Participating Frequently

Answered

Data merge not working with CSV

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 26, 2020
4 replies
12700 views

Hey,

When I try to link a spreadsheet with an inDesign document using the Data merge -> Select Data Source function and selecting a CSV file exported from an excel spreadsheet, I get the following error message:

"The data source file you selected either has no records or is not a supported file format. Please fix the file, select a file that contains records, or select a supported file format."

I have looked at the other troubleshooting threads, and none of them solved the issue.

Correct answer Dave Creamer of IDEAS

In Excel, make sure you save it as CSV (Comma delimited) and not CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited).

If that doesn't work, try the CSV (Macintosh) or CSV (MS-DOS) formats.

R

Real Deal Branding

Participant

@Adobe This is 5 years ago. You still can't merge a CSV file with colons in it. This is lazy. Please update your software.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@Adobe This is 5 years ago. You still can't merge a CSV file with colons in it. This is lazy. Please update your software.

By @Real Deal Branding

What exactly is the problem? How your CSV file looks like?

R

Real Deal Branding

Participant

Below is an example CSV file. If, within a cell, the text incldues a colon (e.g. Fr: Dinner/Sa: Breakfast & Lunch), and you try selecting it as the source for your Data Merge, it won't load. It doesn't even show an error. It just does nothing. But if you remove the colons, it works.

First Name,Last Name,Church,Church City,Workshop 1,Workshop 2,Optional Craft,Workshop 3,Workshop 4,Retreat Package,F: Breakfast,Friday Lunch
Jane,Tanner,Calvary Bible,Mosinee,Opting out,Opting out,Opting out,Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,Opting out,Fr: Dinner/Sa: Breakfast & Lunch,,Fr: Lunch
Amber,Hartson,Grace Baptist,Chippewa Falls,Marriage,When the Pot Shatters,Opting out,Helping Your Children,Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,Fr: Dinner/Sa: Breakfast & Lunch,,Fr: Lunch
Charlotte,Mitchell,Calvary Baptist,Watertown,Personal Testimony,When the Pot Shatters,Opting out,Prayer 101,Opting out,Fr: Dinner/Sa: Breakfast & Lunch,,Fr: Lunch

Registration_example.csv

S

Serena5EAC

Participant

Make sure your Excel file is closed. I went through all the below suggestions and it was as simple as closing the document.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Good point, but that is a different issue. You will get a different dialog box than the one the OP posted about.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Without knowing what you tried, here is something I've done...

Open the .csv file in a text editing program* and do a save-as, keeping the .csv extension.

*Some programs can save as text or RTF--make sure the format stays as text.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

M

Mike Bro

Legend

Hello Plantor,

Re: I have looked at the other troubleshooting threads, and none of them solved the issue.

What have to tried to fix the issue....is it possible for you to post the .csv file for troubleshooting purposes?

Regards,

Mike

P

PlantorAuthor

Participating Frequently

I tried using a tab-delimited text file, but I got the same error message. Also tried opening the csv file in a text editing program and resaving as csv, did not work either, got the same error message. Why is this feature being advertised if it's not working properly?

I uploaded both the excel file and the csv file here:

https://easyupload.io/m/9xnapx

M

Mike Bro

Legend

Hello,

I opened the Cards-Data.xlsx file and saved a .csv file that works using the below option, I'm on a Mac running InDesign 2020...... How are you saving the .csv file?

I uploaded the .csv file that works here: https://easyupload.io/diuwc6

Regards,

Mike

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded