Data Merge Template

[Carol F Majors]

Date Merge

Indesgin CS6, Mac

A template I made a few months ago is balking at the new spreadsheet from client. Its error message is that at least one data placeholder is missing in the data source. 

I swear to the red clay below my feet that I have clicked and checked every single one manually. 

Is there any way to isolate my problem using known techniques. I composed some new sections, and I replaced one section completely that had some possibilities for bad connections. 

I may need to repeat the linkage manually to each tag, even tho selecting them in layout matches right to the data merge panel listing. 

Ideas welcome. I've been looking at Blatner and Her Geekness sites for more info. Not much about data merge troubleshooting out there. 

Additional plugins would not be cost efficient at this point in time. 

TIA, Carol 

[Stephen Marsh]

Hi Carol,

Is it a big issue to remove the data source and to reassign the fields?

Sometimes the only way forward is to take a couple of steps backwards! :]

Due to various glitches, back when I was using CS3 for regular merging I would always keep a copy before adding the data source and assigning fields. If the merge file suddenly became problematic, I always had a copy of the file from before adding the data source or assigning merge fields to text.

Stephen Marsh

[Stephen Marsh]

I forgot to add, sometimes one has to clear out the old data merge field from hyperlinks palette (highlight the data merge text placeholder and check the interactive/hyperlinks palette window).

Stephen Marsh

[Carol F Majors]

I'll look at this too. I've replaced all the fields now. Since it tells me one or more is wrong, I'm not able to see the results to pinpoint the problem.  

I noticed some oddities as soon as I changed the data sources to the new file. Perhaps better to update the original data source file by replacing the data in there.

They promised magic. Oh darn.... 

Sent from my iPhone 

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[Carol F Majors]

I definitely work on copies of the lastest version. I can go back nicely. 

Sent from my iPhone 

On Jan 24, 2013, at 3:25 AM, Stephen Marsh <stephe...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Carol F Majors]

On Jan 24, 2013, at 3:25 AM, Stephen Marsh <stephe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> forgot to add, sometimes one has to clear out the old data merge field from hyperlinks palette (highlight the data merge text placeholder and check the interactive/hyperlinks palette window).

This got me past my first problem. Thank you Stephen! Took a while to find the bad ones, but once I got the pattern, it worked great.

Now on to my next data merge issues ….

Carol

[Stephen Marsh]

I am glad this obscure troubleshooting tip worked for you Carol!

I don't know why data merge interacts with the hyperlinks and if there is a way to disable this interaction, however it is a Royal PITA!

Stephen Marsh