In this InDesign how-to video, David Blatner shows how easy it is to place multiple images in a document and automate the layout process. He explains how you can use a text file and and a template to speed the automatic data merge along.
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This article was last modified on May 10, 2021
This article was first published on May 10, 2021
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Great tip. This got me thinking about possible uses for Data Merge, which I’ve not used all these years! However, when I tried this, a pair of thumbnails, anchored, appeared in the caption field with the generated caption as the merged document was built. Any idea what that’s all about? On my second attempt at this, at preview I deleted the empty thumbnail frames next to the caption and then built the document; that solved the issue. But still curious about why the thumbnails are appearing in the first place…. Thanks!
I can’t think of how you’d get thumbnail frames inside the caption text frame. That’s a mystery!
I love it!
I would mention that you should assign an object style to the frame. Say I’d want to add a background color and change the frame to white, the background can be put into the master page on a new (lower) layer, and the white frame can be modified in the object style sheet.
Wishful thinking, but it would be nice if you could somehow have those frames linked to a master page so if I decide to move it, scale it, or do anything else to it, I could do it in the master.
Your wish is my command! If you put the image frame on the master page and then attach the data merge tag… (and yes, apply an object style… good idea!)… then go back to the document page to merge. (It looks like you have to have at least one object placed on the document page, or else it won’t merge properly. Perhaps a bug.) When you do that, you get a merged document an all the objects are attached to the master page and object styles. Awesome!