Using Data Merge, VDP and Folding on Xerox Docu 260

OK So I have a customer that sends me an Excel file of addresses that I use to print directly on his newsletter. Its an 8 page newsletter (2 - 11x17 sheets folded in half). I send the master to the Fiery controller. Then I use data merge to create an indesign document with the different names and addresses only. My problem is, I canot get it to print and fold the spreads. I can do 4 pages at a time. But when I try and output the entire job it prints flat. Is there a setting or a way to tag pages so I can print the entire job and have it fold? Hopefully I explained myself and didnt make it too confusing. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Using Indesign CS4.

What type of Fiery RIP do you have? Is it the "bustled" one in a box stuck on the back of the 260 or a standalone one? If it's the bustled one you're probably stuck, although we did work out how to get round it. You have to print the "cover" first, merged and flat, then load that back in and insert it as a cover when you are printing the inside, which in the case of an 8 pager is then a single sheet.

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Using Data Merge to Create a 508 Compliant Document

I've been tasked to create a 508 compliant document from an existing InDesign document. This is a document that uses Data Merge to fill in a form along with 2-3 photos, and a location map. Each photo and the map need to have Alt Text descriptions. I know how to apply Alt Text in the structure panel. I would like to add Alt Text to these graphics in the document I am using to create the merged document. When I do so then create the data merged document it drops all of the Alt Text. Does anyone know a remedy for this problem?
I appreciate any input. Thank you.
-Ben

Australia doesn't have section 508 so I'm not quite sure what is required by law... but if it's a line of type such as a description, should be do-able.
Two ways:
1) If the images have a description or a title in the IPTC metadata, the data merge frame containing the image could simply have a caption containing either the description or title on another layer (that is possible from captions) and then that layer is toggled on/off depending on what output is required
2) Much the same as above, but instead of using the IPTC metadata, this uses an additional field in the datamerge database. A textbox is put above the image (again, in another layer) and that textbox contains the description from the datamerge database. Just as in the previous solution, the layer is toggled on/off depending on what output is required.
Or am I barking up the wrong tree and need a layman's definition of what section 508 requires?
Colly

How do I automate a large catalog with several unique sections using Data Merge and Microsoft Excel?

My boss would like me to use data merge to create a catalog with 300+ pages and unique data fields on almost every page. It is an informational catalog that would contain pictures and several unique fitment and specification fields for each product that we sell and manufacture on each page. For years the catalog was made and modified manually in quark express. Is it possible to use data merge to recreate such a complex document? Does anyone have any useful reccomendations or links for tackling this project? I really appreciate any advice or help.
Thank You,
Kevin
Message was edited by: kpalombi

Online video
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/instant-indesign/automating-a-catalog-with-data-merge/
Software
http://www.65bit.com/home/home.shtm
Data Merge Tips
http://www.theindesigner.com/blog/episode-43-data-merge-video

Why does an InDesign document exported to PDF using data merge result in very different sized PDFs?

I've got a small sheet that I update on occasion and use data-merge to add people's names to the sheet. It's very much like an invitation where every invite has a different name on it. I use the data merge feature to select a list of names and then they get inserted into the document. Then I use the Export to PDF command in the data merge window to create a pdf that has all of the invitations in one big file. They are four-up per page on letter sized paper. Sometimes I print 2000 of them and the resulting PDF is about 2mb, sometimes I print 1000 of them and it's 20mb. Document, settings, method of issueing the commands to output the files are all the same. The only difference is the list of names and those are all almost identical in length. Anyone know what could be happening?
One clue is that it takes about a minute to run when the result is going to be a small file and about 5 or more minutes when the result is going to be a large file.
My guess is that sometimes it includes a copy of the images once per page, and sometimes it only includes them once per document, but I'd love to know why and how to control that. Thanks.

And you verified that the links panel shows everything as up-to-date?
The only other things I can suggest at the moment are the standard two trouble shooting steps: Remove minor corruption by exporting and Replace Your Preferences

Best approach to creating a TOC for product catalog using data merge

What is the best approach for creating a TOC for a product catalog (over 1,000 items) using Data Merge?
The TOC would contain the product Categories.
So for example, Category A items could go from pages 1 - 3, and Category B items would start at pg 4, but if new items were added to Category A, then Category B may start from pg 6.
From the Data Source, there are 5 Data Fields I've chosen to be displayed. If this were a regular digital print document, I could use the Paragraph Style method for creating a TOC, but if I make any one of the Data Fields a certain Paragraph Style and use that for the TOC, it'll populate the TOC with that Data Field for all the items.
Any suggestions?

Peter Spier wrote:
TOC is not interactive in the ID file, though it can be in a PDF that you export (there's a checkbox to create PDF bookmarks). You might want to think about using Cross-references (rather than hyperlinks, I think) to build the TOC. You have to do it manually, but once done it should maintain itself, whereas a TOC is built automatically, but must be regenerated after you edit the doc.
One caveat witih TOCs created from cross-references: Although changing the text of an x-ref source paragraph (for example from "Patatas and tamatas" to "Tomatoes and Potatoes,"and/or when the source paragraph flows to the next or previous page) update automatically or when invoking "Update cross-references," MOVING a cross-reference source paragraph to a location before or after another source paragraph, does not change their sequence in the pseudo-TOC. You'll need to manually move the reference in the pseudo-TOC to the correct position in the sequence of cross-refs. So, put the task of checking the order of x-refs in the pseudo-TOC on your before hand-off check list.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

Using Data Merge for filenames?

First off, I'm running Indesign CS5 on Snowleapord.
I've used Data Merge to create one file with 45 pages. Each page is a form letter, with the first line being the persons name.
What I need to do is save each of those pages as its own Jpg file, (Easy to do, just export>Jpg)
Where I'm having trouble is in the filename scheme. If it saves each page as "formletter-1" "formletter-2" I end up not knowing who's letter it is.
I'd like to name the files for the name of the person in the letter, the <<Name>> field from data merge. There are FAR to many to do this by hand.
Any suggestions?
Thanks so much.
PS
I don't know anything about scripting. I hope somebody can write one or provide me with a link to a solution.

I am trying to do the same thing.
I have an Indesign document with data merge information on it. I can successfully get it to create either a multipage indesign document or PDF.
I now want to name PDF with one of my field names and create single named PDF files.
I tried clicking on the above link be the website has no information on it.
I am using a mac and unfortunately know nothing about scripting.
Many thanks if someone can help.

Can you place text from a word document using data merge?

I'm working with a charity that is giving away scholarships/grants. I need to create a ducument that pulls in various application data plus their submitted essay (docx format). I would like to do this via data merge but cannot find any reference if it is possible.
Please help, I really need to automate as much as possible since this is a side project.
Kevin

Data merge only collects info from CSV format - which I expect you would export from Excel. (I think it'll take tab-delimited as well, but that's it.)
MS Word files can be placed, but Data Merge is not the tool to automate placing of Word-file content. If there is no formatting of their essays, I suspect you could use VBA to cause entire essays to occupy a single cell in Excel. But that would be the only way to use Data Merge to automate import of essays into InDesign.
Maybe if you tell us more we can give you some more automation suggestions. (I spend a lot of time automating translation workflows, but I still place Word files. All day long, in fact.)
(edited for spelling)

Check InDesign data merge template for errors without creating document?

I've got a big InDesign template with hundreds of rows. Producing a full batch takes over an hour, and sometimes crashes. The deadline is fast approaching, and I'm waiting for the final minor amendments to the content spreadsheet, which could virtually land any minute.
I want to check for overset text errors on the current sheet without creating a merged document or PDF, so I can get on with fixing any likely major problems before the final sheet arrives - but I don't want to create a full merged doc, because that will take a very long time and will that doc's content will be obsolete, whereas the overall length of the text will change very little.
When you create a merged document, you have the option to turn "Generate overset text report" off. What I want to do, is ONLY generate the overset text report, without actually storing the merged document in memory.
Is this possible?
The closest I can see is click through the "Next" button in the Data Merge palette with Preview turned on, while watching the "No errors" preflight panel notification at the bottom of the screen. This is probably faster than creating a full merge, but still very slow.

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.

Has anyone else experienced InDesign CC and 2014 crashing when using Data Merge?

I have already tried the Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Cmd keystroke upon start-up and saying "yes" to clearing the preferences, but unlike previously where this solved the issue (a few months back, until Adobe released an update which meant this was no longer needed) this hasn't worked. I have also tried using both a CSV and a TXT file as the source file, same crash.
Anyone found a solution? I am using Mac OSX.9. Same thing happens on a colleagues Mac, so isn't my machine.

This is about all the information I could provide, hence why I was asking a general question. If I'd known what steps to take I wouldn't be asking. I have solved the problem, it seemed to be the InDesign file, not the data file.

Need to create a directory in inDesign using data merge

Need to create a multi paged document that contains fields with persons pix, name, address, and phone number.
It will be alphabetized and searchable using an index.
I want the end result to be a multi-page pdf.
Is data merge the tool to use?
Or please suggest some other application, mac please!
Any advice...
Lisa-renee

Yep, Data merge can do that. You'll want to make multiple records per page, have a look at the help here and report back with specific questions if you have them.
You need to get your document that you're merging from sorted first though, there's a script here that will help you arrange your images.

How can I utilize text variable in my book which only uses data merge on the first chapter?

Hey ladies and gents, I'm trying to automate a process here and running into trouble. I have the first chapter of a book with several data merge fields (legal documents etc), and want the later chapters to pick up from what I have already merged via text variables or SOMETHING. From what I've tried, the options available to me are limited and buggy.
Using the running header with character styles almost worked, but it removes all visual tracking in text around it (I assume this is a bug) and it only works for the first/last instance of the style. I need something that will fill in all instances.
Here is an example of what I'm doing. In the ch1 document of my book I data merge the Name, Age and Occupation of a person. In chapter two I want to have a variable that takes the name that was merged in ch1. Any ideas? Doesn't seem possible!

I need some solution that references live text, specifically different fields that have been data merged. This solution needs to work between documents, so your cross-reference suggestion was in the right direction. If I data merge 'Plan Name' from a CSV file into my first document and mark it with something (character style, paragraph style, text anchor etc), I want to have places in my other documents that pull that exact text from the first.
If document 1 says 'the plan is XXXX', document 2 will copy that name, i.e. 'According to plan XXXX'. Whatever solution this is it's what I'm looking for.

Can i use data merge with pdf images in indesign?

Hi need to do a data merge but with pdf's not jpg or tifs. I am having the result with jpgs but not with pdf's.
Can i do it with pdf's?

in fact that is not a problem because i have both pdfs same size and orientated, the only thing is that i cannot use the pdf docs for some reason.
eg. in the csv file i have (this is not working)
Field 1                                      Field2
'@background                          '@page
Machintosh HD:bg1.pdf           Machintosh HD:page1.pdf
eg. in the csv file i have (this works)
Field 1                                      Field2
'@background                          '@page
Machintosh HD:bg1.psd           Machintosh HD:page1.psd
I would like to use the pdf file is there a different way to do so?

Is there a way to export / extract a document's used data merge placeholders?

Is there any way, by feature, scripting or XML trickery, to extract a list of the Data Merge placeholders that are actually used in an Indesign document?
InDesign clearly has this data - it uses it in the Data Merge window to tell you which pages the listed placeholders appear on. Is there any way to get the list of used placeholders as a CSV, list, text file, etc etc?
I'm looking for a way on a very complex Data Merge project to ease fixing errors and to ease paring the data sheets down to only the fields that are in use (out of hundreds).

The problem really is that one person has InDesign and the other has Photoshop.
The workflow is images from photoshop are placed in Photoshop.
Not the layout from InDesign is placed in photoshop.
That's how the software is designed to work.
What people are saying is that Photoshop cannot work this way in dealing with layouts, it's a nightmare and will give you terrible results and cost you time and effort when updating things in Photoshop, it has all the makings of a Final Destination movie, particularly in the area of the later sequels.
But let's not get hung up on those franchises.
If the person needs to edit an Indesign file and can't afford the full cost of InDesign then there are other workarounds:
1. If it's just text
If all they are doing is updating text then you can use File>Export>Rich Text Format from a selection of text, this will make a Word version of the text that they can edit. You can then use File>Import and import the RTF that is edited.
2. You can use InCopy
This is a viable solution for editors that need to see the text in the Layout Format, but it hasn't got all the bells and whistles of InDesign, but it works in tangent with InDesign, it's not as pricey as InDesign and it also allows you to lock out editors from editing certain parts or moving things within the layout. And it can update your InDesign file on the fly.
3. You can use Rorohikos Story Tweaker
http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/2009/03/25/storytweakertextedits/
There are workarounds that you can find for people that don't have InDesign. It's just that the Photoshop workflow isn't a viable solution in any sense.
For example, I have my layouts proofed in PDF format, where the proofreader adds Comments to the PDF. It works for our workflow as I'm the one editing the only file in existence.
But to go from InDesign to Photoshop is a complete waste of time and effort on everyone's part. There is no need to go that route, there's no reason, there's no point.

Printing Tab Sheets using Data Merge (DM)

Given: Three "layers" of 5 cut Tab sheets that are to show different text items on the 15 tabs. (I have performed DM to print 5 cut tab sheets.)
But how would you use DM to place and print the 3 unique sets of 5 cut tab sheets? How would the csv file be set up to reflect the repeating tab positions? I believe you can have up to 50 items layed out in a DM.
I know how to actually print tabs, but I figured DM was more efficient.

I'm not sure this will really work for data merge, but if it can be done with a single file you'll need to do some modifications to your data set.
First, you'll need five different fields for the data, one for each tab, so for each record you'll have one field populated, and 4 blank (or just two commas next to each other, nothing between for each blank field). If you were working in Excel, this would mean you'd need to populate cells in a shift right AND shift down pattern, sort of stair-stepping.
Next you'd need to make a five-page file in ID and put each filed in the correct position on it's own page. It might work to use five master pages, and put one field on each master, but I haven't had good luck using fields on the master page unless you are using a single record per page merge (which you are), and I never tried with multiple masters, so ...
Peter

How can I use data merge, within a master, within a book?

Hi all,
I am producing an 84pp catalogue for multiple brands.
I have it set up as:
1x .indd document per spread
Master styles within one .indd document for black text, white text etc.
Book setup to contain all of the .indd files to make up the 84pp book
Now, my problem is I have to change the footer text and references depending on the brand, so I can have the footers saying 'Call Brand A on 123 4567' or 'Call Brand B on 567 1234' and have various in-text references change from Brand A to Brand B and vice versa.
I have a data merge on each of the masters in my .indd style source looking at a simple .csv of:
Brand Name
URL
Phone Number
Brand A
www.branda.com
0800 123 4567
Brand B
www.brandb.com
0800 567 1234
This works fine on the masters within the source .indd.
But, when I close this master style source and go into another .indd document within the book (after synchronising) I see the <<Brand Name>> container but, when I export the documents it does not populate the book with the data - it keeps the containers.
Obviously with a normal in-document Data Merge you'd click 'Create Merged Document' but I don't want to export each page, and I have PDF print presets / .joboptions file with settings for the book.
Any advice on how to get this to work?
Thanks!
Andy

I'm not really following the workflow here, but this seems like it might be better suited to Conditional Text than to Data Merge.

Using Data Merge, VDP and Folding on Xerox Docu 260

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