Data merge repeating one record multiple times

[beckyb15782750]

I have set up a multiple record data merge and have been able to get it to successfully recreate my ticket image and fill in the merge data but it starts with record 7 and repeats its info on about 10 tickets before moving to the next record which it does only once, then the next record only once, then back to record 7 for the rest of the tickets. Very frustrating.  Please help.

[Laubender]

Hi Becky,

we need more information to help you.

For the start:

Version of inDesign?
Operating system?

How are the records stored?

Text file with tab delimiter or CSV file?

Are there empty rows? How many records?

Can you show a screenshot of your InDesign page before doing the merge?

Hidden characters and frame edges should show.

Plus the steps you did with the data merge functionality.

Regards,
Uwe

[beckyb15782750]

I don't have access to the file for screen shot at the moment.   I am using Adobe CC 2018 InDesign on a windows PC with a recent version of Windows but i don't remember which one at the moment.

Records are stored as csv file.  I eliminated the empty row before the data.  There are about 45 records.

I created the ticket in the master page. Then made a text box the size of my ticket, linked to the csv file in the data merger, added the fields i needed to my new text box, clicked create merge documents, selected multiple records, went to the multiple merge tab and clinked link images, and completed the merge.  I got multiple tickets per page like i wanted but the merge data was wonky as mentioned earlier.

Is that enough info to help you understand what I did?

Edit:  here is a screen capture

[beckyb15782750 · Accepted solution]

I decided to try and change the data file to tab delimited instead of CSV and it seems to have worked. Not sure why the csv was causing that issue.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

If the source data contains commas, a tab delimited file will resolve that issue. I receive data files many times where a column contains [city state, zip] and will use a .txt file

[Jeffrey_Smith]

There could be an issue with the source file. Open the .csv or .txt file in a text editor and examine to see if there are any anomalies.