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M Prewitt at IIW
M Prewitt at IIW
Known Participant
February 22, 2021
Question

Photoshop data merge with relative path

  • February 22, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 1322 views

I'm using the Mac version of Photoshop CC 22.2. I'm trying to set up a data set for the data merge function, using relative paths. I'm following the steps from this document:

 

http://www.richmediacs.com/user_manuals/RMCS_PS_Training/Using%20PS%20Variables/UsingVariablesInPS_EXTERNAL.html

 

It says that "Path names to images can be absolute or relative to the folder where the images are located (i.e., images)." 

 

I have tried using the format given in their example to create relative path names, but I cannot make it work. Photoshop complains with an error, "Could not apply data set because the replacement file was not found." Of course the path names from the example I linked to are for Windows, and I am using a Mac. I have tried:

  • Links/TEST1.jpg
  • /Links/TEST1.jpg
  • ./Links/TEST1.jpg

 

None of these work, even though the "Links" folder is present in the same folder where the Photoshop document exists, and the filenames in the data source document are correctly spelled and the correct case. None of them work.

 

If I select the image manually by clicking the Select File button in the Data Sets dialog, it puts in the full path relative to root, and it works. But of course that is tedious to do and is not portable from one machine to another (i.e., the data merge set up on one Mac wouldn't be guaranteed to run on a coworkers's Mac since the full path may be different). 

 

If anyone has done this successfully on a Mac, can you tell me how you set up your relative paths?

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    M Prewitt at IIW
    M Prewitt at IIWAuthor
    Known Participant
    February 22, 2021

    I have also confirmed that it does NOT work even if I move the images from the subfolder into the parent folder. So, for example, the path in the data file is simply the file name "TEST1.jpg", and that image is in the same folder as the PSD – Photoshop still gives the error that it cannot find the file.

    H
    hogarth howeller
    Participant
    July 2, 2021

    I am having the same issue too. I read here  that "You can use a relative path for the image location if the text file is in the same folder as the image file." But I am still getting the missing replacement file error not matter what I try (txt, csv, ect). I hope that Adobe can fix this as it's proving to be a bug.

    Bojan Živković11378569
    Community Expert
    Bojan Živković11378569Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 17, 2024

    Check to ensure that the image has been properly referenced, as well as the file type, which is essential.

    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 22, 2021

    I can't comment on the relative path at the moment, I have always used full paths on the Mac. I'm guessing that the colon : only works in full paths?

     

    Regarding absolute path, with a simple regular expression based find/replace, or with a spreadsheet concatenate command, or a website such as TextMechanic it should be easy enough to batch insert the root path to the relative path. Yes, this is not portable, however it is better than doing things manually.

    M Prewitt at IIW
    M Prewitt at IIWAuthor
    Known Participant
    February 22, 2021

    Using colon does not work, at least not "Links:TEST1.jpg" nor ":Links:TEST1.jpg". But that's a very old notation (back to OS 9, I think?), so I am not surprised.

     

    The other option is a workable one, but it's still another step that I hope to avoid.

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