InDesign Data Merge Question....

I have a calendar created using the data merge feature within InDesign. The only question I have thus far is on each day of the week, we currently have a text frame linking to a .txt file that our customers add events to. How do I link the specific .txt files to the frame? I cant use the image function in my excel file as it does not reconize it as that. Is there another way to script/put this in my source file to link and place the text in the .txt files (individual txt files for each day of the year).?? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I don't think I really undertand the structure of the data file you have. My sense, though is that this may not really be a data merge project.
At its heart, Data Merge is is very primitive. It's great for mailing labels, but can get defeated by more complex projects. For the merge to work, all of the data must be structured the same for each record in terms of the number of fields, and the text you want to include needs to be in the fields (as far as I know, you cannot use a pointer to an external text file in a field the same way that you can use a pointer to an image). You have a choice when setting up the merge template, though, of putting the plceholders on the document page or on the master page.
If you put the placeholders on the master page, the data can be updated AFTER the merge, at least in theory (doesn't seem to work well with images), but it doesn't really sound to me like that's what you need, but it is a possibility if you have a basic documenet and the clients add text later.
In any case, if you are letting the client add text, you need to add that text directly into your data file, either in Excel and re-export the entire data set, or set up some sort of find/change routine to replace tags in the text file with the text supplied by the client.

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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.

Indesign Data Merge Scripts

I am looking to create a script that will enable me to feed in variable data from a csv to indesign data merge. I have the components built, with a column for quantity in the csv. Our printing needs vary day by day, so multiple records don't quite fit w

Thanks SDesigns; the GREP feature in particular looks like it might work, assuming I can get the data to merge with a separator between each company. That's where I'm having trouble now; I can't seem to be able to merge a particular column from the CSV that has the company names into a paragraph of text within my document, as it only seems to let me merge in the first company name only. Do you know how I can achieve this, and additionally how I can get it to automatically insert any particular separator (as there are hundreds if not thousands of company names, manually typing in the separator could get very tedious)? Attached is a screenshot of what the final text looks like in the document, though it doesn't seem to let me "Update source" on the paragraph, which would make things much easier.Thank you very much for your time and help!
Best,
Colton

Would installing Cheetah or Raptor drives make inDesign data merge work faster?

Would installing Cheetah or Raptor drives make inDesign data merge work faster?

I think SSDs might turn out to be slower. There are some other posts about major slowdowns when the OS and user profile are on SSDs.
As a 32 bit program, ID can't adress all that extra RAM, so you won't affect the amount of swapping required. I don't really know how efficient an SSD is for constant read and write operations, but my undertanding is they work great for fast loading of things that don't change, but not so much for files that rewrite constantly.

[CS5.5/6] - XML / Data Merge questions & Best practice.

Fellow Countrymen (and women),
I work as a graphic designer for a large outlet chain retailer which is constantly growing our base of centers. This growth has brought a workload that used to be manageable with but two people to a never ending sprint with five. Much of what we do is print, which is not my forte, but is also generally a disorganized, ad-hoc affair into which I am wading to try to help reduce overall strain.
Upon picking up InDesign I noted the power of the simple Data Merge function and have added it to our repetoire in mass merging data sources. There are some critical failures I see in this as a tool going forward for our purposes, however:
1) Data Merge cannot handle information stored and categorized in a singular column well. As an example we have centers in many cities, and each center has its own list of specific stores. Data merge cannot handle a single column, or even multiple column list of these stores very easily and has forced us into some manual operations to concatenate the data into one cell and then, using delimiter characters, find and replace hard returns to seperate them.
2) Data Merge offers no method of alternate alignment of data, or selection by ranges. That is to say: I cannot tell Data merge to start at Cell1 in one column, and in another column select say... Cell 42 as the starting point.
3) Data merge only accepts data organized in a very specific, and generally inflexible pattern.
These are just a few limitations.
ON TO MY ACTUAL DILEMMA aka Convert to XML or not?
Recently my coworker has suggested we move toward using XML as a repository / delivery system that helps us quickly get data from our SQL database into a usable form in InDesign.
I've watched some tutorials on Lynda.com and havent yet seen a clear answer to a very simple question:
"Can XML help to 'merge' large, dynamic, data sets like a list of 200 stores per center over 40 centers based off of a single template file?"
What I've seen is that I would need to manually duplicate pages, linking the correct XML entry as I go rather than the program generating a set of merged pages like that from Data Merge with very little effort on my part. Perhaps setting up a master page would allow for easy drag and drop fields for my XML data?
I'm not an idiot, I'm simply green with this -- and it's kind of scary because I genuinely want us to proceed forward with the most flexible, reliable, trainable and sustainable solution. A tall order, I know. Correct me if I'm wrong, but XML is that beast, no?
Formatting the XML
Currently I'm afraid our XML feed for our centers isnt formatted correctly with the current format looking as such:
<BRANDS>
     <BRAND>
          • BrandID = xxxx
          [Brand Name]
          [Description]
          [WebMoniker]
          <CATEGORIES>
               <CATEGORY>
                    • xmlns = URL
                    • WebMoniker = category_type
          <STORES>
               <STORE>
                    • StoreID = ID#
                    • CenterID = ID#
I dont think this is currently usable because if I wanted to create a list of stores from a particular center, that information is stored as an attribute of the <Store> tag, buried deep within the data, making it impossible to 'drag-n-drop'.
Not to mention much of the important data is held in attributes rather than text fields which are children of the tag.
Im thinking of proposing the following organizational layout:
<CENTERS>
     <CENTER>
     [Center_name]
     [Center_location]
          <CATEGORIES>
               <CATEGORY>
                    [Category_Type]
                    <BRANDS>
                         <BRAND>
                              [Brand_name]
My thought is that if I have the <CENTER> tag then I can simply drag that into a frame and it will auto populate all of the brands by Category (as organized in the XML) for that center into the frame.
Why is this important?
This is used on multiple documents in different layout styles, and since our store list is ever changes as leases end or begin, over 40 centers this becomes a big hairy monster. We want this to be as automated as possible, but I'd settle for a significant amount of dragging and dropping as long as it is simple and straightforward. I have a high tollerance for druding through code and creating work arounds but my co-workers do not. This needs to be a system that is repeatable and understandable and needs to be able to function whether I'm here or not -- Mainly because I would like to step away from the responsibility of setting it up every time
I'd love to hear your raw, unadulterated thoughts on the subject of Data merge and XML usage to accomplish these sorts of tasks. What are your best practices and how would you / do you accomplish these operations?
Regards-
Robert

From what I've gleaned through watching Lynda tutorials on the subject is that what I'm hoping to do is indeed possible.
Peter, I dont disagree with you that there is a steep learning curve for me as the instigator / designer of this method for our team, but in terms of my teammates and end-users that will be softened considerably. Even so I'm used to steep learning curves and the associated frustrations -- but I cope well with new learning and am self taught in many tools and programs.
Flow based XML structures:
It seems as though as long as the initial page is set up correctly using imported XML, individual data records that cascade in a logical fashion can be flowed automatically into new pages. Basically what you do is to create an XML based layout with the dynamic portion you wish to flow in a single frame, apply paragraph styles to the different tags appropriately and then after deleting unused records, reimport the XML with some specific boxes checked (depending on how you wish to proceed).
From there simply dragging the data root into the frame will cause overset text as it imports all the XML information into the frame. Assuming that everything is cascaded correctly using auto-flow will cause new pages to be automatically generated with the tags correctly placed in a similar fashion to datamerge -- but far more powerful and flexible.
The issue then again comes down to data organization in the XML file. In order to use this method the data must be organized in the same order in which it will be displayed. For example if I had a Lastname field, and a Firstname field in that order, I could not call the Firstname first without faulting the document using the flow method. I could, however, still drag and drop content from each tag into the frame and it would populate correctly regardless of the order of appearance in the XML.
Honestly either method would be fantastic for our current set of projects, however the flow method may be particularly useful in jobs that would require more than 40 spreads or simple layouts with huge amounts of data to be merged.

Data Merge questions

We are using MS Mail Merge to populate existing forms. We have 250+ different MS Word .docx forms that have different information in different places. We are serving the mail merge data from a database throught a VB.Net program and it's working well. As most probably know, the process is to map mail merge fields onto the form using Word and then populate them through the application based on the form and information the end user needs.
We want to do the same thing with PDF documents. I've been poking around this site and the internet and am confused about what is available to do this. Data Merge seems to kind of do the same thing, but through files instead of a database. I see some functions in this and other Adobe SDK's, but I'm not clear on which would be the one I'd need. And it would need to be programmable with VB.net.
Or do I need an aftermarket SDK to do this (hope it's okay to ask that question here)?

You might want to look into some of the third party catalogue plugins for ID.

Crazy colored brackets in InDesign data merge document

I did a data merge on an InDesign document I'm working on and I got all these crazy colored brackets embedded throughout my document. Here's a screenshot:
What the heck is going on?

From Post 4:
//EN_UntagAllXMLElements_ACTIVE_DOCUMENT.jsx
//Authors:
//Hans Haesler
//Gregor Fellenz
//Comments by Uwe Laubender
* @@@BUILDINFO@@@ EN_UntagAllXMLElements_ACTIVE_DOCUMENT.jsx !Version! Sun Dec 01 2013 09:38:21 GMT+0100
//See: http://www.hilfdirselbst.ch/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=506568#506568
//Data for testing: http://www.hilfdirselbst.ch/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=6654;
//Posted the links to this thread in InDesign Scripting forum:
//http://forums.adobe.com/message/4983121#4983121
//Green4ever
//"Untag Frame" menu action is invalid [CS5 Win XP]
//The active document:
var d=app.documents[0];
//Hans Haesler:
//Untag all XML-Tags with exception of the root element:
d.xmlElements[0].xmlElements.everyItem().untag();
//TO GET RID OF THE ROOT ELEMENT:
//Workaround by Gregor Fellenz:
//Add a new rectangle to the document:
var tempRect = d.rectangles.add();
//Tag the rectangle with the "Root" element:
tempRect.markup(d.xmlElements[0]);
//AND HERE IS TRICK:
//Remove the rectangle:
tempRect.remove();

Data Merge questions within CS 5.5...Please help

Basically, we utilize this now with our calendar designs for schools which includes school events on certain days via the data merge along with building each calendar design from a 2 page spread with data merge. Now, the issue we are running into is....we send the school a proof of their calendar before we send it to print. At this time, they have an opportunity to add/delete/edit any events they want on our online portal for them in which we pull the info into our database to create the updated CSV file. Is there a way that once the first CSV file is merged to have it as a link or something similar? By this, I mean...it would be nice that when we re-generate the CSV file at proof time with the updated events that those will simply be updated in our indesign file by updating the link or something similar? We want to avoid re-building the calendar from scratch (2 page spread) at this point. Although for 70%+ rebuilding is not an issue, the other 30% are custom calendar that we have several edits to the 2 page template to start with. We dont want to have to do this custom work again or possible miss those custom changes when it is recreated. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

The good news is that you won't need to re-build anything. That said, I see 2 ways to update your file.
Save the original as a template (before it's merged) and run the merge again once the CSV has been finalised. That way you always have the template of the first and each time you run the merge you get a new indd file.
The other is based on the assumption that you added your merge fields into the document and not the master of the original file. If so, you can copy the document page content into the master pages, add the merge fields to the master and use this as a template. When you merge the document this time the CSV becomes a linked file in the resultant file.
The differences between 1 and 2 is that the link to the CSV file is kept in the merged file in 2. Either way, it's a very easy update for you but you will have to re-apply your custom changes. This should just involve a straight copy/paste though.

Indesign Data Merge repeating images, mixing up data, etc.

I'm using ID CC and using data merge for a catalog.
when i create the merged document it repeats some of the images, uses data for other products and repeats it.
I've started from scratch, I've avoided the "preview" mode like the plague, I've used CSV and TXT. I've searched for line breaks in Excel. What am i doing wrong?

"Show Import Options". , this will tell you what sort of data file you are uploading
@Shiv – only to an extend. InDesign cannot see a difference between Unicode UFT-8 or Unicode UTF-16 at this point, it just detects Unicode.
CSV is an old, can we really say, "file format"?
It's basically a text file with a csv suffix and some rules, that are or are not implemented. InDesign tries to detect the rules: what character for separating the fields? What character for a line of fields ending?
InDesign does not verify very much, if there is a orderly grid-like structure in the fields (a row and column structure) with an equal number of "cells" on every row. And a header row that holds the discription. In fact it cannot "see" a header, because the csv-"format" cannot provide a hint…
CSV is not a file format, see it more as a lose convention and not standardized very much…
I think Adobe should provide its own format for merging data and a converter tool together with InDesign where you could output to and input from a InDesign table with a header row using whatever formatting is available in InDesign.
Uwe

InDesign-Data Merge, Consecutive Empty Fields

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:
<<First Name>> <<Last Name>>
<<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?
I am an infrequent but long-time user of Data Merge, and I've always been able to use the "Remove blank lines for empty fields" checkbox without issue.

InDesign Data Merge - Data Grouping or Page Breaks

I'm working on a plant catalog for a landscaper. I want to group the plants in the catalog by their plant type (i.e. Groundcovers, Trees, Shrubs, etc). Each plant name in the data source is assigned a plant type and I've sorted the data so the plant types are grouped together. I'm successfully using data merge to create a document with multiple records and I want to use the "Plant Type" as a header per group of plants that match that type. I'd be very happy if I could also create a page break between plant types. Is there a way to accomplish this with InDesign? I can accomplish this with Word's data merge but I'd much rather use InDesign.
Additionally, I'm currently using a text variable at the top of the page and thought this would be the solution to my problem but I'm only able to set this up using the "First on Page" option. This doesn't work well because I frequently have items at the bottom of the page that aren't in the same category as the first item on the page. I'm basically running a merge for every plant type then putting the separate documents together in a PDF... its a little time consuming but not impossible.
I hope I've explained my situation clearly. Any guidance will be appreciated.

Data Merge is very primitive. It doesn't do anything but put unlinked frames with data on the page.
That said, there are scripts, such as the text liner at Rorohiko.com that will link the frames in logical sequence, and paragraph styles can be set to start on next page, or you can add anther field to the data file and put a symbol or text sting into it only where you want a page break, then do a find change and repalce with the break after the merge.
Are you doing a lot of this? There are catlog pugins which might make your life a lot easier, but they're pricey.

InDesign Data Merge using password protected PDFs?

I am trying to print postcards with Data Merge and I've run into a problem. The source files for one of the images are password protected PDFs. They all use the same password, and I do know the password, but InDesign wants me to enter the password every time it processes a record.
If I'm printing 10,000 postcards, I would have to enter the password 10,000 times to make my merged file!
Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there a way to enter the password once and, maybe hold down [command + option + control + kitchensink] or whatever, while clicking "OK" to apply that password to all future password dialog boxes? Is there a script I can run that could automatically enter the password?
The original source PDFs need to keep the password protection, so removing the security en masse isn't an option. Making non-secure copies of all the possible PDFs that could be used seems really unwieldy and would take up a lot of network storage resources, so I really hope there is a more elegant solution out there.
I'm using CS5 on a Mac and I would LOVE it if anyone has any suggestions at all on how to fix this. Thanks!
-Cole Hartson

Your path needs to use a colon instead of a forward slash. Also you might need to add the name of your hard drive before Users.
The easiest way to get the correct path is to manually place one of the images, then go to the links panel, right-click on the image name and select Copy Info > Copy Platform Style Path.

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!

InDesign Data Merge w/Multiple Page Document

I am working to print a multiple-page newsletter, and printing the mailing information using a Data Merge in InDesign CS4 (PC), with the intent of printing this in-house to send to our members. (My office has been doing this successfully for years using Publisher, but I insisted we update to InDesign.)
I have the document ready, and I have the Data Source information (set up in tab-delimited (.txt) text format).
After I have selected the Data Source (Window > Automation > Data Merge), inserted the Data Fields, and then Created Merged Document, I wind up with multiple versions of the Document; one for each person we are sending the newsletter to!
I was working with our printer technician to solve the issue, but his sources told him that the only way to do this was by using one document as the newsletter master and another document as the Data Merge document, and doing a little magic thru the PostScript driver in the printer.
(Specifically: the document is letter-sized, set to print as a booklet. The work-around involves copying and pasting these pages into a new tabloid-sized document, creating another blank tabloid-sized document that has only the Data Merge info in the proper place, printing the cover with this Data Merge separately, loading that into a drawer, and printing the new document and wrapping it with the pre-printed cover.)
1 - What am I doing wrong that gives me over 800 InDesign documents for this newsletter?
2 - Is there a way for me to print this without the work around?

That is what Indesign does when it does a data merge, it creates copies of the document and there's no way to change this. Have you tried exporting to PDF (In CS4 you can do this in one step from the original) and printing? I've never had anyone confirm it definitively but I'm pretty sure that the PDF created will be an 'optimized' one, meaning that when it sends it off to a compatible printer the images will be sent once and cached, with only the text that changes being sent separately.
Definitely worth comparing it to Publisher for speed anyway, Office programs can merge straight to the printer, but in effect they're doing the same thing. There are programs out there for doing far fancier stuff than data merge, probably the best is XM Pie, but unless you've got a printer that recognises their language they're a waste of time in this circumstance anyway.

InDesign Data Merge Issues...

Hey all, I'm relatively new to using InDesign, I've used it previously for basic artwork layouts etc, and I'm familiar with Illustrator and Photoshop, but InDesign is something I'm still getting to grips with.
I run a mailing company and we have an ongoing requirement for variable data merging. Software designed for variable data work when dealing with PDFs and high res images is incredibly expensive, and so I figured I could try and make use of InDesign's own data merging feature.
Now I'm fully aware of some of the irritating little issues surrounding this tool, such as the way if you've got two blank fields it only removes one of them, and I also know it used to have an issue where it would pull data through from the next record to replace blanks, but I don't see that happening any more.
There are lots of webpages and forums discussing the blank fields problem, but my problem is currently something else.
I've noticed that some of the fields often don't like to display anything other than the header row, the field name. You drop the field onto the page and create your merge, but when you preview it or publish it whilst most of the fields do as expected and change to show the data, some of the fields do not, they just continue to show <contact> for instance, rather than a name.
I'm at a loss to explain this really, it's not even particularly consistent.
As an example of my problem, I laid out the following address block
<Contact>
<Add1>
<Add2>
<Add3>
<Add4>
<Add5>
<Postcode>
What I get sometimes is this...
<Contact>
123 Sample Street
Sample Town
Sample County
Sample Postcode
Or...
Mr AB Sample
123 Sample Street
Sample Town
<Add3>
Sample Postcode
If you add the same field again beneath the one that is playing up, the new field will work, but the one beneath it will then play up, so where in the example above it is <Add3> that isn't merging, if I added another <add3> beneath it, I could almost guarantee that <Add4> would then play up.
I just don't understand it, and it's frustrating me immensely.
Ironically I know a local professional printers who are using InDesign for all their digital variable print runs, without issue, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. They are using Macs whereas I am using a PC with Windows 7 Ultimate x 64bit, but I've had the same problem on other Windows version, so is it a Windows related problem, or are Mac users just not spotting this??
Anyone who has ever experienced something similar and perhaps found a solution, please help!!!!!
Best Regards
Richard

RikRamsay14 - thank you for your response, the issue regarding blanks isn't really the concern here, I'm aware of this issue, and the remove blank lines works where this is only one blank field, if there's two blank fields then it only seems to remove one. But I can happily work around this by just shifting all my data across. The data source is fine and is not the problem.
Peter Spier - Many thanks for your reply Peter, I thought you might be on to something with this, so I tried opening it from scratch and merging instantly without the use of any previewing, at first I thought it had worked, but when I got further down the merge results I spotted the same problem, field headers appearing where content should be. These instances are not even where the data cell is blank, it just decides not to display the content, but to display the field header instead, it's inconsistent too so it's really hard to analyse to find a pattern.
My layout incorporates multiple text placeholders containing multiple variable fields. I am starting to wonder if this could be contributing to the fault. I have tried just creating one text placeholder, and then using the multiple record layout option to display the other three images (it's a postcard four-up on an SRA3 sized page, with four address blocks). This seems to be less buggy this way, but I have less control with the layout. I'm going to continue to test this theory today, but it could simply be that it can't cope with multiple variable address blocks.
Thanks for all your help guys.
Regards
Richard

InDesign Data Merge Question....

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