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A
ashleyw42715064
Inspiring
May 8, 2018
Question

Removing Merge Data from Indesign without opening the document

  • May 8, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 2713 views

Hi

I don't imagine this is possible, but wanted to check with the community - is there any way to remove merge data from an Indesign file without opening it and doing it manually from the Data Merge window?

A bit of background: I'm trying to implement a data policy where we delete data sent to us for mail-merging 30 days after use, but I don't want to have to delete any documents. For Microsoft Word mail-merges for example, I'm planning on deleting any xls files I find tn the directory as a quick way of removing the data, but keeping the doc file used for future reference and possible re-use with new data.

Is something similar possible in Indesign? - with the data not being kept in a separate file, it looks like I have 2 choices:

1. Delete the whole file - not ideal because I may want to retain the layout/pdfs included and use it again with different data.

2. Go into each indesign file one at a time and remove data merge - not ideal because it will be very time-consuming.

I think I'm probably stuck with option #2, but can anyone suggest any other options?

Thanks!

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 8, 2018

    First, save the document without data as a template for reuse. Do this in both Word and InDesign. Then you'll get an untitled document when you open it.

    You can then just delete the InDesign file because you are keeping the template.

    If a script can be written (most likely), then you can hire a script writer to work with you. There are several on this forum. (Not me.)

    The data is linked to a file. Look in the Data Merge panel to see which file. What happens when you delete that file?

    A
    ashleyw42715064Author
    Inspiring
    May 8, 2018

    Doh! - save as a template - why didn't I think of that?!

    Most of the work I do changes completely with each project, so I tend to forget about templates!

    Thanks for your reply.

    By the way - I just checked and it seems I can delete the txt file indesign is linked to and the data is still within indesign, so it's not a link in the same way MS Word links and would still need to be removed from the document, but in any event a template should do the job.

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