Not natively using ID's merge. This probably is able to be scripted as part of, or post-processing of, a merge. Positioning can also be done with a mixture of tagged text & data merge using Em Software's tagged text & data merge modules. They do have a significant cost especially if/when bought together (and a healthy learning curve). Mike ... View more

Personally, unless the job would have a whole lotta pages or changes very frequently, I would recommend Colin's advice of just using the Excel file as text. You should be able to just select the pertinent rows, copy to a decent text editor, and have a tab-delimited text file stripped of any sort of Excel dross. Copy/paste that into ID and make your styles, setting tabs in the paragraph styles. If it is frequent and/or a lot of pages, you can do this in Em Software's data merge software. You will have to use your imagination here, but the screen shot below is one I often use to demonstrate Em's solution. Just imagine the headings that have darker orange shading behind them are the "people." The data below that the locations, items and weights. Mike ... View more

Personally I think the MT solution is the quickest way to accomplish the task. I create a character style that centers the equation on the line. Sometimes I have needed to create more than one, depending upon the stacking height and where the publisher desires them and their context. There is only one font (technically two) I am aware of that even does arbitrary nut fractions. It's name is nutso and can be found on Github if I recall. There is a second version of the same font as well. But for equations, I know of no font that can arbitrarily create equations. And even if so, it may well be slower than just using MT or one of the other math equation authoring tools. Well, I take that back. One can typeset such things in LaTeX. In fact, there is an OpenSource word processor that has a great equation editor--but i still think it's slower than MT. Many/Most math books and scientific journals are typeset in LaTeX. Mike ... View more

I use Em Software's data merge plug-in. I do conditional merges with it all the time--it's one of its strong suits. InData • Xdata » Em Software I cannot imagine ever doing merges beyond perhaps label addressing without it. Mike ... View more

am i literally not allowed to make a text box, type some words, hit enter and go to the next line? The insertion point is at the end of the sentence, i hit enter and the blinky thing disappears, i type, no words, no idea where it goes, i have tried over 5 times, open and closed it. As far as I can tell i am forced to make a thousand text boxes for each line i want. Are you by any chance hitting the return key on the main portion of a keyboard or are you hitting an enter key next to the number pad? If this is the problem, ID is creating a break to go to the next frame that is threaded to the one you are entering text into--and it likely doesn't exist. So if this is the issue, use the enter key on the main portion of the keyboard. If this isn't what is happening, do let us know. Mike ... View more

Yes, it is important to check with the provider—assuming one knows. In this case I learned about the issue from the company I created the cover for who had chosen this provider for a reprint. I just loaded the PDF back into ID and created a new one. Problem solved. I don't normally care about the whole outlined fonts thing. I just use Acrobat or pdfToolbox and do it. That whole issue isn't worth the time of day. While I can recommend print providers or tell a company to avoid such practices, it's their call as you say. Mike ... View more

Yes, I know how to both use different page sizes, export as spreads for obtaining a single page PDF, as well as the single page method Rob showed. I've done both methods for a long time. In separate files. I have recently ran into one service provider that hates the trim marks on the spine for the 3+ page method. I think I know why, but I cannot get a clear answer from him. I'm just curious about how PDF/X-6 resolves anything having to do with disparate page sizes in a single PDF is all. Mike ... View more

Yeah, I'm curious too. I like more efficient work-flows. Thing is, most often my covers are not printed on the same press and sometimes not by the the same print establishment. ... View more

XML is template based in ID. If you desire to forego using templates per se, consider exporting tagged text from wherever this data is coming from. If the source export does not have the styles defined in the beginning of the tagged text file you would need to import the styles from another document using the styles referenced in the tagged text. ID's tagged text format is rather verbose and obtuse. QuarkXPress' tagged text has a much more readable and flexible format. So any database I am involved with (even Word documents) exports tagged text in Q's style and then I use the tagged text plug-in from Em Software to import it. Mike ... View more

I don't know what version of CD you are using. But I get no message concerning embedded fonts using a CD-generated EPS in ID. You could opt to convert type to curves when exporting from CD to EPS. CD does produce a good AI file, but without the PDF stream and so like mentioned, you would need to open it in ILLY and resave to use it in ID. Also like was mentioned, your best option is to export as a PDF. ... View more

The one frame per record is what ID has always done. Perhaps you've used the InLineMerge script in the past? Downloads | Ozalto Mike ... View more

You are welcome. BTW, Emily's commercial use font with all 4 styles is only $3... Drawing With Markers Handwriting Font 4 Styles Commercial Mike ... View more

Excellent, Bob. Thanks for the info re CC opening Q3-4 files. ... View more

Quite old? How old? I think CS6 can open up to version 4 QXP files. So if you are using CS6 or earlier and your QXP files are of that particular vintage, you may be able to open them for editing. If you have a current subscription, you can also install CS6. There is a Adobe help page at:https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/converting-quarkxpress-pagemaker-documents.html Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents to InDesign And then there is, of course, QuarkXpress (with its cross-grade price). However, if the goal is to remain in ID, QXP has no equivalent to ID's export of IDML for opening in earlier versions and can only back-save one version. Depending on the file, I can walk it back and get it into ID if there is only a file or two. But other than the above options, there are only paid ones. Markzware also has a per document service. But if there are more than a handful, it might be justified to just use the Q2ID plug-in, which I would do/try before the PDF into ID route. There would simply be more work involved. If you do go the Q2ID, do send them a trial document before purchasing anything. I have had from not so good to quite well conversions. (Ironically, the ID2Q works better). Mike ... View more

Because VP tagged text (what the OP is use to using) is similar to QXP tagged text, and ID tagged text can be reasonably simple, I would use tagged text for this. VP didn't need the opening lines, both ID and QXP do. But they are easy to inject at the database output or manually. The thing is the styles if are not defined in the tagged text file, they need to either have the styles included ahead of time in say a template or post import. Mike (who still occasionally uses VP10 under Windows 10) ... View more

That's great to hear, Betsy! You're most welcome. Mike ... View more

I impose for only a single print establishment these days. He has no inclination to modernize. I use him for both his great two and three color work, service and price. If you have need to do this once in a while, it pays to purchase one of the relatively low-cost plug-ins or stand-alone imposition software tools, or purchase pdfToolbox, which has other uses than imposition. ... View more

My understanding is it is hard-coded. So there can be no changing it. By "space," are you referring to the Advance Width? The sum of LSB + Glyph width (its bounding box) + RSB? Your example works out to about an 8% tracking...unless my math is wrong. However, it is somewhat font dependent and seems to depend upon the XAdvance width in the GPOS table (which, among other things, contains the kern table) and the Advance Width. But the value can also simply be a fixed percentage. I am still awaiting follow-up from the developer(s). But they are also within a month of a new release and so I suspect they are a bit busy quashing bugs at the end of a release cycle. ... View more

OK. Maybe just a partial answer...I awoke to an email. It is due to the underlying text run that is substituted for the ligature that determines when to decompose the glyphs into their constituent parts. So the applications are keeping the GSUB string in memory and when tracking exceeds the original spacing by X amount, the lig glyph is broke down into its parts so the spacing can increase. The amount of tracking in a given font and given text run that has a lig feature supplied is slightly variable and in part depends upon the GPOS table values for the underlying glyphs. The "in part" statement then means there is a little voodoo going on ;^)  ID and QXP have slightly different means of reporting tracking to the user. And how that plays out on the surface I think is a little different, but I think that the innards of ID & QXP are simply using some internal value for which to test the tracking against and then making the decision to decompose. Now, I haven't tested an un-kerned font for which there is no GPOS values in order to see if/when it breaks and the values needed. But hey, it's 5:30 am here and I am in dire need for coffee. ... View more

You should be at least using UTF-8 for the encoding. That will cure the problem. ... View more

I'm still awaiting a response for one of the behaviors--and it's the main one, the how of it all. But I was informed that in QXP, there is actually a preference setting to control whether two-character or more ligs can break apart. I don't know why one wouldn't want them to when tracking is so increased that the spacing would be just odd, but it is controllable. I couldn't find a corresponding setting in ID's preferences. If it is there but hidden, though, it may be addressable via scripting. Dunno. But like I mentioned, I don't know why the default behavior of either application isn't appropriate off the top of my head. ... View more

Not off-topic really. But yeppers, that's how it's done in any feature-aware application. In my case, that f f h lig is a discretionary lig, so I would need to turn off the discretionary lig feature (or both). ... View more

Hi Uwe, Yes, not very handsome, is it? I have set heading for ads where I increased the tracking quite a bit and I just turn of liga, dlig and hlig for the style or text run when using a vector design application. I retried 4 vector editors and all of them do the same thing even if their OT Feature support is otherwise better than Illy's. I was reading through the OT Specs and it appears the GSUB table may be responsible...which would make sense for glyphs that have Unicode values (mapped). Still boggles me about the unmapped ones, though. I had never really given this issue much thought other than Application A does this, Application B doesn't and worked around it. It's been just a fact to me. But thanks to Aaron, I'm also now curious as to the How of it all. ... View more

Sorry for any confusion. Aaron. A lig such as f f has a Unicode code-point. it is distinctly mapped to that Unicode place: But others have no Unicode value / mapping, such as the f f h ligature I used: Now, the glyph name is there (in this case, ffh) and is made up of the constituent parts in this font's case, so perhaps that's it. I should recompile the font with the font name for the f f h lig as zzz and see what happens! I'll try it tonight for fun. ... View more

I also make fonts. What has always amazed me is that even unmapped ligs (like ffh) get decomposed into their constituent parts whether the lig has separate glyphs which make up the lig or are a single character like: And in ID...once tracking increases X amount: I also have never known the "how" of it. But the two layout applications I use do this decomposition. I can (sort of) understand they can do it with mapped ligs. It's the unmapped ones that boggle my mind. I know the developer responsible for another application. I'll try reaching out. However they do it will be how Adobe does it. It may well be part of the OS response to the changing metrics and if so, should be documented. Also I note that none of the vector design software I use do this decomposition. The below is in AI CS6, so perhaps this has been done in a later version. ... View more

Great thought, Colin. I should have thought of that! If it is as simple as it appears in the OP's post, that should do nicely. The formula is fairly simple. I do this for way more complex text insertions in Excel. Mike ... View more

Only using a plug-in. Likely a post-merge script could be used or even a f/r grep. At least for what I think is being described. The linked thread was about conditional application of master pages during a merge. Same would apply to any merge when conditional merging is a good solution. Apply master to pages with Data Merge? My example actually was for name tags. But whether the condition is for changing master pages like in the example, it could be a single field and use replacement data during the merge. Mike ... View more

Edit to add a couple screen shots. The merge file itself was first manipulated in Excel to automatically add a numeral to a new column every time the company name cell changed. So in the screen shot below, the data looks like this: The next screen shot is the EmData code for the merge. For this example (which is based upon a real job), the Master Pages simply have a different color for each name badge. So when the merge happens, the code looks for the numeral (the key statement) and chooses the appropriate master page. The result, once merged and imposed, looks like: ... View more