ID Data merge with images only displaying one photo out of several

[Katie284297536eo5]

I am going crazy over here.

I use data merge all the time, but rarely with images. I'm trying to do meal choice place cards for a client wedding where each card has a first name, last name, and an icon for either beef, chicken, or veggie options. I have the csv file, ID file, and all icons in the same folder.

Consistently, ID only recognizes the beef icon. Chicken and veggie don't show at all (just a blank image frame), but the program definitely thinks they're there - I took them out of the folder and got a flagged pop-up that there were missing image files when I tried to run the merge. Beef continues to work fine.

All icons were exported at the same time and using the same settings, are the same dimensions, and all the file names are set up the same in the csv file. 

I have tried:

• Using relative and absolutel file pathways in the csv (both work, just on beef)
• Using a txt file instead
• Re-exporting the files for chicken and veg 
• Using different settings on the image frame (fill frame proportionally, ideally)
• Resizing and adjusting image frame settings in the finished merged file (in case the image was too big? Even though I know it's not)
• Moving the folder the files are in
• Starting a fresh csv file with three test records - only one for each option
• Updating ID to the latest version
• Restarting ID
• Restarting my laptop

I'm at a loss. It's so inconsistent. If anyone has any insight, I would appreciate it! Screenshots of setup and results below. Thanks 🙂

[Peter Spier]

You don't say if the missing icons are in a preview or an actual merge, or if you've previewed before running the merge.

DataMerge is buggy with preview and previewing can cause your template to become corrupt, so if you have been previewing before the merge, recreate the template and merge without running a preview and see if that's successful.

[Katie284297536eo5]

Sorry, should have clarified that! It's happening in the actual merge. I've never really had issues with preview before but definitely ran it through a full merge process just to double check.

[Peter Spier]

If preview messed up the template it's now toast. Rebuild it before trying without the preview stage.

[Katie284297536eo5]

I just closed inDesign and rebuilt the template from scratch before doing a blind merge - same problem, empty image frames in the resulting file. At this point I may just get physical stickers and put them on after printing with just the text, this makes zero sense to me lol.

[Peter Spier]

Check the file names to be sure they are spelled correctly in your .csv.

You might also try giving the full path to them instead of just the name.

[SJRiegel]

Open the original graphics for Chicken and Veggie, and check to see if the white is set to overprint. (Illustrator usually prevents this from being set, but it the art was originally another color, and set to overprint, the overprint setting would stay if the art was changed to white.

[Peter Spier · Accepted solution]

Good thought, but looking at the scren captures, the cow image is showing the link badge, but it's missing on the other two so I think the images are never being placed.