Indesign data merge problem

[PiggleDesign]

I have a very simple merge. But the 'Preview' and 'create merged document' are greyed out. I am not sure of the reason for this.  Can anyone help?

[Mike Witherell]

Have you double-checked all the steps?

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/data-merge.html

[SJRiegel]

Have you positioned the placeholders on your docuemnt page?

[Jeffrey_Smith]

The variable placeholders "name" and "company" need to be placed on a page before the data merge will work.

[PiggleDesign]

Hi Jeffrey,

Thank you for your comment.

Here is a screenshot of the first page. Its also in my master pages and I have also used the styles. 

[SJRiegel]

Can you share the InDesign document via dropbox or other file sending service? If the placeholders have been put on the page, then the obvious answer is not the problem, and we would need to dig deeper.

[PiggleDesign]

Unfortunately its a business document with contact details so I can't really share it.

I've done this many times before but not since all the Indesign updates and I wondered if this has something to do with it.

Thank you so much for your help though. I really approciate it.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

You could try exporting/saving an .idml file from the master document and test. Try creating a new master document and testing with your data file.

[SJRiegel]

Can you make a copy of the database with a couple of lines of generic information, and link that to a copy of the problem InDesign document with only the placeholders? That would keep your info private while letting us take a look at the InDesign file. 

You could also try using the database with a new docuement to see if the issue is restricted to just this one file.

[Peter Spier]

You might also try updating the data source.