Data Merge character set problem

[or...@adobeforums.com]

Hi all,

i am trying to use data merge function. Whatever i do i cannot able to import my cvs (or tab delim.) properly. I have Turkish characters in data file. When i open file from text editor i can see the chars. properly. I can also write in InDesign properly(my normal workflow).

After i import into InDesign(from data merge) some chars doesn't show properly. I changed text field language Turkish, or none. whatever i did, i failed. I will be glad if someone help me with this.

Thanks again.

[simonwarner]

I assume you have tried changing the font to make sure you are using a
font that can display these Turkish characters?

[or...@adobeforums.com]

yes, font works normal when i try to type manually. Like times or arial etc.. There is no font problem in my normal workflow.

[or...@adobeforums.com]

Kind of bumping the question, sorry but i really need this functionality. If i dont solve this functionality is useless. Does any other languages support by data merge ?

Should i contact with adobe? I cant find any email technical contact email.

[Joel_C...@adobeforums.com]

I don't have any Turkish text handy, but I recently did data merges in Chinese, Croatian, and Russian, and they all went off without a hitch.

Do you know what encoding your Turkish CSV file is in? I'm guessing that it's not in Unicode. When you go to select your file for the data merge, make sure you click the "Import Options" button. This will allow you to select a delimiter character and encoding for your data file.

The only way I'm sure that it works is to save a Unicode Text file out of Excel (it's one of the options in the dropdown) and import that as a Unicode tab-delimited file in the "Import Options" menu. There may be other methods, but this is the way I've been doing non-ASCII data merges.

If my summary above doesn't work for you, let me know; I'd be happy to go dig up some random Turkish text and write up some step-by-step instructions for doing a problem-free data merge in Turkish.

[or...@adobeforums.com]

Sorry Joel for late response, i somehow manage to solve problem. i have to save the excel in UTF-16 format. Which is only in Mac Excel. So, from there i can see my characters without any problem. Then i can use csv file in either PC or MAC

Thanks for all.

[daz-ado...@szpzazmffurrene.com]

I had the similar issue with Polish and Chinese characters, and I was using TextMate on the Mac to save the CSV file. I ended up saving as UTF-16 Little Endian, and the characters imported properly. I don't know if Excel can distinguish between the UTF-16 Little Endian and UTF-16 Big Endian encodings, but it made a difference in whether InDesign (Mac) could handle it.

By the way, this experience showed me that Excel (2004 Mac version) couldn't show UTF text in the formula box, so I tried the free OpenOffice.org. Calc was able to display all the text in the formula bar that Excel showed as empty boxes!

Darryl