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J
jkbff
Participant
December 28, 2020
Question

Data Merge with simple data set questions

  • December 28, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 481 views

Hello all!

First, I need to apologize in advance because I don't know the proper terms for the things I am trying to do, but I know how to get around Indesign, if that makes sense.

 

I am trying to make a scheduling planner that has the day of the week on each page. I am also trying to format the pages to offset for binding.

 

I use an excel csv that has the dates incremented for each row. Generating that data set is simple. What I am getting stuck with is I have the right page of master a set for my odd pages with margins for the binding and the left page of master a set for my even pages with margins set for binding and the place holder for the records needs to be in a different position.

 

When I create the merged document, Page 1 and Page 2 have the same record, Page 3 and Page 4 have the same records, which I can understand because the place holder is linked to the same data set...

 

How do I go about having Page 1 have record 1, page 2 have record 2, page 3 have record 3 and so on? Everything I keep searching for results in complex data sets and multiple records per page and neither of those apply to me.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

T
tacoeater
Participating Frequently
December 28, 2020

Are you creating your master with a spread and then duplicating the data field over to that 2nd page?

If you are I recommend just having 1 page with your indesign data merge document. Which will create single pages. Select all the single pages and go to pages palette options and untick "Allow selected spreads to shuffle", after this go back in and retick it.

Is this result what you were after?

J
jkbffAuthor
Participant
December 29, 2020

This is where I trip over my words.

So on the front side, I have a margin on the left of .75" and .5" on the right. On the back side, I have .5" on the left and .75" on the right to compensate for the binding. So if the front has <<date records>> and the back side has the same <<date records>>, how do I get Jan 1 2021, on page one, Jan 2 2021 on the second page, Jan 3 2021 on the third page etc. instead of getting Jan 1 2021 on the first and second page, Jan 2 2021 on the third and fourth page?

 

When I tried what you said with the pages palette and allow selected spreads to shuffle, I could make that work if I manually adjust every other page to my allignments, and I'm trying to avoid doing that.

 

On reddit, it was suggested splitting my data set up to have a colum for even pages and a column for odd pages, but I'm worried about getting out of order that way... But I could try it I guess.

T
tacoeater
Participating Frequently
December 29, 2020

Oh I get what your trying to do.

Ok with your mater document make sure facing pages is ticked under Document Setup.

Only use one page and set up your margins to have inside set to 0.75 and outside set to 0.5.

With your headline create a textbox that goes from left margin to right and then put in your data.

Merge your document

then Select all the single pages and go to pages palette options and untick "Allow selected spreads to shuffle", after this go back in and retick it.

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