Skip to main content
Participant
June 14, 2019
Answered

InDesign Data Merge using online documents like Google sheets

  • June 14, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 5042 views

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if it's possible to create a mail merge in InDesign using an online database, as in Google sheets. At the moment I have to export the data to my Mac, then link it to my merge page. This creates a lot of extra steps, especially if I've forgotten something. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Using InDesign CC 2017...

{Renamed by MOD}

    Correct answer Srishti Bali

    Hi Michael,

    Thanks for reaching out. I understand that it would be more convenient if we could merge data from an online database, but as Susan mentioned above, InDesign doesn't have this feature right now.

    There are other users who have also asked for this feature. I would request if you can also upvote this feature request here: make data merge possible from Google Sheet without being forced to make csv – Adobe InDesign Feedback

    This is the best way of communicating with the Engineering and Product Management teams regarding issues and suggestions so they can be implemented in future releases.

    Regards,

    Srishti

    2 replies

    Srishti Bali
    Community Manager
    Srishti BaliCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    June 14, 2019

    Hi Michael,

    Thanks for reaching out. I understand that it would be more convenient if we could merge data from an online database, but as Susan mentioned above, InDesign doesn't have this feature right now.

    There are other users who have also asked for this feature. I would request if you can also upvote this feature request here: make data merge possible from Google Sheet without being forced to make csv – Adobe InDesign Feedback

    This is the best way of communicating with the Engineering and Product Management teams regarding issues and suggestions so they can be implemented in future releases.

    Regards,

    Srishti

    Participant
    October 7, 2020

    Anyone who is reading this, please upvote the request! I would still love this feature.

    Legend
    June 14, 2019

    InDesign Data Merge only works with CSV or Tab-Delimited text files. Exporting is the only way to get those if you a dealing with a program other than a plain text editor. If you were working with Excel on your computer, you would still have to export to get a usable data file.

    Participant
    October 7, 2020

    As mentioned on the feature request page, Google Sheets actually does have a "Publish" option which publishes the sheet to an online csv. So this shouldn't be too hard for Adobe to implement! They just need to provide the option to give InDesign a a URL instead of a filepath.