Automating Resume/CV layout data from Spreadsheet

[dag_mansson]

Hi!

I'm a professional After effects user, but a complete novice in InDesign, so I'm looking for some pointers regarding how to somewhat automate resume/CV creation with the help of a spreadsheet containing the necessary information. I might be completely off in assuming this is a task for InDesign, so please let me know if there is another solution better suited for this!

I've attached a rough mockup of what I need to do. The spreadsheet has one line per job, with different types of data sorted in columns, for example Date, Job title and description.

Is there a way to read in that data, and using some kind of design template for each "block" lay them out across the necessary amount of A4 sheets, while dynamically resizing and offsetting them from top to bottom?

I'm hoping that this can be done, and to afterwards be able to make changes in the design template and have them cascade throughout the document, similar to how it works in HTML/CSS or if you change a dynamically populated comp in AE. Is this at all possible in InDesign?

Many thanks for any help on this, since my initial searches have not been succesful!

[Robert Tkaczyk]

What you are looking for is Data Merge.

But every time you change CONTENTS of your spreadsheet - you'll have to do it from scratch.

If you only want to change FORMATTING - then you need to apply Para/Char/Object Styles and you'll be able to change formatting at any time - with some limitations.

[dag_mansson · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your input Robert!

Indeed Data merge was what I needed, and I found a script called CSVToTables(see tutorial below) that helped me get it all into a table somewhat automated. I really wish Data Merge was more flexible and advanced tbh, could be really powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD2NwzTAN7w&t=1s