indesign data merge multiple records not working

INDESIGN DATA MERGE MULTIPLE RECORDS NOT WORKING PDF
INDESIGN DATA MERGE MULTIPLE RECORDS NOT WORKING FULL

You may link to data from a 20-column spreadsheet, but if there are columns of data you don’t need, just don’t create placeholders for that data in your layout. For example, you’re not required to use all the data in the source file.

All image files the data source refers to (see step 4) must be at their specified location.īeyond that, InDesign is pretty flexible.There are only two absolute rules you must follow to make a data source InDesign-ready: Excel is the ideal environment for sorting and organizing data until you’re ready to hand it off to InDesign. I’ll assume you received an Excel document as your data source. You can’t put data placeholders into your InDesign document unless you have a data source, so let’s start there. With the aesthetic choices decided and applied up front, the rest was in the hands of Data Merge. The tables were so precisely formatted that they were beyond the practical capabilities of InDesign’s Table and Cell Styles feature, so I opted to create one “perfect” table as a basis for the others (Figure 4).įigure 4: Using text for one country’s data copied and pasted from the original spreadsheet, all of the design choices and practical considerations-available space, arrangement of individual pieces of data, etc.-were first rendered in black-and-white to speed up the process, then I added color. In my layout, each country’s data was presented in a complex table that included other tables anchored within it as anchored objects, as well as anchored text frames and images, and multiple paragraph styles. So it’s worth taking a step back to be sure everything’s thought through before you start. You want to avoid that additional work, or keep it to a minimum. After you’ve run the data merge, any adjustments you make will need to be done object-by-object. What matters most is that you have a final design planned out and a data merge source that is ready to generate multiple iterations exactly the way you want. It’s a combination of sketching, trial-and-error, problem-solving, and decision-making that gives you a concrete goal to shoot for. This isn’t, technically, an InDesign step. From these two, a new “merged” InDesign document is produced that incorporates the information from your data source into your design (Figure 3).įigure 3: The Data Merge workflow requires a data source linked to an “interim” InDesign document with data placeholders, from which another merged document is generated. The data source is a tab- or comma-delimited file (most commonly saved from a spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel or from a database). The InDesign document is where you design static page elements and establish data placeholders in preparation for the merge. There are two things you need for an InDesign data merge: an InDesign document, and a data source file. Let’s take a high-level look at that process. Click the image below to see a larger version.Īlthough the end results were impressive, the Data Merge part didn’t vary at all from any textbook Data Merge. Instead, I chose to produce individual tables for each country, including an image of its flag, and distribute those tables across several spreads against a map backdrop (Figure 2).įigure 1: The Excel spreadsheet from which this project started has valuable information but no visual appeal.įigure 2: With the help of Data Merge, I generated 24 of these complex tables from the spreadsheet data, then used them throughout this multi-page magazine layout. The spreadsheet (Figure 1) contained valuable, well-researched information that warranted a presentation more interesting than a mere table. This layout, which I created for Inbound Logistics magazine, originated as a spreadsheet of data compiled about the strengths and weaknesses of locations around the world for companies to consider setting up logistics operations. For example, I recently used InDesign’s built-in Data Merge to bring a modest spreadsheet to visual life (and get around the limitations of Table and Cell Styles), saving a tremendous amount of time in the process.

INDESIGN DATA MERGE MULTIPLE RECORDS NOT WORKING PDF

This PDF is best viewed in Adobe Acrobat or the free Adobe Reader.ĭata and design might seem like strange bedfellows, but with a little InDesign know-how, you can combine the two to achieve layouts that are effective and informative… and do so surprisingly fast.

INDESIGN DATA MERGE MULTIPLE RECORDS NOT WORKING FULL

In addition to the HTML version of the excerpt below, you can also download the excerpt as a PDF that retains the full design of the magazine. Excerpted from InDesign Magazine, June/July 2011 (issue 42).

Indesign data merge multiple records not working