Is Indesign the best place to make a catalog for a business? Would I use data merge to update pricing info?

[davidm54589832]

The client wants to keep updating the prices too. Is data merge really the best option? The fields aren't the same throughout the catalog. I'm trying to find more info about data merge and doesn't seem like the best option for a catalog that will keep needing updates and has inconsistent fields. Right?

[Moved from the forum Lounge to a product-specific support forum - moderator]

[cmgap]

Take a look at these help articles:

Find/Change text in InDesign

InDesign Secrets: Formatting prices with nested and GREP styles

https://indesignsecrets.com/resources/grep

[Frans v.d. Geest]

When you are getting really serieus with this kind if publishing you should take a look at 65bit's EayCatalog, it is the best solution (besides maybe a XML workflow) in InDesign.:

https://www.65bit.com/

[Loic_Aigon1]

Hi,

Keeping prices updated after clients edits could be envisioned with a linked excel or a XML imported file as link. Datamerge doesn't have any updating mechanisms that I know of.

But all of these seem weak solutions to me in a catalog context. You have several catalog plugins in the market. The one I always put front is EasyCatalog.

One may find it pricey but the ROI is huge.

Loic

[Migintosh]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Loic+Aigon  wrote

Datamerge doesn't have any updating mechanisms that I know of.

There are two ways to update the content.

Suppose you have a data source (data.txt), and an InDesign file (file_1.indd). You create a text frame on the document page of file_1.indd, select data.txt as the data source, and populate the text frame with the data placeholders. You then create a merged document (file_2.indd), and your data placeholders are replaced with the actual data. If you go back to data.txt and update the data, it won't change file_2.indd, but you can open file_1.indd and update the link to the data file, which would allow you to create a third merged document (file_3.indd) that will contain the updated data.

If you don't want to keep creating new merged documents each time you update your data, place the text frame that holds the data placeholders on the master page. Now you can open file_2.indd and you will be asked if you want to update the data source the way you were asked on file_1.indd. After you update the data source, go to the sub-menu of the Data Merge window and select Update Content in Data Fields, and the new data will update in file_2.indd.

[davidm54589832]

How do I set up the files then? I've found tutorials but the catalog I'm creating doesn't have all consistent fields.

[jcampss13]

Yeah I'm in same situation. From what I understand if the .Ind document does not have consistent field placement for pricing, then this will not work? I believe the spacing of text frame needs to be consistent from page to page. 

The only way so far I've found around this is using something like EasyCatalog. (Trying to avoid this route if possible)

[Om Nath Jha]

Hi David,

These are wonderful suggestions, both using Data Merge/ XML and using a plugin. I believe you should decide as per your requirements and proceed. Feel free to report if you need further assistance.

Regards,

Om

[Loic_Aigon1]

Not arguing here but

"creating new merged documents each time you update your data"

isn't what I call a serious updating mechanism

[Migintosh]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Loic+Aigon  wrote

Not arguing here but

"creating new merged documents each time you update your data"

isn't what I call a serious updating mechanism

I'm not sure why having a choice between two things is bad. If you don't want option 1 because of X Y or Z, use option 2 that doesn't include X Y or Z.