how to create complicated table with bulleted if/then panel

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
March 7, 2018
4 replies
1066 views

I am importing a MS Excel spreadsheet with over 2000 entries for a state travel guide. Each entry has a name, address, phone, etc. plus a bulleted area that provides information like sleeps 2-4 (if so then bullet), indoor pool (if so then bullet, etc. etc. How can I have InDesign auto-populate that area? I know how to do the name, address, etc.

Any help?

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Correct answer ashleew44226948

Oh, got it! So as far as creating the bullets goes, that's easy: after the data merge, just select those columns in the table, and use Find/Change to convert all the "1"s to the character/symbol of your choice. As far as actually creating the directory goes, I'd take a look at the solution here:

https://indesignsecrets.com/using-data-merge-to-create-a-table-for-a-directory.php

Which looks to be what you're after.

MW Design

Inspiring

Without knowing the design, does it really need to be table-based?

In any case, conditional merging can be done with Em Software's data merge plug-in, InData. I use it quite frequently.

Mike

jayhatGAAuthor

Participant

This is an example of what I'm trying to do, with several pages more of this. And the "bulleted" highlights are different for lodging, bed and breakfast, camping, etc.

Document Geek

Community Expert

Can you show us a bit of the spreadsheet?

Document Geek

Community Expert

I would reach out to Kris at Rorohiko.com. He would definitely be able to help with this.

ashleew44226948

Inspiring

Unfortunately that's not something InDesign can do natively. Once you start talking intelligent data merging you're getting into the realm of plugins; there are several that can accomplish what you want, but know that data merge plugins tend to be in the $300+ range.

Edit: the closest you could come is including lines for those fields in the import and then telling InDesign to remove empty lines for blank fields. The downside to this method is that the height of the content block will be inconsistent between entries.