InDesign-to-Excel Linking for Catalog layout
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- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 4 months ago by
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How do I get InDesign to recognize and track the originally linked Excel cell, rather than the entire spreadsheet? It at first seemed I had the perfect dynamic solution — the spreadsheet could continue to be updated while Design was in progress. I then found that you can't add or subtract rows or cells without InDesign losing the cell link and just dumping in the entire spreadsheet.
Is there a workaround for this? I've already started a catalog layout.
Thanks for any help you can give.
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It's not really what you'd call a workaround, more of a “nuke and start over” kind of thing. What you're describing is tailor made for an XML solution, actually, and that's certainly how I would tackle a catalog project.
However, depending on your circumstances, one possible approach would be to make a copy of the working spreadsheet as it is right now, and build your design using this data. When you relink to the “real” spreadsheet, you're going to have to do a fair amount of work to fix up the formating anyway, so (because you have naturally created table and cell styles) you just go in and fix what broke.
If you have a nice, clean repeating layout, consider using Data Merge for those pages and incorporating them into the rest of the catalog using the Book panel.
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Alan — thanks for the fast response. If I had a clue how to work in XML, I would have started there. :-)
Re formatting, InDesign style sheets will auto-apply to any text revision I make in the originally-linked Excel cell, so I'm not so concerned about formatting/reformatting. The issue is what happens when the cell location itself changes in the spreadsheet and the link is lost.
A Vark responder suggested I create a name for the range for the cell or range of cells. Seemed logical, but doesn't work; although InDesign offers the option to indicate Cell Range in the import dialog box — it won't a accept a name range. AAAAarrrgh!
Any ideas, or fast-path to XML?
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There's an excellent book: “A Designer's Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML” discussed here. I have it, and recommend it. That said, XML ain't for the faint of heart, and you'll have to run the gauntlet of Microsoft's bizarre implementation in Excel.
The same author, Jim Maivald, has recently completed an entire video course on the subject, now up on Lynda.com. Just search “XML” on the site and it'll pop right up. It's called “InDesign CS5: Dynamic Publishing Workflows in XML.” If you're willing to contribute the sweat equity, that will get you up to speed very, very quickly.
Good luck! :)
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