Link Excel data to InDesign Table

[Nathan25613644nu5b]

I'm curious if this is possible.  I want to use an existing InDesign table and populate the cells with data from Excel. Placing it causes me to edit the table afterward or create styles to match what's there and it still requires a bit of tweaking before it's perfect. There could be hundreds of rows in these tables and I don't want to do that row by row. Is there a way to link the cells from the InDesign table to Excel? Is it possible to save this InDesign table into Excel to make the arrangement of data easier on the excel side? I think I just want to understand my options. See attached image for an understanding of what the table looks like. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You can import Excel data into an InDesign table. The Excel data comes in as a new table, you don't link it to an existing one.)

All formatting must be done using Table and Cell styles--anything else will be removed during updates. (Paragraph styles are linked to Cell styles.)

All data edits must happen in Excel, including merging. 

I attached an example workflow for linking Excel to ID tables.

[BobLevine]

David is right but I will add that you can...and might want to...format the table completely in Excel and place it as a formatted table. This is particularly helpful if you're only doing one or two and don't want the hassle of setting up the table / cell styles.

Without knowing more, I can't even come close to telling you if that's the way to go for you.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nathan25613644nu5b ,

don't know if this is relevant and I really hope, it is not:
Your screenshot is showing a table with a cell that contains an anchored frame with another table.

A construction like that will fail in many ways if you like to update table contents!

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )