InDesign Data Merge Not Working - Mac and Windows Tested

[julieanneines]

Our team is reporting problems with trying to perform a data merge with the latest version of InDesign. We have just one record in the .csv file. When we select "Create Merged Document" nothing seems to happen. This happens on both Mac and Windows systems. We've tried trashing preferences, but that is ineffective. Any workarounds? Advice?

- Thanks!

[Jeffrey_Smith]

One record, does this include a row for the header?

Are there any unusual characters used in the header?

Make sure there are no spaces in the beginning of a header entry.

Try saving as a tab-deliminated .txt file instead of .csv

[julieanneines]

It does include a row for the header. The only "unusual" character used in one of the headers is the "@" symbol to designate an image field. The CSV file seems to work OK for another document with the same merge fields, so I'm wondering whether the file is corrupted in some way.

We'll try saving as a tab-delimited .txt file instead of a .csv for the problem file and report back.

[Omar.Fathy]

I think you know that the first step to make Data Merge is to Select Data source,

then select text box in the page and select the field from the Data Merge panel.
Then press on the Create Merged Document or from the panel menu you can choose it.

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Did all these steps working well except the last one ?

[julieanneines]

Correct. Once we hit "Create Merged Document" the wheel spins, disappears, and no new document is generated/.

[Colin Flashman]

The CSV file seems to work OK for another document with the same merge fields, so I'm wondering whether the file is corrupted in some way.

Sounds like the InDesign file may be the issue here rather than the data.

What happens if a new file is created and the CSV is selected as a data source from the data merge panel?

If - when selecting the data source - you click on the show import options checkbox - what are the defaults that then appear in the import options dialog box?

If you open the hyperlinks panel, are there any hyperlinks that begin with either DBF_ or IMG_?

Is there any information from the following indesignsecrets links that may be of assistance?

https://indesignsecrets.com/troubleshooting-data-merge-errors.php

https://indesignsecrets.com/problem-with-data-merge-and-ghost-hyperlinks.php

[Eadaoin24309232kfv8 · Accepted solution]

Thanks! Saving as a tab delimited.txt file in excel and closing the excel application worked for me. I always have problems with this and I usually save it as a .csv that is not UTF 8, but that always works, but not this time. Your solution did however.

[tyler.vtnz · Accepted solution]

For some reason I just unlocked a layer that I had (background elements that don't change), and clicked merge document and it worked? Very bizzare.

[Noah3440438548sj]

This actually worked for me as well, 3 years later

[SUNWORKS x GARRAN]

THIS WORKS!!

Thank you!!