Elementary School Awards Day Dilemma

Question

I have perfected a way to gather the information for my schools Awards Day and to print the certificates. The issue is just one hangup...let me explain.

1.) I have the teachers go to this website www.bit.ly/cwcesaddata.

2.) They select their name from the dropdown menu, enter the names of their students and select the awards the students are to receive.

3,) This data is collected on a SQL database that I download as a CSV file and merge to the certificate I created in InDesign (www.panchoteaches.org/certificateexample.jpg.)

4.) The certificate that need to be printed have an X in the upper left corner. My problem is I want to extract those pages and print them.

5.) What I do now is go to pages and select all the pages with the X in the upper left corner and then MOVE those pages to the beginning of the document and then DELETE the pages at the end without the X.

6.) I finally use FIND and REPLACE to find the X on each page which in Minion Regular 12 and then replace with a single space (to remove the X).

*** This way works, but the searching for the X in the PAGES window is tedious and I was wndering is their a script or something to make this easier?

The process of collecting the data and merging the certificate with the data is quick and painless. It's just this final step that takes a few hours and I just know there has to be a way to FIND and EXTRACT or MOVE those pages with the X without me selecting each one manually.

HELP! Frustrated teacher who already is strapped for time!

NOTE: I attached the InDesign file and one of the CSV files to give you an up close view of what I am talking about above.

carstenm23472936 · Answer

Hi Pte2022397759,

I took a look into the provided files and might not be able to offer a one-click-solution for this. But I've gathered a few scripts from my harddrive modified them a bit and tested them against your files. So I think I might be able to offer a workflow consisting of four scripts which might enable you to achieve what you want. Actually this is a five-step-process of which the fith is optional:

Step 1: 

Go to Data Merge Panel and merge all records .

Consider to save the new Document or just continue to Step 2.

 Step 2: 

In the merged Document select one of the Text Frames which might contain the "X" and  run this Script:

02_MyFont_FontSize12_To Layer.jsx 

This Script checks the Document for Text Frames which are using the same Font as the current selected Frame and if Font Size is equal to 12pt as well. Found Text Frames will be moved to a Layer named "X". The print option for this layer is disabled, so there is no need to delete the text frames containing the "X" anymore.

Step 3: 

Run this Script: 03_RenameLayerItems_OnLayerX.jsx 

In the Dialog-Box which appears choose the newly created Layer named "X" and hit OK. 

This Script renames all Layer items in the Document to "X" if they are located on Layer "X". 

Step 4: 

Now it's a good idea to save the merged Document. 

After saving run this Script: 04_Extract_Pages_X.jsx 

This Script searches for a Layer item which is named "X" on each page of the Document. If present the pages will be saved to the previously selected folder as a separate InDesign Document. The new Document will be named "X" + the Page Number of the Source Document.  Please note that this process might take some time. The Script throws an alert if it's done.

Step 5 (optional):

 Run this Script: Book_Of_Selected_Folder.jsx 

This Script creates a Book from all the Documents of the selected Folder. You can export a PDF of the whole Book to get a Document with all relevant pages you can print in one go.

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