Data Placeholder cannot be found

[defaultt01rccm2g1h6]

 

How do I resolve this? Is there a way to find which/where this placeholder is that can't be found in my source without having to redo everything from scratch and going one by one to figure it out?? 

[SJRiegel]

Try pasting them a few at a time into a new document, and trying a merge from the same data. As soon as it doesn't work, you can easily narrow down the one that stopped it. Resolve that placeholder in your main document, and if it still doesn't merge, repeat the process with the remaining placeholders until you find all of the culprits. 

[zuzu_kuc1]

here:
https://corullon.com.br/scripts/product/data-merge-placeholder-checker/

[brian_p_dts]

Check for any special characters in the header names of the source document. That can maybe help you whittle down the issue too. 

[defaultt01rccm2g1h6]

Not sure if this info helps to explain... But I was able to import my data source into Indesign without any issues, until I hit preview in the data merge window so that I can see all the information being pulled, live.  

This is when I get this error. So from this point is there a suggestion on how to find where the placeholder is and where the issue is without having to go through all the run around?

One fix - I was able to open the hyperlinks window, delete all of those, then restart placing the code in my document one by one , and it worked, but there should be another way.

[Peter Spier]

Data Merge preview is notoriously buggy and has been know to corrupt many a file.

ONce you've tried to do a preview and then a merge, if you have a problem the file cannot be repaired in my experience, so the only recourse is to rebuild.

My advice regarding preview is to not bother, just run the merge. Unless you have hundreds of records the time is insignificant. If you feel you must preview, immediately issue an undo command before you run the merge.