_b_fy10, 3_b_fy11, 3_b_fy12, 3_c_fy09, 3_c_fy10, 3_c_fy11, 3_c_fy12, 3_d_fy09, 3_d_fy10 3_d_fy11, 3_d_fy12, 3_e_fy09, 3_e_fy10, 3_e_fy11, 3_e_fy12, 3_f_fy09, 3_f_fy10, 3_f_fy11, 3_f_fy12, 3_g_fy09, 3_g_fy10, 3_g_fy11, 3_g_fy12, 3_h_fy09, 3_h_fy10, 3_h_fy11, 3_h_fy12, 3_i_fy09, 3_i_fy10, 3_i_fy11, 3_i_fy12, 3_j_fy09, 3_j_fy10, 3_j_fy11, 3_j_fy12, 3_k_fy09, 3_k_fy10, 3_k_fy11, 3_k_fy12, 3_l_fy09, 3_l_fy10, 3_l_fy11, 3_l_fy12">
String index out of range: -2
The error occurred in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\directory\process_arra_suvey_2.cfm: line 12
12 : <cfupdate datasource="#application.fdp_datasource#" tablename="arra_survey1" dbtype="ODBC" formfields = "entry_no, 2_a_fy09, '2_a_fy10', '2_a_fy11', ...

I think you have run one of CFUPDATE's limitations. I am not 100% certain, but I do not think cfupdate provides a way to escape invalid column names like yours. In which case you may need to do a regular UPDATE within a cfquery instead... or rename your columns.
fields that began with numbers
Most databases discourage creating column names that start with a number (or other restricted characters). While many databases will allow you to escape invalid names, it is simpler all around to avoid them altogether. Otherwise, you may have to escape the names in every single query. The recommendations vary, but usually object names that begin with a letter, and contain only letters, numbers and underscores are considered safe.
This survey has almost 400 data points and most of the fields begin with the question number.
Four-hundred (400) is a lot of columns for a single table. The fact that they all them seem to contain the same type of information (ie response to a question) is an indication that data should probably be stored in a separate table, as rows, not columns. For example questions could be stored in one table, possible answers in another, and the results of an individual test/survey stored in a third table. A structure like that is much easier to query, can easily accommodate changes (add/remove questions, responses, etcetera) without having modify the table every time.

Cs3 indesign data merge problem

usung csv from mac numbers spread sheet
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i create the datamerge no problem at all except
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same problem
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peter

made one more attempt and it is obvious i am missing a crucial step-- bear
with me
all done on desktop so no path is needed
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create a new document
create 8 x 11 inch document
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i keep all my images and data in the same directory so i understand no path
is needed
i keep wondering do the blank rows on top of the column create this problem?
take care
peter

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Hello All,
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Lisa

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EXPORTING
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I_CLIENT_NEVER_DISPLAY       = 'X'
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EXCEPTIONS
INCONSISTENT_INTERFACE       = 1
PROGRAM_ERROR                = 2
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Regards,

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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.

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Karthik:
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John

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Hi all,
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Message no. MC060
Diagnosis
When you define aggregates (views, lock objects or matchcode objects), you can assign the aggregate fields your own names (the system assigns names to the basic fields automatically). These names must be unique.
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The system has established that the names assigned to the aggregate fields in an aggregate definition are not unique and issues an error message.
Procedure
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Hi,
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this will work.
hope this helps...
Olivier.
Message was edited by:
        Olivier Cora

InDesign Data Merge problem with field names

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