indesign mail merge

[evilllama]

could anoyone point me in the right direction for setting up a mail merge in indesign 2.0?

i see there are some 3rd party plug-ins, but i'm trying to do this on the cheap for a client.

right now, i'm thinking of just exporting the whole thing to an image and setting up the merge in word or just sending it through the printer twice.

[Cone Graff]

What does mail merge means ??

[evilllama]

it's taking database information, in my case customer addresses, and placing it into a template document. think form letter or mailing labels.

[Cone Graff]

oh that

pretty blank in that area, i will check up on it tomorrow when i get to work

[evilllama]

thanks, i'd appreciate that.

i know it works in pagemaker but i don't have that. perhaps it'll work in the new CS version. where are my upgrades dammit. :gatling:

since it's your app cone, do you know if it's supported in quark?

[Cone Graff]

It's not supported in Quark 5.0
i think it's in the 6.0 upgrade though

:edit:
I do recall something about excell docs though, can't remember how it works (damn absinthe)

I just found this on Adobe

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/1e3f2.htm

might help you, it might not, most likely only half way :D

[evilllama]

thanks! interesting workaround but way more work than i am willing to do. i'm a lazy bastard today.

[Cone Graff]

So i talked with some of the DeskTop Publishers at work, apparently it's not as easy i thought it would be. You can make it work in Quark 5.0 or higher if you have the addresses in a excell doc only.

InDesign:
One of the dudes directed me to this, in the manual, might be interesting for you to read.



Creating and importing XML tags
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Before you tag your document's content for XML export, you need a list of tags in the Tags palette to work with. You can create XML tags from scratch, or you can_import them from another source. In most XML workflows, a team member determines the set of tags you'll use--make sure you and your team members use tags consistently.
The Tags palette displays a list of all available tags.

Use any of the following methods to add tags to the Tags_palette:
* Create tags using the New Tag command.
* Load tags from an XML file or from another InDesign 2.0 document.
* Import tags (and content) using the Import XML command. See Importing XML files.
* Add tags based on PDF structure tags. See About using Acrobat structure tags for PDF export.

To create XML tags:

1. Choose Window > Tags to open the Tags palette.
2. Choose New Tag from the Tags palette menu, or click the New Tag button_ at the bottom of the Tags palette.
3. Type a name for the tag. InDesign checks to make sure that you include valid XML tag names according to XML standards. If you include a space or an illegal character in the tag name, an alert message appears when you click OK.
4. Specify a color for the tag. You can use the same color for multiple tags. The color you select appears when you apply the tag to a frame and choose View > Show Tagged Frames, or when you apply the tag to text within a frame and choose View > Show Tag Markers. Tag colors do not appear in the exported XML file.
5. Click OK.

To edit a tag:

1. Do one of the following:
* To change only the tag name, double-click a tag name in the Tags palette, and then edit the tag name in its place.
* To change the tag name or color, double-click the tag color icon. Or, select a tag, and then choose Tag Options from the Tags palette menu.
2. Change the name or color of the tag, and then click_OK.

To load tags from an XML file or InDesign document:

1. Choose Load Tags from the Tags palette menu.
2. Select the XML file or InDesign document containing the tags you want to import, and then click Open. Any tags in the selected XML file appear in the Tags palette.

[evilllama]

:cheers: thanks for the help cone! thank the other dudes too.

i looked in to the using the xml tags yesterday but it was going to be way more work to format the data into xml than i wanted to spend. for this project, it was just easier to export the indesign document to an image and paste it into word and use it's built-in mail merge to run the addresses. it's a couple of steps if i need to go back and make changes but i can live with that.

[Cone Graff]

Hows the quality of the file then, doesn't word screw up the quality

[evilllama]

the quality is just fine. since indesign doesn't export bitmap images, i'm making and eps then creating a .tif in illustrator. these are a simple newsletter that's just being printed in-house and the end result looks the same as it does directly from indesign.

if i was sending these off to a printer i'm sure i wouldn't use this method. oh wait, yes i would. i'd get them all printed with a blank spot and run them through a printer or add labels.

[Cone Graff]

I'm not sure i would be comfortable with sending a word doc for offset printing or heatset or rotation for that matter.

But then again, i have never tried

[evilllama]

hehe. don't try it. i would never send a word doc to a printer. i'd be floating in the river by morning. :grin:

i meant i'd still use word for printing the addresses on to a document or on to label sheets after it came back from the printer.

[Cone Graff]

oh, my bad :D