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Data merge not working even though paths are correct

New Here ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

I have been data merging images and text for over two years at my job for a deliverable that we do a few times a year with no issues. Our Adobe logins recently changed where we no longer have Adobe Enterprise and got our licenses through TechSoup as we are a nonprofit. I used the same login (email) and use a different profile to access my Adobe license for all programs. My colleagues have done the same. When I try to data merge now, it does not work, whereas it did before. It only merges the text, and not images. It gives me the message that says:

 

"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 am on Mac and have checked the platform style path and am using the right file path/source (for my computer username and links). No matter what I do it does not work for merging images when it worked over a month ago on the old profile that no longer has the Adobe license. I had my colleague check and in the copy of the .csv, all she did was change the username in the paths to be her computer name, and when doing the merge, it worked for both text and images. My supervisor also did it on his computer with a copy of the .csv with his computer username in the paths and it worked as well.

 

I am not sure why it is not working for me in regards to images. Is there something I'm missing/not checking? I copy/paste directly everything for the sheet and file paths so there's no misspellings or extra spaces, so I am at a loss as to why it won't work for me, but works for my colleagues. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

Possibly a permissions issue?

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New Here ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

I am not sure how I would be able to check that unfortunately. We all made the same accounts from the same link when we signed up through the TechSoup discounted license link. 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

As a PC user I'm not fluent in Mac permissions, but it is my understanding that the newer versions of Mac OS are much more finicky and one must explicitly allow InDesign file access.

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New Here ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

My supervisor when he tested earlier is on the same Mac OS I am on, but I'll try and look into that futher with InDesign permissions and see if there's something else I am missing. I did uninstall and reinstall InDesign earlier and I am on the right version for the images to work as well. I'll dig some more. Thank you!

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Community Expert ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

You can try a test where you save the data file in the same folder as the graphics. With this method, you do not need to indicate the path, just the name of graphic: artfile.jpg.

This at least will tell you whether data merge is working correctly, or there is some other issue like the path is incorrect, or permissions as Peter mentioned.

 

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New Here ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

I will try that, thanks!

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Community Expert ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025

If you do you use paths in the data file, it should look like this:

/Users/username/projects/art/artfile.jpg

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New Here ,
Nov 06, 2025 Nov 06, 2025
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Now that I think about it, I believe we did try this previously and it did not work, but I do not remember if the data file was in the same location as the graphics. I'll need to double check and try again. The way we do it is that the InDesign file and .csv are in a different folder than the graphs and we've always done it this way with no issues until now (for me). 

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