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debbiew52645442
debbiew52645442
Participant
May 12, 2023
Question

Error Message with Data Merge

  • May 12, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 484 views

Hi there!

 

I'm trying to set up a data merge in InDesign. I'm getting the error message: The data source file you selected either has no records or is not a supported file format...

I've saved from Excel into a .csv file, so not sure what else to try.

Thanks for any suggestions!

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

J
Community Expert
Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 12, 2023

Here are things to try or look into:

  • Export CSV UTF-8 (if you have originally tried .csv values)
  • Export tab delimited .txt file
  • Check for potential illegal characters in the data, including comma
  • Check for a space entered first within a header
  • Open csv into a text editor and examine
  • Save from text editor .csv or .txt
  • Share a sample of data for others to examine
Peter Spier
Community Expert
Peter SpierCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 12, 2023

Can you show us a screen capture of the top two or three rows, please.

Have you tried saving as tab-delimited text?

John Mensinger
Community Expert
John MensingerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 12, 2023

That should work. Save the Excel file to tab-delimited text (.txt) and try it again.

 

If the information in the data source is something you can share here, show us a screenshot of it.

debbiew52645442
debbiew52645442Author
Participant
May 12, 2023

Thanks to all who suggested a tab-delimited text file. That worked!

Live and learn from this great group!

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