The database above will need to be exported as a tab-delimited text file so InDesign can perform a Data Merge.īack in InDesign, create a layer for the first travel destination, and then prepare the layout as desired along with the relevant Data Merge fields. It is also important to point out that this technique doesn’t invoke some hidden Data Merge ability involving layers, but instead shows or hides content based upon the trigger in the Excel file. If it is a match, the statement returns the word “move,” otherwise nothing is returned and a blank space is left. The original database in Microsoft Excel contains a column that has the prospects’ destination and also has three columns to the right of it that use an if statement to determine if the copy in the destination column is a match for the column heading. The key here is inside the database that will be used for the Data Merge. But what if I told you it was possible to do this using one database with one InDesign file? Well, it can be done! How this technique works The way I would imagine that most people would tackle this task is to make three postcards in InDesign, separate the prospect list into three different databases and prepare the three Data Merges separately. For the sake of this example, it will be Canada, Europe, or Australia, and the layouts will differ from each other, not just the picture in the background. To tailor the postcards to each prospect, the front of each postcard will have a layout based on the destination that the prospects indicated they’d like to travel to. Take the following example: A travel agent is preparing follow-up postcards based on information it received from prospects during a travel expo. In this post, I’d like to demonstrate another technique that shouldn’t be possible, and that is changing a layout during a Data Merge. I like to try and make Adobe InDesign’s Data Merge perform tasks that shouldn’t be possible, such as heat maps, bar graphs, and changing colours.

Indesign data merge multiple records