InDesign Mail Merge - preview okay, but merged document different/incorrect

[carolines33578031]

I was so happy to discover the mail merge feature. I was successful in creating ID badges with staff names and photos. When recreating the design I started once again with a fresh import of same data file and then merged into multiple page document. The preview looks great, however, the end result shows a duplicate image on almost every page, followed by another image duplicated. The data source is about the 12th line of data. No idea what to do differently. I've relinked data fields and changed margins with no success.  Can't understand why the preview is perfect but the merged document is different. Please help!

[SJRiegel]

Unfortunately, it seems like this bug is still present in InDesign's data merge; using Preview with Data Merge can corrupt the file.

The only thing you can do is create a new file, and merge without previewing. (if you must see how it's going to fit, you can preview and cancel, then go back in a do a merge without previewing.

(I'm disappointed that this bug has yet to be fixed years after it appeared.)

[carolines33578031]

You are my hero! You have saved the day with your recommendation. Many thanks for that and also for such a very fast reply! 🙂

[SJRiegel]

I'm glad I could help. This has been a problem for years now, across many versions. I've sort of stopped expecting a fix, and just work around it.

[bb-pivot]

this bug is still present and this method worked for me, thanks! 🙂

[Dhananjay Naidu]

Yeah, can report the bug is still present

[andreacarpenter]

Still a problem in 2021... This fix still works. Thank you so much! 

[dunelucy]

I'm having this problem, but the fix did not work for me. Created new doc, reimported the data source, set the numbers for the multiple record layout without previewing, but still getting the same record repeated over and over instead of a different record in each spot. Any other suggestions?

[dunelucy]

I'm having this problem as well, but the fix didn't work. Any other suggestions?

[rosiermz · Accepted solution]

I know this is a whole year late, but to help people in the future who have issues with this I found a different solution. In the original doc (no need to create a new one) go to Window>Interactive>Hyperlinks and delete all of the hyperlinks. Relink your data and merge without previewing. This is what worked for me.

[April26693693cz7q]

This fix paired with removing all other elements on the page and adding the branding/graphics to the master page AFTER the data merge allowed this to work properly, as all the branding was being duplicated on the pasteboard

[alenp21464498 · Accepted solution]

I had this issue, but I found two ways to fix it. If the other does not work, try another.

1.  Disable the preview, save, and click export to pdf from data merge. (No need to create a new file) - This should fix the majority of problems.
2. After exporting to pdf, a new window appears called Create Merged Document, in there, select instead of All Records > pick the Range and type your pages with commas. Sometimes I have seen fixes with exporting in different orders and then adjusting the files afterwards when opening the pdf file. Different order means: instead of 1,2,3,4,5 > 3,4,5,1,2 (depending which page is bugged).

[Cromwell5C34]

Thanks so much, fix #1 worked like charm!

It's so annoying because it takes so much time finding out what causes the issue (redoing the excel & csv, creating a new indesign file, etc.)