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.

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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

Is there any way to name the records from a data merge?

I have a spreadsheet, that has all the names for the images I'm using for a data merge. What I want to do is name the resulting records after the filenames in one of the columns in the spreadsheet. Is there anyway to do this? Or is there some other way to individually name the records from a data merge? I don't have any scripting prowess, so I can't really mess with that. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

You merge it along with the others, just like any field. ID cannot do the naming for you during the merge, but most spreadsheets have lots of logic capabilities that should allow you to extract a name for the record from the filename in the column of your choice. The only reason ID knows to find the image instead of writing the filename is that you've used a special name for the field.

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.

Merge Data Multiple records problem (repeats data)

I'm tring to creat some cataloge pages with 4 images, codes, dicritons etc per page.
i have a excel sheet which I've saved to a CSV file for a data source. i have a single page with the first record at the top and enogh room to repeat the record 4 times on the page. When I do the data merge I'v selected multiple records per page and put in all the settings and spacings I want.
Everything looks fine when i click on the multiple reports prevew but when i do the actual merge most of the merges copy the same data with only a few records using different data. It's generating the correct number of records and pages with 4 records per page but repeatiing the same record,except for 2 records which were different before going back to the repeated record. Also the record it repeats is not the first record on the list, it's about the 6 of 16.
I'm using CS5 version of Indesign.
Any one have any sugestions to get it working corrctly or is this a fault wiyh CS5?

Data SourceBefore MergeDuring mergeAfter Merge Page 1After merge Page 2After merge Page 3
Thanks John seamed to help usiing PNG also made a difference shifting fiiles from our network drive onto personal desktop. As you can see attached are the screen shots.

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.

How to create multiple editable PDFs from data merged Indesign file

Hi
This is quite complicated but I'm hoping someone can help me and hoping I can explain it too!
I am working on a project for a client. She wants to send 150 people a 6 page PDF with fields to complete and return to her.
She has an Excel spreadsheet with some of the fields completed already so these will be Data Merged into InDesign CS6.
The short version of the question goes like this:
Can you automate the process so that once all the data is in the InDesign file, it can then create a PDF every 6 pages all in one go?
For those still interested, the long version of the question goes like this:
I have created 3 pages in InDesign with fields to complete and used the 'Data Merge' facility to add the Excel info.
I have created 3 more pages with blank fields to fill in.
Then I have made all fields editable using the 'Buttons and Forms' facility in the Interactive menu.
Then I have created an interactive PDF. Then I have opened that PDF in Adobe Acrobat X Pro and saved it as 'Reader Extended PDF' and 'Enable Additional Features'
I now have an Editable PDF with half the fields filled in and half blank to be filled in and this can be saved and returned.
Now, this would be great if it was only one or two. But I need to create 150 different versions and this is just for the Pilot study. If all goes well, this will go to 5,000 people and I can't be creating 5,000 seperate PDFS!!
At this stage, I am just focussing on the 150. So again, going back to the original question, is there a script that could be written either to break up the 1st PDF every 6 pages into 150 different PDFS? Is there even a way of extending that script to Save as Reader Extended etc? Is there a simple idea that I'm missing? Are there any ways to do this? I can use 'Created Merged Documents' to make 150 x 6 pages in Indesign so can anything be done from there?
Any advice greatly appreciated
Thanks
G

Hi Akash,
1) Pass the three header data in header table. 2) Pass all the item data in item table. here explain where you struck.
Regards,
Madhu.

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 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

[AS] Trying to change Single Record number under data merge?

Any help would be great?

This is where I am trying to go with this:
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
tell data merge 1 of document 1
tell data merge preferences
set record selection to all records
set records per page to single record
set record number to 3--or any number or i value I want to repeat with
end tell
end tell
tell document 1
tell data merge properties to merge records--and merge that one number
end tell
end tell
Setting the record number actually changes the field for single record but when I try to merge said number it does all the records. I am sure its an ordering thing but it is still causing some head scratches. You've all been really helpful with an area that doesnt seem to be detailed anywhere.
Any help would be great. Thanks.

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 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 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.

InDesign - Data merge for generate complex invoice for 10 000 customers

Is InDesign is a good solution to generate invoice with data merge with complexe role like multiple item charges, etc.
Thanks
Frédéric Hébert

Data merge is strictly a simple tool. It cannot handle variable numbers of fields other than to delete blank lines.
It's great for things like address labels and directories.

Cs3 indesign data merge problem

usung csv from mac numbers spread sheet
it has 2 columns @photo and numbers ( this column has sequential numbers)
i create the datamerge no problem at all except
some of the panels have no photos but do have the number
how can i delete the data that has no photo
i have tried going to my csv filea nd deleting the row that has no photo or there was something wrong with the image
same problem
i have tried deleting the file row --that is the row that numbers created--same problem
any help is appreciated
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
i go to iphoto and drag 12 photos into my spreadsheet ( mac numbers)
in column a called @photo--i have left a few rows on top blank and called
the column @photo
i created column b and entered sequentially the number of the row which
corresponds to the photo column
data saved in csv format
i go to id
create a new document
create 8 x 11 inch document
create guides 2 rows 2 columns
in row1 column 1 i create a box and below it in the same panel another box
i start data merge
select data--data csv file is found
i select one of the boxes and select @photo
and in the other box number
i select in datamerge options
multiple records per page
and select ok
numbers show up but not photos
i have gone thru tutorial and others on this--- i know i am doing something
right as my other attempts semi work
hope i am not being a pia but it is a pain--i understand about the path but
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

Multiple records in Indesign Data merge

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