Data merge issues when upgrading to InDesign 19.4

[info@komunikando.org]

Today I updated indesign to version 19.4. When I use the databases for the data merge function with linked images within the database, a message tells me that the images are not reachable. The files I’m working on, including databases and images, are in the Dropbox folder. I downgraded to version 19.3 and everything worked again. Can anyone help me?

{Reanmed By MOD}

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @Jonathan36624190r1sh, 

Sorry for the trouble. It looks like you're experiencing the similar issue mentioned in this post: https://adobe.ly/3QMRFzS

If so, then it's a known bug, and the team is working on it on priority. As of now, we would request you to please try the workaround in the post and let us know if that helps.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Nicolas37702915i0zh]

La solution proposé par les Dev fonctionne sur mac… Merci pour l'info! 

[Venessa Sylvester]

Instead of giving me the path to the link with colon separators, it is returning / in the place of usual colons. This doesn't work for the merge and returns the error below.

When I correct the path to use colons, it still will not find the images, even though the paths are correct. I tested making a new document, tested putting all images into the same folder with the indd file, and even tried to re-run merges that worked a few weeks ago.

In every case, I get this error message:

"The data source references one or more missing images. The missing images cannot be previewed or merged. At the time you create a merged document, you can choose to generate a list of all missing images."

I've restarted indd, restarted the computer, updated the OS to Sonoma 14.5, checked creative cloud to make sure indd is up to date. I'm at wit's end. I use this feature too often for it to just randomly break like this. Any and all advice is appreciated.

[leo.r]

InDesign 19.4 quietly dropped support for HFS (colon-separated) paths. However, there are still issues even with POSIX paths in data merge in 19.4. 

For more info, please see here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/data-merge-not-working-absolute-paths-macos.html

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/data-merge-issues-when-upgrading-to-indesign-19-...

[Nicolas37702915i0zh]

Bonjour à tous,

Je profite de ce fil pour ajouter mon expérience : j'utilise la fusion de donnée dans le cadre de création d'étiquette depuis quelques années… Donc, la base de donnée (fichier excel) est propre, utilisée depuis de nombreux mois, l'arborescence n'a pas changée… Bref aucun changement. J'ouvre mon process ce matin pour produire les étiquettes de ma commande, et… tout foire : problème identique à celui abordé dans le thème. Après de nombreux essaie infructueux, j'ai fait l'essai avec une version plus ancienne d'InDesign : cela refonctionne. C'est bien un problème de la dernière version d'InDesign. Les dév Adobe ont du travail !

[leo.r]

By @Nicolas37702915i0zh

You may experience this known problem with data merge in InDesign 19.4 on Mac. InDesign quietly dropped support for HFS paths, which disrupted many existing workflows:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/data-merge-issues-when-upgrading-to-indesign-19-...

[Surbhi Sharma · Accepted solution]

Hi All,
This issue has been fixed in the latest version of InDesign 19.5
Kindly update the data source file with the POSIX style path in Macintosh to work with data merge functionality smoothly.
Please refer to the helpx https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/data-merge.html to know more about the difference between HFS and Posix style paths.
Note : Relative path as such /<foldername>/<filename> is no longer supported after the fix, as it considers the starting “/” as an absolute path. Instead the recommendation is to omit the starting “/” and use <foldername>/<filename> instead or any of the other existing way to access relative path like ./<foldername>/<filename>

[BACnOAK]

Fixed? i'm at a total loss here. did the update to 19.5 and my linked images have disappeared AGAIN! and my path looks like this: servername:folder:graphic.extension.

[Surbhi Sharma]

@BACnOAK Seems like the path you are currently using is in HFS style. As mentioned above, please update the data source file with the POSIX style path in Macintosh to work with data merge functionality smoothly.
Please refer to the helpx https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/data-merge.html to know more about the difference between HFS and Posix style paths.

[BACnOAK]

So, taking this as... stop using the colon on the mac and start using the slash? 

NO: servername:folder:graphic.extension

YES: servername/folder/graphic.extension

Meaning we have to find/replace all instances of : and change to /

[leo.r]

So, taking this as... stop using the colon on the mac and start using the slash? 

NO: servername:folder:graphic.extension

YES: servername/folder/graphic.extension

Meaning we have to find/replace all instances of : and change to /

By @BACnOAK

It's more than that.

The POSIX path (slash-separated) will be:

/Volumes/servername/folder/graphic.extension

On a startup volume, you can omit the server name part (but you don't have to):

/Users/username/...

You can get the actual POSIX path of a file by doing this: right-click it in the Finder while holding Option (or right-click, then press Option) > Copy as pathname menu. This can help you explore the correct POSIX paths to make sure you're using them correctly.

[Michael Lande Publicis]

There is still an error with Data Merge. It is not placing .ai files. I ended up saving the .ai files as .pdf and then it works. Please fix it in the next update.

Thank you.