Peter wrote:
I am working on a building signage project, and one of the challenge is to layout hundreds of room identification signs at the same size, but all the room numbers / room names and pictograms are different, and we need to keep them at precisely the same position. We have an Excel database of all the information, but are just wondering if there is a faster way to do this kind of layout in either Indesign or Illustrator.
What you’re talking about is database publishing: Taking data from a database or spreadsheet and making it pretty in InDesign. There are lots of options for doing database publishing, but one of the simplest (and certainly least expensive if you already own InDesign CS2) is Data Merge, which comes with the program (see Window > Automation > Data Merge).
I’m not going to give you a lesson on how to use datamerge here because someone else has done a great job of it already. Rufus Deuchler wrote it for InDesign Magazine, but it’s posted free for you at CreativePro.com. If you like what you see there, please consider becoming a subscriber to the magazine.
However, Data Merge doesn’t do everything you might want. For example, you can’t build intelligence or rules into the process, such as “if this session is listed as being in the “Foible Room” put such-and-such icon next to it. You can do that easily with a plug-in such as InData from Em Software. There are also even more robust solutions that let you have live links between InDesign and a database such as Teacup Software’s DataLinker or Cacidi’s LiveMerge.
As you can see, there’s a wide range of solutions when it comes to publishing database and spreadsheet material!
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on December 22, 2006
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