You can use DataLinker to link data from multiple records into a text frame or a table. This process is called merging, and it’s a simple yet powerful feature in DataLinker.
To merge data into a text frame using DataLinker:
- In your InDesign document, place the cursor where you would like the first field to appear.
- Double-click on the field in the DataLinker palette. The field value for the current record will appear in the text frame, surrounded by non-printing brackets.
- Repeat for as many fields as you would like to merge.
Note: You can only merge records from the same data source. If you highlight records from multiple data sources, you won’t be able to merge.
- Once all the fields are inserted, highlight all the text that you would like repeated for each record. This could include both fields from a data source and simple text. Note that all highlighted text will be repeated for each record when doing a merge. Therefore, it is important to only highlight text intended for merging.
- Select the “Merge” menu item from the flyout menu in the DataLinker palette.
- DataLinker will present you with a dialog where you can decide what records to merge in. Type the record numbers for the first and last record you want merged. Click OK.
- DataLinker will now merge in all selected records from the database, repeating any highlighted text. DataLinker will preserve all formatting from the existing text when inserting new text from database records.
To merge data into a table using DataLinker
You can use DataLinker to automatically fill an InDesign table with data from a database. You can format the table using table and cell styles, and DataLinker will maintain those styles as it merges data into the table.
- Insert the field names into the cells where you wish the data to be merged. You can insert a single field per cell, multiple fields per cell, or just plain text in a cell, as you desire
- Highlight the cells containing the fields you want to merge.
Note: You can select fields in more than one row, as well as merged cells in the table. When merging the data, DataLinker will copy as many rows as you have selected and reproduce them for every record. You can have a single record in two, three or more rows of a table, and you can take full advantage of InDesign’s table formatting abilities to merge and split cells as well. - Select the “Merge” menu item from the flyout menu in the DataLinker palette.
- DataLinker will present you with a dialog where you can decide what records to merge in. Type the record numbers for the first and last record you want merged. Click OK.
- DataLinker will now merge in all selected records from the database. All text and table formatting will be used from the existing table cells when inserting new records from the database.
Autoflowing Merged Data
DataLinker will autoflow data when you merge. Just do the merge, and if the new data causes a frame to overflow, DataLinker will create new copies of the pages that your text frames are on and will flow the merged data into them.
For this reason, it's a good idea to put a column break in the last frame that you're flowing into if you want the next record to start on a new page. This will force DataLinker to create a new page for the next record and every record after it.
- Create the empty text frames you want to flow into on a master page.
- Apply that master page to a document page
- Othe document page, ctrl-shift (Windows) or cmd-shift (Mac) click on the first text frame to pull it onto the document page
- Insert the fields you want to merge into the text frame
- Highlight all the fields and select Merge. If you have enabled Smart Text Reflow, then InDesign will create new pages from the master and flow the data into them.
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