Printing mail merge booklets.

Here is what I did:

(1) I created a master imposition file with printer's spreads (not booklet style) and transfered the content and data fields to the spreads for front/back printing (it can be tricky to do so if you are not used to it, but a simple way to figure out the right sequence would be to print the booklet from your original file and then deconstruct it to figure out the page sequence on the spreads). Saved the file as ImpAll.

(2) I deleted the data field(s) and saved a copy of the file, let's call it NoData.

(3) Went back to ImpAll, deleted everything except the data field(s) and saved it as a copy, OnlyData, keeping all the emptly spreads.

(4) I mail merged OnlyData, which resulted to a file with the merged data on every fourth spread. Named the resulting file OnlyDataMerged.

(5) I printed the OnlyDataMerged as front and back, including the blank spreads.

(6) I fed the resulting stack back in the printer and sent the NoData to print (front and back again), with all proper settings for folding and saddle stitching. Some printers, like my Canon, will allow you the save the job as one print set and then set up your fold and saddle stitch preferences there. You can print as many copies as you need of the NoData set, which is treated as a 4-page front and back print job with saddle stitching, etc. Just be mindful of keeping the collated sheets in the right sequence so that the preprinted sheets with the merged data fall on the proper page of the NoData print job.

I hope you find this method helpful. I used it to print 250 8-page booklets and it worked fine for me.

Here is what I did:

(1) I created a master imposition file with printer's spreads (not booklet style) and transfered the content and data fields to the spreads for front/back printing (it can be tricky to do so if you are not used to it, but a simple way to figure out the right sequence would be to print the booklet from your original file and then deconstruct it to figure out the page sequence on the spreads). Saved the file as ImpAll.

(2) I deleted the data field(s) and saved a copy of the file, let's call it NoData.

(3) Went back to ImpAll, deleted everything except the data field(s) and saved it as a copy, OnlyData, keeping all the emptly spreads.

(4) I mail merged OnlyData, which resulted to a file with the merged data on every fourth spread. Named the resulting file OnlyDataMerged.

(5) I printed the OnlyDataMerged as front and back, including the blank spreads.

(6) I fed the resulting stack back in the printer and sent the NoData to print (front and back again), with all proper settings for folding and saddle stitching. Some printers, like my Canon, will allow you the save the job as one print set and then set up your fold and saddle stitch preferences there. You can print as many copies as you need of the NoData set, which is treated as a 4-page front and back print job with saddle stitching, etc. Just be mindful of keeping the collated sheets in the right sequence so that the preprinted sheets with the merged data fall on the proper page of the NoData print job.

I hope you find this method helpful. I used it to print 250 8-page booklets and it worked fine for me.

Hi @KR24257751tlmf , just to clarify—page 1 of your 8-page document has the mail merge fields and when you run Create Merged Document... you get a 600 page document that your Ricoh then tries to impose and bind as a 600 page doc?

If that’s the case you could script sending the 75 books to the printer.

This sounds like it really needs to have the addressing handled on the printer through a VDP plugin rather than as a Data Merge in InDesign.