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 three 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 https://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 https://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.
i hope this helps
colly
.
