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• • September 30, 2019 at 9:24 am #1189032
    Chuck Snider

    Member

    I have a 5×5 InDesign page that contains a crossword puzzle. The crossword content for each puzzle is a corresponding PDF document that by necessity I’ve placed into my InDesign doc 29 times. So, that’s 1 large graphic container for the puzzle itself, and 28 graphic containers for the “Across” and “Down” clues…all pointing to the same PDF document.

    In the end, I’m shooting for a document that has roughly 300 pages, each page pointing to a different PDF document. I’m looking for a way to update all instances on a given page without having to manually relink each of the 29 instances. (Better yet, I’d love it if Data Merge would update each page’s content while keeping proportions and placement of the PDF in these containers exactly as they are in the setup doc). Lastly, I’ve scoured this forum and other sites and haven’t come up with a solid solution yet.

    Any help is appreciated!

  • September 30, 2019 at 10:51 am #14324011
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    If you want to update all the links with the same name at the same time, you should be able to click the “master image” in the Links panel (it has a tiny triangle next to it, indicating that the individual images are inside/under it). Then Update or Relink that.

    I have no idea if this will help… perhaps not, but it might be interesting:

    Referencing pages of a multi-page PDF file during data merge… workaround

  • September 30, 2019 at 1:38 pm #14324004
    Chuck Snider

    Member

    Thanks for that, David. I’m familiar with the “master image” in links – that option also requires that I click for each of the 29 instances/page that I’m trying to update. In an ideal InDesign world, each of these 29 image boxes would have Data Merge image placeholders and would keep the proportions and placement coordinates unique to each of the 29 boxes. That doesn’t seem like an option though, so my plan B is to update the 29 instances of the PDF on each page of a 315 page document, where there would be new content (a different PDF placed into the boxes of each page)…all without needing to click 29 times/page to get the job done.

    Oof. Believe me, I realize the truly ideal situation would be to have puzzle content as a graphic, and the “Across” and “Down” content as live text in a spreadsheet for merging (along with @image info for the puzzle graphics), but I just have the PDF files and am trying to find a way that doesn’t require retyping or a ton of copying and pasting.

  • September 30, 2019 at 1:40 pm #14324003
    Chuck Snider

    Member

    Not to sound like a geezer who can’t program the clock on the microwave, but I don’t see an option here in the forum to upload an image to help illustrate what I’m working with. Happy to do so if that would be helpful, I just haven’t figured out how to do that.

  • September 30, 2019 at 1:46 pm #14324002
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    LOL… That’s very funny. No, you’re not missing anything. We just haven’t implemented any kind of image upload feature here. Two options:

    • Put the image on a site such as Imgur.com or some other photo-sharing site and then add the link here
    • Or, if you’re on facebook, join our group on facebook and you can post images there.
  • September 30, 2019 at 2:18 pm #14324000
    Chuck Snider

    Member

    Thanks David – here are a couple of Imgur links to help illustrate what I’m trying to set up.

    PDF doc: https://imgur.com/esLpA93
    InDesign page: https://imgur.com/Tlt3afA

  • September 30, 2019 at 2:36 pm #14323999
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Oh wow… so each one of those clues (below the puzzle) is a placed version of the PDF?!

    And the clues are always in the same place?

    In my tests, I’m getting the result that I think you want… I place the image 3 times, cropping each one differently. Then I select the master image in the Links panel (one click) and then I click the Relink button and choose a different image. All three frames update properly, and the puzzle and clues stay where they’re supposed to be.

    I don’t think Data Merge will work for this, but in theory you could get a script made that could do what you need.

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