Indesign automation data merge free#

But frequently we want to print multiple instances of the data on a single sheet. These cards display the variable data all on one page. And there will be three different images used, depending on if the pet is a cat, a dog or a bird. The reminder card will have variable data for the name of the pet, the date of the last visit, and so on. We’ll be creating two documents for an imaginary veterinary hospital: The first is a card to remind its clients that their pet needs to be brought in for its annual checkup.

Indesign automation data merge free#

It pointed to a free article on Data Merge from InDesign Magazine by Rufus Deuchler.) (David also posted a blog entry in December 2006, answering a question about Data Merge. We’ll also cover including images in the data, and laying it out with multiple records per page. In subsequent weeks (I’m hoping to post weekly), I’ll cover creating frame placeholders in InDesign, importing the data and previewing it. Today, I’ll describe what I’ll be creating in this series, and introduce you to preparing data for Data Merge. Instead I’ll spread this description over several weeks. You can, of course, do a mail merge in Word, but in InDesign, you have access to all its typographic refinements.ĭata Merge can’t be described adequately in a single blog entry. But you can use a wide range of sources: Any data source that can create comma- or tab-delimited text is fair game (including Excel spreadsheets, database files, or Microsoft Word documents with tabbed text). The data for the personalization comes from the structured information in a database. It arrived as a stealth feature in InDesign CS2 with little fanfare.ĭata Merge can create documents which have personalized, or variable, information such as business cards, mailing labels, form letters, even simple catalogs. This feature originated in Adobe PageMaker, and was enhanced and brought into InDesign CS if you bought the PageMaker Plug-in Pack. Is there something I'm missing or another way to do this? If I have to rearrange my data, is there any way I can take the three columns of data in an excel sheet and redistribute it across 15 rows?Īlso, I'm not interested in a $129.99 addon if that is what you're recommending.InDesign CS2 has a powerful automation capability that very few people use: its Data Merge feature. Also, I have over 600 pieces of data that I would then have to go and reorganize if that is the only way to get data merge to import in rows. I did notice that if I went in and reorganized the data so that there were 15 columns, with these three placeholders repeated five times, and then used that data source, the data merge would then import correctly, but that seems really cumbersome and counterintuitive for data organization. Now, I have my data source organized so that there are just three columns: the first is my the second is the first name, and the third is the last name. I have selected the option 'arrange by rows first' but it still doesn't work. Every time I go to data merge and use the multiple record layout, it is placing one student's photo at the start of every row and leaving the rest of the row blank. I need to import the photos so that they are arranged in five columns and six rows, and arranged alphabetically by row. I am designing a yearbook, and I am trying to use data merge to import student photos.