Script to merge 2 Indesign files on alternating pages

Hello
I have created a data merge document for a book I am writing (Luckily I already had everything in Excel) . I created a template with the style headings and graphics frames positioned and sized exactly where I wanted them.My master page had repeating elements etc.
Loved the process and it worked beautifully. It literally saved me a weeks worth of formatting and inserting graphics work. However the file basically created the Left hand page ONLY of a 2 page spread.
My understanding from studying tutorials on data merge is that they can only create ONE page output altho I know you can change it to 2 page spreads afterward.
The second data merge created a file what would ideally be the right hand page of every spread.
This is a reference/encyclopedia type book with each 2 page spread a distinct entity devoted to a subject
I need to join the 2 files together.
The first file would be the left hand or EVEN page
The second file would be the right hand or ODD page.
The document is 350 pages.Each page is the same size,margins and subject matter but with different headings and graphics
(Dragging pages would be too tedious and I have had problems with ID crashing. Don't want to go there again)
I did read an answer by Dave Saunders (  9. Nov 1, 2008 5:03 PM (in response to Al Ferrari) Re: Script to interleave two InDesign files of equal page counts )
Would that work do you think?
I have ID CS4 6.0 running on windows vista.
I have ZERO scripting experience but I can follow directions.
Is there any way, scripting wise, I could (or should) accomplish this?
Thank You in Advance for any help
Lauren

My understanding from studying tutorials on data merge is that they can only create ONE page output altho I know you can change it to 2 page spreads afterward.
That isn't true. Data merge can be done with many pages. See my response to this post:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3909894#3909894
In response to the OP's script request, i can't be of any help.
What i'm hoping is that after reading how to make a data merge with both left and right hand pages from the post i've linked, that the data could be merged again... assuming there was little (or no) post-processing of the file after the merge was performed.

Similar Messages

  • Script to merge multiple CSV files together with no duplicate records.

    I like a Script to merge multiple CSV files together with no duplicate records.
    None of the files have any headers and column A got a unique ID. What would be the best way to accomplish that?

    OK here is my answer :
    2 files in a directory with no headers.
    first column is the unique ID, second colomun you put whatever u want
    The headers are added when using the import-csv cmdlet
    first file contains :
    1;a
    2;SAMEID-FIRSTFILE
    3;c
    4;d
    5;e
    second file contains :
    6;a
    2;SAMEID-SECONDFILE
    7;c
    8;d
    9;e
    the second file contains the line : 2;b wich is the same in the first file
    the code :
    $i = 0
    Foreach($file in (get-childitem d:\yourpath)){
    if($i -eq 0){
    $ref = import-csv $file.fullname -Header id,value -Delimiter ";"
    }else{
    $temp = import-csv $file.fullname -Header id,value -Delimiter ";"
    foreach($line in $temp){
    if(!($ref.id.contains($line.id))){
    $objet = new-object Psobject
    Add-Member -InputObject $objet -MemberType NoteProperty -Name id -value $line.id
    Add-Member -InputObject $objet -MemberType NoteProperty -Name value -value $line.value
    $ref += $objet
    $i++
    $ref
    $ref should return:
    id                                                         
    value
    1                                                          
    a
    2                                                          
    SAMEID-FIRSTFILE
    3                                                          
    c
    4                                                          
    d
    5                                                          
    e
    6                                                          
    a
    7                                                          
    c
    8                                                          
    d
    9                                                          
    e
    (get-childitem d:\yourpath) -> yourpath containing the 2 csv file

  • Pacnew_scripts: scripts to merge some .pacnew files after an upgrade

    info page: http://xyne.archlinux.ca/info/pacnew_scripts
    I was updating my old system which doesn't get turned on that often and had to deal with about 15 pacnew files. Most only required a simple "mv /path/to/file{.pacnew,}" but some required merging. I found a script that I had written a while ago to merge /etc/group.pacnew, made some changes, made a copy which can handle gshadow, then wrote scripts to handle the pacman mirrorlist and locale.gen.
    Thus the pacnew_scripts package was born.
    infopage wrote:
    This package contains scripts which can help merge .pacnew files after a pacman upgrade. These scripts print their results to STDOUT and thus do NOT make any changes to the files. It is up to the user to inspect the output and, if satisfied, redirect it to the original file and then delete the .pacnew file.
    The scripts accept "-c" and "--compare" as options and will display relevant information about differences between the files. For group and gshadow, this will display 3 columns to compare the original, .pacnew and merged files and will use colors to highlight changes. For the mirrorlist and locale.gen, it will check that all settings in the original file are available in the new file and print out a list of any that aren't (e.g. if one of your current mirrors has been dropped from the mirrorlist, it will be listed in the output).
    I'll probably add scripts as I go. I might also merge the scripts to avoid some redundancy but I decided to keep them simple for now. merge_pacnew_locale_gen is actually very generic and works on the mirrorlist and probably other files as well. If you find any, let me know.
    Last edited by Xyne (2010-03-21 13:03:34)

    beroal wrote:
    I'm really astonished that you interpreted my post as an advertisement of "diffpac".
    Xyne wrote:Have you even tried these scripts and compared them to the alternatives that you've proposed? … you can at least post comments based on an informed comparison.
    I expected such a comparison from you. If "pacnew_scripts" merges files automatically, what algorithm does it use?
    I didn't interpret it as advertisement. It seemed that you read the basic description of what this does and concluded that something else already does the same thing. Following on the tail of the previous posts I felt that your post was somewhat rude because it implies that this is useless. Obviously that is relative, but even so I see no point of posting in this thread to express it, even indirectly.
    I admit that I may have interpreted your post the wrong way and if I did then I apologize, but even then I don't understand why you felt the need to post what you did in a contribution thread.
    As for algorithms, there are different scripts and they use different algorithms. The group and gshadow scripts create hash representations of the groups in the original and .pacnew files. Groups which only exist in one of the files pass through untouched. Groups which exist in both have their members combined, which usually means that the original simply passes through. Using the "--compare" option, three aligned columns are displayed which clearly shows existing groups, new groups and the results of merging, with colors used to highlight all changes.
    The mirrorlist script creates a list of selected servers in the current mirrorlist and generates a new mirrorlist from the .pacnew mirrorlist with all servers in the generated list uncommented, if they exist. Passing the "--compare" option will simply check if all the currently selected mirrors still exist in the new mirrorlist (they might not if they're dropped) and prints out a list of any that aren't.
    The locale_gen script does the same thing for currently enabled locales.
    Also note that all of the results are printed to STDOUT so no files are actually changes. It isn't fully "automatic" and the user is expected to sanity-check the results before overwriting the target files.

  • Can you merge 2 PDF files, alternating pages?

    I have 2 PDF files, one of a front side and one of a back side. The back side are all different addresses and the front is all the same. I want to run this all at one time instead of running one side and putting it back in the machine to run the other side. Is it possible to merge the two files with the pages alternating?

    > Is it possible to merge the two files with the pages alternating?
    Possible with Acrobat JavaScript:
    http://www.ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=8772#8772

  • Exporting a multipage InDesign document to single page PDFs but with unique filenames using scripts

    Hi,
    I'm using InDesign 5.5.
    My goal is to export a multipage InDesign file into single page PDFs but each single PDF must be uniquely named.
    For example;
    InDesignFileName_487275123.00.pdf
    InDesignFileName_734876882.00.pdf
    ...and so on.
    I've spent a great deal of time searching online and the closest I have found is  software called Output Factory which works fine.
    The way Output Factory works is by placing a script label within a textframe on the master page in InDesign. Then whatever is typed into the text frame on each the separate pages defines the file name of each separate page.
    However if I can solve this problem without any investment costs my boss will be very happy
    I found PEU5 which works great for exporting into single pages, it's now a case of naming each single PDF but I know nothing how about to create a script but I get the gist of what they do. My understanding is that a script could solve the second half of my problem.
    Can anyone help?
    Thanks.
    S

    Thanks Peter but but I don't think this is what I'm looking for.
    I did find this post http://forums.adobe.com/thread/841982 but I can't seem to get the script to work.
    This is the error message I get when I run the script... any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

  • Importing multi page InDesign Files

    Please forgive the basic question but I am still having problems with this... If I import an article from one InDesign file with 3 pages in it only the first page will show up in the content viewer. I understand folios can have multiple articles but can an imported article have multiple pages and is there a trick to seeing them in the content viewer? As a test I set up a 3 page InDesign file with type that says page 1, page 2 and page 3 on each respective page. Only page 1 is visible. Does every page of an InDesign file need to be imported seperately? I have watched all the Lynda.com tutorials on DPS and none of them address multipage InDesign files that I am aware of. Any help is appreciated, thank you!

    I apologize, I was using the content viewer on my desktop, not my tablet and the scroll bar would only show the first page, I guess it does not go through all of the pages. I did watch your course all the way through and learned a great deal from it, I will go back and find the multi page example and review. Thank you for your help.

  • 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.

  • How to merge indesign files into one

    Hi, I have some publication as book indesign files, then I want merge these individual indesign files inside one file. I search a lot for plug-ins and scripts to do it, but nothing I dont want just PDF files, because I need edit the files after putting them together. Any tips will be valuable Regards

    Try this one: go to -
    http://kasyan.ho.com.ua/scripts_by_categories.html
    search the page until you find
    Mass combine a bunch of indd files into one by Simon Wiscombe
    hope that helps
    Colin

  • Move group of pages from one InDesign file to another InDesign File using VB.Script

    Dear team,
    I am trying to move group of InDesign pages from one indesign file to another indesign file using vb.script.
    I have written the code like
    Dim Pages=IndDoc.Pages
    Dim Mytype=TypeName(Pages)
    Pages.Move(InDesign.idLocationOptions.idBefore,IndDoc1.Pages.LastItem)
    but it is giving an error as method Move is not a member of Pages 
    please give mme the solution to move the Multiple pages or a group of page from one Indd to another Indd.

    Hey Peter, if I wan to move several page that part of Auto Flow text, I checked the "delete page after moving" but the content still there, not deleted.
    Is there any way to delete it automatically, just to make sure I have moved that autoflowed page?

  • 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

  • Print Mulitple, Unrelated InDesign Files plug-in/script

    Does anyone know of a plug-in or script that allows you to print unrelated, multiple InDesign files? Using a book does not work as each InDesign file has it's own print settings.
    I'm looking for something similar to Zevrix's Batch Output, but for only the print feature. It allows you to print each InDesign file with the last print settings used for that file.
    I greatly appreciate any help. Thank you.

    I suspect you might get some help over in Scripting, if it can be done.
    http://forums.adobe.com/community/indesign/indesign_scripting

  • How to get all paragraphs style and their fonts of a  indesign file and write all info with para info into txt file with scripting

    how to get all how to get all paragraphs style and their fonts of a  indesign file and write all info with para info into txt file with scriptingstyle and their fonts of a  indesign file and write all info with para info into txt file with scripting

    I write the script this one works
              var par=doc.stories.everyItem().paragraphs.everyItem().getElements();
      for(var i=par.length-1;i>=0;i--)
           var font=par[i].appliedParagraphStyle.name;
            var font1=par[i].appliedFont.name;
             var size=par[i].pointSize;
            WriteToFile (par[i].contents  +   "\r" +  "Style  : " + font  + "\r" +  "FONT1  : " + font1  + "\r" +  "Size  : " + size  + "\r", reportFilePath);
                            function WriteToFile(text, reportFilePath) { 
        file = new File(reportFilePath); 
        file.encoding = "UTF-8"; 
        if (file.exists) { 
            file.open("e"); 
            file.seek(0, 2); 
        else { 
            file.open("w"); 
          file.writeln(text);  
        file.close(); 
    Thanks for all your support

  • Is it possible to store script settings with InDesign file?

    Hi,
    I have some crazy idea: is it possible to store script settings with InDesign file?
    In that case scripters will be able to store those settings with file, and when script runs - it can check if those setting exists - if so - script can run without showing dialogue with parameters... (as all necessary parameters stored with indesign file), and of course we can force InDesign to show script parameters dialogue if we run it with alt/option key pressed while running this script. Maybe even different scripts will be able to share those settings and interact with each other.. we will be able to have settings that will be saved with file, or temp settings for current document or session (till InDesign is closed). With eventListeners and startup scripts we will be able to do scripts that would be able to check for updates, and automatically execute when we placing images and text, and so on.. this can be a whole InDesign scripting framework, that allow to write scripts that will use same libraries and ui so we don't have to write everything from scratch everytime and just included required libs..
    so here is 2 main questions for now:
    1) is it possible to store script settings with .indd file
    2) who is intrested in creation InDesign scripting framework (because this only makes sense if many people will use it)
    PS: I know that it's possible to store settings in external file, but this time I'm interested only for saving params with .indd

    Ok, here is the labels parser I end with, actually it works extremely fast!
    Thanks again, Harbs!
    var labels = GetDocLabels(app.documents[0]);
    function GetDocLabels(doc)
        var idmlFile = File(Folder.temp + "/temp.idml"); 
        doc.exportFile(ExportFormat.INDESIGN_MARKUP,idmlFile); // asynchronousExportFile works, but script fails as it try to execute before file fully exported
        var folder = Folder(Folder.temp + "/temp_idml"); 
        app.unpackageUCF(idmlFile,folder); 
        var designMap = File(folder + "/designmap.xml"); 
        var valuePairs = GetValuePairs(designMap); 
        return valuePairs;    
    function GetValuePairs(file)
        file.open("r");  
        var contents = file.read();  
        file.close();   
        var contXML = XML(contents);
        var vals = {};
        for each(var pair in contXML..KeyValuePair)
            vals[[email protected]()] = [email protected]();       
        return vals;  
    //> START of DELETE FOLDER Function
    function deleteFolder(path)
        removeFolder = path; // path to folder that need to be removed
        filesToRemove = removeFolder.getFiles();
        for(i = 0; i < filesToRemove.length; i++)
            try
                innerFolders = filesToRemove[i].getFiles();
                if(innerFolders.length >= 1)
                    for(f = 0; f < innerFolders.length; f++)
                        innerFolders[f].remove()
            catch(e){}
            filesToRemove[i].remove(); // remove temp files once we done
        removeFolder.remove();
    }//< END of DELETE FOLDER function
    // remove temp files once we done
    deleteFolder(Folder(Folder.temp + "/temp_idml"));
    File(Folder.temp + "/temp.idml").remove();
    // DUMPER FUNCTIONS
    function dump(o)
        out = "";
        for (var p in o)
            out += p + ": " + o[p] + "\n";
        return(out);
    function alert_scroll (title, input)
       if (input instanceof Array)
           input = input.join ("\r");
       var w = new Window ("dialog", title);
       var list = w.add ("edittext", undefined, input, {multiline: true, scrolling: true});
       list.maximumSize.height = w.maximumSize.height-100;
       list.minimumSize.width = 550;
       w.add ("button", undefined, "Close", {name: "ok"});
       w.show ();
    alert_scroll ("Document Labels", dump(labels)); exit();

  • Extracting an image data merge field using only an indesign file and not document.dataMergeProperties.dataMergeFields

    Hi,
    I have kind of a weird requirement but I hope you guys can help out.
    I need to extract all the custom fields used in an indesign file without referencing the dataMergeProperties of a document. Sorry if this is a weird request it is just what I've been told (our system needs to not crash when people upload a variety of in design documents to generate high resolution jpg preview documents).
    I can already get all the text custom fields by looking for "<<" and ">>" in the text frames of a document but I'm having a really hard time finding the image custom fields.
    I tried looking at the rectangles for a given page but that didn't seem to help (but maybe i'm missing some there). I also tried looking at the graphics and images collection of a document but this seemed to return only graphics that are hard coded on the in design document and not the custom image fields.
    Any help would be appreciated!

    Uggg....
    Found the answer after I realized I was looking at the wrong SDK (5.0 instead of 6.0)
    I'm using the doc.hyperlinkPageItemSources property to get these images. It also looks like you can get the image data merge fields from DataMergeImagePlaceholder (but rememeber I couldn't access this).

  • Is there a way / script to change an image in all master pages of files in a InDesign book

    I have about 30 InDesign Files that are contained within a book. I am looking for a simple way to replace a logo in the master files without doing it one by one. Is there a script or process to do this easily?

    Master pages can be synchronized through the Book panel.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Blue screen of death when running labwindows​, pxi chassis, and windows 2000

    Hi, when programming under labwindows the software crashes cvi, and windows NT and i get the blue screen of death...usually every hr or so. I checked the hw config and there are no conflicts. Is it normal to share IRQ 9 for all? is there a document t

  • Payment methods for automatic incoming payment processing.

    Hi, We have been using 'f110'  program for automatic outgoing payment processing. Now we are trying to set the incoming payment processing using the same program.  It should be mentioned that its a Canadian organization.  For outgoing payment, we hav

  • Template for base.htm

    kindly help me to find template for a base html to run forms like to run form in separate html in same window for another html

  • How to number pages after beginning project

    how do you number "pages" after the project has been started with a pages template?

  • I keep restoring my ipod

    my 160 GB classic ipod. Whenever I connect my ipod to my windows vista itunes freezes. Sometimes it pops up in the itunes window then tries to sync but shortly after trying it freezes.and when i disconnected the ipod it needs to get restored I believ