Data Merge Crashing with InDesign CC 9.2

[YH3480]

I have been trying to figure this out for days.  My InDesign file was locking and freezing when I clicked "Create Merged Document."  Instead of creating a merged document,  I clicked "Export to PDF" and then it worked.

How could the solution have been that easy? This does not make sense.  It cannot have been that easy.

[Mike Witherell]

Did you try exporting the document to IDML; then re-opening that IDML file to Save-As to a new InDesign document? Then, re-attempt to make a Data Merge?

[Laubender]

Also consider an update to the most recent bug-fix version of InDesign CC, that's version 9.3.

Regards,
Uwe

[Tomáš Haman · Accepted solution]

Hey all, I had the same problem. ID crashed when I tried to Select Data Source. Starting a clean file from scratch solved the problem. I just pasted the design from the original document and all went OK. ID CC 13.1 x64 @ Win 10

[pjtuohy]

Data merge kept freezing. Five frustrating hours later with no merge, I saw this post about saving as a pdf insteading of creating a merge file and it worked in 30 seconds for a 1400+ page file. Thank you for the tip. It was that easy!

[Adriana5FA7]

Hi. So when exactly do you save as a PDF? Because my file is crashing right after I click Ok to merge.

[AllanKowalczyk]

I figured it out. the hamburger menu in the Data Merge window has an option to Export to PDF

[AllanKowalczyk]

I am wondering the same thing. I dont see anywhere in the Data Merge area to save as .pdf. Let me know what you find out. 

[Aglifeis]

4 years later I still have the same problem lol, thank you for the thread

[TracyOsh]

Same problem 4 years later. This is an intermittent issue. It works on some days and on others it crashes every time I open the data merge window. No idea why it's happening or what is causing it. 

[mkanderson1]

Same issue! I can pretty much call it a day after attempting to use the Data Merge feature. InDesign completely freezes - for an hour or more- and even when I attempt to Force Quit, subsequent attempts to open the document cause it to crash again! 😞 

[TracyOsh]

@mkanderson1 
I finally solved the issue by exporting a .txt file vs .csv. I haven't had an issue since. I download a .tsv file from Google Sheets and changed that file to .txt (I just changed the letters in the extension, nothing fancy). I also bought Cole Candoo's data merge to a unique filename extension (A f-ing life saver). Still had the crashing / freeze issue until I tried a .txt vs .csv. Hope this works for you. 

[mkanderson1]

Thanks. I've only been using txt files and not csv. 😞 Not sure what the issue is. Appreciate your reply though. 

[dantethescrub]

Almost 5 years later, this thread saved me too. I both copy-pasted to a new file and used tab-delimited text instead of CSV, so i can't say which fixed it, but merge works again. And exporting to PDF from the merge tab, that's great.

[rikg8]

Has started crashing for me whenever I click data merge icon. Suggested fixes not working for me

[mgdibblee]

I have recreated multiple excel .txt files. When cc required a .txt instead of .csv it was a problem. the tab delimited .txt worked but i need to have a working product. please advise.

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @mgdibblee,

Thank you for reaching out. Can you share the complete workflow and the version of InDesign & OS so that we can try to reproduce the issue? Please share the necessary details/steps to reproduce the issue.

Thanks

Rishabh 

[mgdibblee]

All of you could have saved me alot of grief if you had just said “MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING INDESIGN 2024 NOT 2023”. I was not aware that indesign had been upgraded. The highlighting bug still remains in 2024 but can be mitigated by hiding the ruler. the agent said “the team is working on it”.

[BobLevine]

You could have saved yourself the grief by not hijacking a years-old post that discussed something that had absolutely nothing to do with your issue. What you are seeing has been discussed over and over again.

In the future, do yourself a favor and check the dates of the discussions and if in doubt, start a new one.

I'm going to lock this one to avoid any further confusion.