Is it possible to do a data merge on files that have been compiled into an INDB book file?
The problem:
The project I’m working on uses several data merge templates with slight variations to produce a series of reports. This method has worked fine, but it does require juggling several templates. The problem occurs when errors are found in one template that affect other templates. Currently, we would open up each affected template (sometimes 10+ templates are affected) and correct the error. Sometimes errors are caught in the very late stages of report production and so data merges will need to be re-run too.
Attempted solution:
To try to reduce the number of files to open when errors are found or global changes need to be made, we thought of using book files as a way to create a master template for all reports. The INDB book file would contain INDD files consisting of boilerplate pages (pages that are the same for all reports) as well as pages unique to the various reports. The idea would be to choose the combination of template files from within the book file, run a data merge, and produce individual merge records from the book file.
Question:
Is there a way to run a data merge to files contained in the book file and have it create separate records? Or can data merges only be done at a single INDD file-level only?
I hope this makes sense. I’m starting to think this is not possible, but I’m hoping there may be additional scripting tools that someone knows of that could do this task.
Thanks in advance!
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