Catalog Data Merge Plugins

[RaizelDesign]

Hi all,

I'm starting on complicated catalog with over 3,000 products and multiple sections/styles. I can see that this will be beyond InDesign's native data merge. What do you think is the best option for a data merge plugin and why?

Thanks!

[Colin Flashman]

There are five usual go-tos for catalog plug-ins:

• InData and InCatalog – emsoftware.com
• EasyCatalog – 65bit.com
• LiveMerge and Extreme – cacidi.com
• Designmerge – meadowsps.com
• Datalinker - teacupsoftware.com

Each retailer offers demo versions of their software for evaluation, so it's worth trying the trial versions to see if one application is a better fit over another.

Be aware though that any users who open a file that used the plug-in may receive a "missing plug-in" warning upon opening the file.

[RaizelDesign]

Thanks, Colin. I'll look into the free trials. Have you used any? In your experience which was the most intuitive? I'm more of an indesign/illustrator person than an excel person, so I'm looking for something that'll be easier to work with.

[Colin Flashman]

In my day-to-day use of InDesign, I do not use any catalog plug-ins as we don't set up many catalogs... could be a catch 22 I suppose. I've only gone as far as the trial versions and even then I didn't have live jobs to test them on, so I'm afraid I'm not much help there.

[RaizelDesign]

OK, thanks for the information, though!

[johnathanFrakes]

If you are on Mac and look for something easy to use have a look at MyDataMerge (https://mydatamerge.com) Usable and affordable