Result of Data Merge is different than the one shown in Preview

I agree with SJRiegel, I think it's a bug. I've written a lot more about multiple record madness on my own blog: https://colecandoo.com/?s=multiple+record+madness

That said, is the design completely on the master page, or a regular page, or the background is on a master page but the data is on a regular page? This does make a difference.

Take the following example that has been set using a master page with a buff background, black headine with white type; and the variable data frames have been assigned on a regular page

When I preview this AND merge this, it comes out correctly:

However, when I set the entire artwork on the master page, the preview looks like this:

but will merge like this:

My advice is to set all non-repeating elements on the master page, and then repeating elements on the regular page.

This sounds like an occurrence of the long-standing multiple-record preview bug. 

Once it has occurred in a document, the only fix is to create a brand-new document. You can paste your data fields into it and connect to the data file. 

Then, set up and run the merge without previewing first.

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. As per your query, you are getting a different result than the one shown in Data Merge preview. To understand this issue and help you with it, we would need a few more details.

In addition to the details requested above, please share the following information:

• Screenshots of preview and final results.
• Is it happening with a particular file or multiple files?
• OS (exact version of Windows / MAC) and version of InDesign.

Regards,

Srishti

Ohne Kenntnis, welche Daten, wie aufbereitet, mit was für Einstellungen, in welcher InDesignversion von dir zusammengeführt werden, kann man nicht einmal „im Nebel stochern“.

Sorry, aber da kamen viel zu wenig Informationen von dir.

Eventuell könnten Beispieldateien in Verbindung mit Screenshots vorher/nachher und das Nachliefern der angesprochenen (fehlenden) Informationen helfen, etwas „Licht ins Dunkel zu bringen“.