see this thread on an alternate website: http://indesignsecrets.com/creating-custom-printer-marks-in-indesign.php i do this from time to time if i want to break my colleagues' brains... "it looks like a quark file because of the cropmarks - but it says it was made in indesign... WTF?" ... View more

the data merge feature with indesign only brings in text which was in the original data file itself - it doesn't know how to parse or interpret it to behave differently upon seeing certain results. that is, it doesn't run database queries such as if-else statements - it will only import text which was originally in the data file. however, there are plug-ins to indesign that CAN do this but they cost BOATLOADS. are you printing this yourself or are you sending this to a commercial printer? if the latter, have you discussed your print solution with the printer, as they may have a plug-in that can do this type of data merging, and all you would have to do is provide the printer with a packaged native file, along with the data and instructions as to what has to change... and for goodness sake see a proof of it!!! ... View more

perhaps try a jazzier multipage importer which can be found here: http://indesignsecrets.com/zanelli-releases-multipageimporter-for-importing-both-pdf-and-indd-files.php the "failed to open pdf" is ominous though... try the newer script and if still having trouble, holler back. have you tried importing single pages to see if any of the pdfs bring up a "failed to open pdf" error by themselves? ... View more

i know the concept of what you want to do but indesign's shipped data merge feature only puts in the data that it is given. that is, it won't run database queries based on if-else statements (e.g. if data=yes then font=arial....) - it won't do that. i'm assuming that you would want to merge the data directly to a printer or PDF rather than to a new file, so you would really need a third party solution. if you were happy to merge the data to a new file, then the tweaking could be done afterwards using GREP to find the applicable cells and then change the formatting using styles. my work has been trialling a plug-in called xmpie which i'm very sure would do what you want but it'll cost you an arm and a leg - i'm talking four zeroes here!  however, for what my work does (variable data printing) it is well worth it. btw, i am NOT a spokesperson for xmpie, nor am i one of their employees. ... View more

there is a way to use one of the scripts (the findchangebylist.jsx one) to make chained queries almost like macros in word. have a read of this thread on indesignsecrets.com: http://indesignsecrets.com/forum/general-indesign-topics/macroscript-for-multiple-text-find-change-queries otherwise check out Kasyan Servetsky's find/change by queries: http://kasyan.ho.com.ua/find_change_by_queries.html or this effort from automatication http://www.automatication.com/index.php?id=12 ... View more

as peter has written, follow the link and get the multipageimporter2.5.jsx link. you will need another script to run afterwards which will insert a blank every second page. var doc = app.documents[0]; var masterNames = doc.masterSpreads.everyItem().name; var d = app.dialogs.add({name:"pick a master spread"}); d.dialogColumns.add().staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Master Pages:"}); var dd = d.dialogColumns.add().dropdowns.add({stringList:masterNames}); if(d.show()){      var index = dd.selectedIndex;      d.destroy(); } else {      d.destroy();exit(); } var master = doc.masterSpreads.item(index); for(var i=doc.pages.length-1;i>=0;i--){      doc.pages.add(LocationOptions.AFTER,doc.pages,{appliedMaster:master}); } highlight the above text, copy into textedit (mac) or notepad (pc) and save as a .jsx file and put into your scripts folder. now, i did NOT write this script but i've unfortunately forgotten who wrote it, so can't credit the author for this script. ... View more

i feel strange answering my own question, but i stumbled across this older applescript and it seemed to do the trick, so thought i'd put it out there. tell application "InDesign CS5"     tell document 1       set thetextframes to text frames       repeat with aframe in thetextframes          set theCount to count of (text frames of aframe)          tell aframe              repeat with i from theCount to 1 by -1                set boxContents to paragraphs of text frame i of aframe as string                set contents of first insertion point of parent of text frame i to boxContents                delete text frame i of aframe              end repeat          end tell       end repeat    end tell end tell full credit to peter kincaid who wrote the script. all i did to make it work was just to tell the application CS5 rather than CS1 which was in the original script. the actual site i found the script at was: http://olivier.berquin.free.fr/indesign/indesign_cs1.html ... View more

if they're just after the actual copy and not the pics etc, rorohiko has a good tool called textexporter. go to: http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/indesign-downloads/text-exporter/ FWIW, i am NOT a rorohiko employee nor a spokesperson. if however, they want a facsimile version of the file for use with word (pics, text, fonts etc)... good luck with that. its the equivalent of trying to get the quality of a bluray movie by watching a cinema-rip... (which i don't condone ). one is a word processor while the other is an advanced layout application. ... View more

excellent stuff. going through it now to see if i can convert an HTML-based calculator that i made so i can output the results straight into indesign. have noticed one thing which i think might be a typo though. on page 6 (8 of the pdf) there is a heading "Two ways of addressing controls" and rather than paragraphs of type, just the letters "aa". am i missing something here? ... View more

damn... already posted!!! my colleague had the same problem two days ago but fixed it. he went to preferences, interface, and go to the bottom of the window for the options bit where it says line screen drawing and select "delayed" in the dropdown field. does this help anyone? ... View more

agree with jongware, its not an option with exporting a pdf. however, if you have acrobat pro, an entire pdf can be forced to greyscale. in acrobat pro, go to advanced/print production/convert colors. when the new dialog box opens, go to the checkbox which says "convert colors to output intent" and click it, and choose a greyscale conversion (which are the bottom options in the dropdown field there). make sure that the "preserve black" checkbox below is selected too. ... View more

try this forum thread from indesignsecrets.com: http://indesignsecrets.com/splitting-up-threaded-stories-into-separate-frames.php ... View more

g'day i'd also recommend "A Designer's Guide to Adobe Indesign and XML" which kevin suggested but would suggest chapter seven of the book which deals with catalogues.  this book is my go-to resource at work as IMHO there is no other resource which mixes XML and indesign... at least that i have seen. get the book, follow the chapter and do the exercise, and it can be seen how to apply the techniques to a project like you have. ... View more

the new one also works in CS3 too, which is a bonus. once i understood what the dialogs meant, was really easy to use. wish i could write scripts like that... best i can do is adjust the find/change by list one... ... View more

this reminds me of the NINA script which was in the Real World InDesign CS3 book...(page 778) ... View more

the three applications each traditionally serve a different purpose. illustrator is software to create graphics, logos, branding using mainly vector graphics. photoshop is software to manipulate scanned images, digital photos or any raster graphics. indesign is software to prepare layout onto a sheet size (or more recently, a screen) but will place the logos drawn in illustrator as well as the rasters which were prepared in photoshop. there is also adobe acrobat which is (for me) is mainly used to create a finished file from indesign etc so that a person without any of the above software can see my design using the free acrobat reader, but at the same time be sent for output without requiring the links and fonts that the indesign file needed. think of it like a design pyramid with each application (acrobat, illustrator, photoshop, indesign) representing a different corner. without one of these corners, the pyramid couldn't stand up and would fall flat on the ground. so in answer to your question the software all works with each other, rather than independently. HOWEVER, it is possible to layout and design a business card exclusively in either indesign, illustrator or photoshop.  however, as i suspect what bob is eluding to, using illustrator or photoshop independently to prepare business cards is a little like hammering in a nail with a screwdriver... it can be done but its the wrong tool for the job. i would ask whether the software would be used to design anything else apart from business cards. all of the adobe software is quite powerful and capable of making everything from business cards to annual reports to point of sale packaging to massive parts catalogues. my point being that if the software was purchased purely to make business cards then is using very little of the potential the software has to offer. ... View more

the data merge function in indesign doesn't make "next record" merges  like word does, but instead merges to fields within fixed text boxes, so  one frame = one data merge result. when doing mailing labels in word,  there is a field called "next record" which then calls in the next piece  of information. the "next record" field is a vital field which indesign doesn't have and  i'd like… but that doesn't answer your question. i can see four ways  of doing what you want to do: 1) do a mail merge in word and use the "catalog" feature and do the  merge in word. format the word file appropriately using stylesheets, and  once the merge is made, save the file and close it. THEN, place the  file in indesign and then change the imported stylesheets into something  which resembles more like what you want. 2) use indesign's data merge but make sure that multiple record  layout is selected in the first dialog box when creating merged  document; and that when previewing the records, the records appear to be  in one column (even though they are still in separate text frames).  merge the document, and in the new document, select all the text frames  in the page and then run the MergeTextframes_ID.jsx script which can be  found at http://ajarproductions.com/blo…..-indesign/ .this  will have to be done page by page and then rethreaded each page, but  it's a workaround 3) if the data in the datamerge is a csv, convert the csv to xml. if  the csv is small (less than 100K) there is a converter online where the  contents of the csv is copied into the converter. it is at http://www.creativyst.com/Prod/15/ . The next step is complicated and needs some knowledge of XML. my  advice is to get hold of a book called "Designer's Guide to Adobe   InDesign and XML" by James Maivald, and specifically read chapter seven  and base your merge on this. 4) visit the third party providers link within the indesign page of the adobe site and have a look at products marketed there... i think teacup software and cacidi software sell products which do more advanced merges within indesign. they're not free though but are designed to handle big catalogues. hope that helps. colly ... View more

sounds like a web to print solution is being made. is this something that has to be built from scratch or something which can be done using an off-the-shelf solution? the following URL is a list of off-the-shelf solutions for web-to-print providers: http://www.veedeepee.com/w2p-solutions.html the market leader is xmpie. i've been using online print solutions which has a solution based on pdfs, so the template art can be created anywhere... but IMO i hate it. ... View more

this isn't really a script as such but indesign can do this fairly easy using the data merge tool. michael murphy, aka "the indesigner" has a video which might help: http://www.theindesigner.com/blog/episode-43-data-merge-video otherwise search the terms "data merge business card indesign cs4" in google (specifically for videos). hope this helps. ... View more

perfect. spot on. magnificent. incredible. outstanding. does everything that i need it to do. excellent!!!! thank you very much for your help on this one! colin ... View more

oh okay, thank you for clearing that up, i wasn't sure. sorry to sound like an old nag, but i've just had a chance to test it at work and also noticed that it will only move whole numbers, not fractions (i.e. will move 6 but NOT 6.5). also, is the script capable of moving ai, pdf and eps files as well? many thanks colin ps i should mention i'm using Adobe InDesign CS3 on Mac 10.5.8.  the script is intended for Adobe InDesign CS4 on Mac 10.6 but it'd be great if the script could work on both. ... View more

that's the ticket harbs !! that's grand!! i have some questions about the script, some might sound a bit naive: 1) the relative checkboxes next to horizontal and vertical fields: what are they relative to? 2) the script adjusts tiffs, psds, jpgs just fine, but noticed it left eps, ai and pdfs alone. is the script able to edit those as well? but all in all, its what i was after and i'm rapt. this will help get yearbook student photos done in record time! once again, many thanks for your help colin ... View more

i've been doing a little more research in the forums and came across this gem by harbs: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2208538#2208538 its SO CLOSE to what i'm trying to achieve but not quite there! the script in that thread is:   myGraphics = app.activeDocument.allGraphics;   for (idx = 0; myGraphics.length > idx; idx++) {    if(myGraphics[idx].constructor.name!="Image"){continue}    myGraphics[idx].horizontalScale = 90;    myGraphics[idx].verticalScale = 90;   } in this script, all the images adjust by 90%. what i'd like to be able to do is add a dialog box which lets the user: 1) enter the scale they're after; 2) the left offset (in positive or negative); and 3) the top offset (in positive or negative) and this would then adjust all the images equally. harbs script works but is rigid until the details are changed in the script itself. by using a GUI the values can be changed on the fly. many thanks colin ... View more

i'm not sure if this will help any but there is a MUCH better multiple pdf placer script which allows for page offsets, page rotations, putting in reverse order etc... its so huge it has its own instruction manual. http://www.indesignsecrets.com/downloads/MultiPageImporter2.2.1.zip have a try of this script and see if it is more flexible than the pdfplacer script. colly ... View more

thank you for everything so far. that dialog box works well and will save tons of time! its trying to get the old HTML calculator into a dialog box script for indesign which is still plaguing me. let's forget about drawing the boxes and worry about getting the calculated values into the spots into indesign (i'll worry about drawing the boxes some other way). i've attached a file with a numbered key which represents what values out of the HTML have to go where into the indesign file. i've also attached a sample of the form which has been made using the calculator. note that entries 7-12 (13 is a hidden value in the HTML) are calculated once the heads up/heads right button towards the bottom of the form are clicked; that is, they're not typed manually. i figure the script will be similar to the one in the above post, but i'm not sure how to incorporate all my old calculations into the indesign javascript. i'm a prepress operator who fluked making the calculators to begin with, so i'm really beyond my depths here. your help has been invaluable so far i must add. would this solution be the way to go? many thanks for your help. colly ... View more

thank you very much for your quick response. would it be easier perhaps to have a script that made a document to the plate size and then drew boxes to sheet/page sizes, and THEN have a separate script which drew arrows and measurements on only selected items? i probably started off with the hardest part. i use those calculators to work out how many pages we can get on a sheet and it does a great job with the calculations (but now flawless). unfortunately its not the only thing which needs to be brought into the modern age. there is also a laydown diagram sheet which needs to be done and i've attached an inx of a template i've made along with a pdf of what it looks like kind of filled in. the way i'd see this thing working is to open the indt file and then run a script which would open a dialog box and prompt for the following: * customer name * job number * description * colours used * high res proof req'd * low res proof req'd * how many roman numerals * how many arabic numerals (i'd marked in green on the pdf where the results would go to). the grids would be filled out manually using library items which are threaded textboxes. what i'd like to do though is create the numbers which would flow through the textboxes (which are the two last items of the dialog box). the actual sequence and threading is not an issue and is something else completely. i hope this makes sense. once again i really appreciate this advice. colly ... View more