How can you get text including Emojis into a data-merge document?

Hello there,

I actually took the time and updated the script. The updated version fixes the overflow issue.
The issue of deleting objects other than text still remains... but better than nothing, I guess.

Script:

//DESCRIPTION:Decodes and replaces all URL-encoded strings in the active InDesign document.
//AUTHOR:Kalle Bracht, Johannes Eichberger
//
//Example:
//    This%20is%20URL-encoded%20text!
//    This is URL-encoded text!
//
//How to use:
//    Open an InDesign document with URL-encoded texts.
//    Run the script.
//    It replaces every (!) text in every text frame.
//
//Limitations:
//    Works with text frames that contain text only. Any non-text
//    content, such as tables and linked images, will get lost.
//    If an encoded text exceeds its container (overset text),
//    only the visible part will be replaced. You can run the script
//    multiple times to solve this issue.
//
//When to use:
//    InDesign's Data Merge has only poor support of character encodings.
//    If you want to feed InDesign with Emojis, you can encode them in the
//    spreadsheet via =ENCODEURL() and decode them using this script
//    after running Data Merge.
//

#target indesign;

function main() {
    var textChangedCount = 0; 
    var textFrames = app.activeDocument.textFrames;
        
    for (var i = 0; i < textFrames.count(); i++) {
        var textFrame = textFrames.item(i);
        if(textFrame.contentType == ContentType.TEXT_TYPE){
            var contents = textFrame.contents;
            if(typeof contents == "string") {
                var previousBounding = textFrame.geometricBounds;
                textFrame.fit(FitOptions.FRAME_TO_CONTENT);
                textFrame.contents = decodeURIComponent(contents);
                textFrame.geometricBounds = previousBounding;
                textChangedCount++;
            }
        } 
    }
    if (textChangedCount > 0){
        alert(textChangedCount + " Texts have been replaced.");
    } else {
        alert("No texts found!");
    }
}

main();

Regards

Kalle

Hello Joheiat,

Since you allready solved the problem how to convert image url to file names: could you share the method/script you used to do so? 

Thanks!

Regards,

Pascal

Hi Johannes,

the script code in your correct answer was damaged last year when this thread was moved to the new InDesign forum.

That could be one cause of an error message. Look into the for loop. At first glance I see that the iterator [i] was removed on myContents. Best correct your answer and post the original code again.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

Ha, I have found a solution!

How to get line breaks and Emojis into InDesign via Data Merge

InDesign doesn't support line breaks or Emojis from data sources that you import via Data Merge. With this workaround, you can encode any special characters in your spreadsheet and decode them in InDesign again.

In your spreadsheet:

• Prepare all your data as usual (including Emojis and line breaks)
• Add a second sheet to your spreadsheet
• Use formulas to fill it, and use ENCODEURL() to encode every special character in URL notation (spaces will turn into %20)
• Export the result as .csv and make sure to convert it to UTF-16 character encoding for InDesign (using a text editor or LibreOffice)

In InDesign:

• Open a text editor, copy the below script into it, and save it as URL-decode.jsx

• Move the script file to your scripts directory - on Windows this is: %AppData%\Adobe\InDesign\Version 14.0\en_GB\Scripts\Scripts Panel

  (you can type %AppData% into the Windows search box, press enter and navigate to the folder from there)

• Use Data Merge as usual and import the .csv as data source
• In the preview, you will see the URL-encoded characters
• Click the "Create Merged Document" button
• The resulting file will still contain all the URL-encoded characters
• From the scripts panel (Window -> Utility -> Scripts), run the URL-decode.jsx script
• Voilà, all your special characters are back!

URL-decode.jsx:

//DESCRIPTION:Decodes and replaces all URL-encoded strings in the active InDesign document.
//AUTHOR:Johannes Eichberger
//
//Example:
//    This%20is%20URL-encoded%20text!
//    This is URL-encoded text!
//
//How to use:
//    Open an InDesign document with URL-encoded texts.
//    Run the script.
//    It replaces every (!) text in every text frame.
//
//Limitations:
//    Works with text frames that contain text only. Any non-text
//    content, such as tables and linked images, will get lost.
//    If an encoded text exceeds its container (overset text),
//    only the visible part will be replaced. You can run the script
//    multiple times to solve this issue.
//
//When to use:
//    InDesign's Data Merge has only poor support of character encodings.
//    If you want to feed InDesign with Emojis, you can encode them in the
//    spreadsheet via =ENCODEURL() and decode them using this script
//    after running Data Merge.
//

#target indesign;

function main() {
    try {
        var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
        var myTextFrames = myDocument.textFrames.everyItem();
        var myContents = myTextFrames.contents;
        for (var i=0; i<myContents.length; i++) {
            var thisTextFrame = myDocument.textFrames.item(i);
            var myDecoded = decodeURI(myContents[i]);
            thisTextFrame.contents = myDecoded;
        }
        if (i==0) {
            throw "No texts found!";
        }
        alert("Texts have been replaced.");
    }
    catch(err) {
        alert(err);
    }
}
main();