Import selected parts of an excel file to InDesign

Yes, it's possible. The sample script below is one simple example of how it could be done. However, when data changes, you would need to rerun the script to create an updated table. There may be more elegant solutions, possibly one using a scriptable spreadsheet (it's been awhile since I supported the PC side with VisualBasic so can't remember if Excel is scriptable).

(*Requires text frame holding table to be selected

Works quite well for a medium sized table with only 2 columns*)

property newList : {}

tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2018"

  set selList to selection

  if selList is not {} and class of item 1 of selList is text frame then

  my readCSVFile()

  set selRef to item 1 of selList

  tell document 1

  set x to table 1 of selRef

  tell x

  repeat with i from 1 to count of rows

  set theData to contents of cell 1 of row i

  set matchData to my getMatch(theData)

  set contents of cell 2 of row i to matchData

  end repeat

  end tell

  end tell

  else

  activate

  display alert ("Requres text frame with table selection")

  end if

end tell

(*Matches item from table with first element of list items read from the file chosen*)

on getMatch(theData)

  repeat with i from 2 to length of newList

  set theListItem to item i of newList

  set theItem to item 1 of theListItem

  ignoring white space

  if theItem = theData then

  set theReturn to item 2 of theListItem

  return theReturn

  exit repeat

  end if

  end ignoring

  end repeat

  return ""

end getMatch

(*Reads comma return text file exported from spreadsheet*)

on readCSVFile()

  set rowDelimiter to return

  set colDelimiter to ","

  set fileAlias to choose file

  set fileRef to open for access fileAlias

  try

  set theData to read fileRef as list using delimiter rowDelimiter

  close access fileRef

  on error errStr

  close access fileRe

  activate

  display alert ("unable to read file")

  return

  end try

  set AppleScript's text item delimiters to colDelimiter

  repeat with i from 1 to length of theData

  set thisList to {text items of item i of theData}

  set newList to newList & thisList

  end repeat

  set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""

end readCSVFile