So, we type ‘ in front of the sign and Excel will then behave. To get around it we must escape the character using an apostrophe. Excel isn’t happy about you typing those kinds of symbols into a cell however and will complain with an error. The trick is to first define which column in our spreadsheet is our image field by adding an symbol before the column name. This gives the added benefit that we can edit the image whenever we like and along as the path remains the same, the most up-to-date file will always appear in InDesign. This way InDesign will read the path and pull in the image directly. We don’t paste the actual image into our spreadsheet, merely include the path to them on our local drive. The only tricky part is including images. Then we go through and write the actual values for each employee on a new row. In the first row of your spreadsheet we use these fields as our column headers. We’ll have First Name, Last Name, Job Title, Email, Portrait. For the sake of this example we will use Microsoft Excel.ĭecide on the fields you will need on your business card. Perhaps a mugshot of each employee or a QR-code for example.
That is, all the names and email addresses and job titles etc. Create a spreadsheetįirst you will need a data source. Updates to either design or content are then a breeze. By using the powerful data merge features of InDesign you can set up just one template file and have InDesign read the employee information from an external spreadsheet. You will end up with 130 files though (or 260 if you make a new one for both front and back) and a nightmare of a scenario if the boss suddenly says he wants to change the font/color/logo at the last minute…įear not.
Time consuming, but it will get the job done. Your initial plan may be to create a template file and then use that as a master to create a new file for each employee. One side in Japanese and the other in English.
For more info, see Data sources you can use for a mail merge.įor more info, see Mail merge: Edit recipients.įor more info on sorting and filtering, see Sort the data for a mail merge or Filter the data for a mail merge.The problem: You have been asked to prepare company business cards for all 130 employees working at ACME Multicorp. Connect and edit the mailing listĬonnect to your data source. The Excel spreadsheet to be used in the mail merge is stored on your local machine.Ĭhanges or additions to your spreadsheet are completed before it's connected to your mail merge document in Word.įor more information, see Prepare your Excel data source for mail merge in Word. For example, to address readers by their first name in your document, you'll need separate columns for first and last names.Īll data to be merged is present in the first sheet of your spreadsheet.ĭata entries with percentages, currencies, and postal codes are correctly formatted in the spreadsheet so that Word can properly read their values. Make sure:Ĭolumn names in your spreadsheet match the field names you want to insert in your mail merge. Here are some tips to prepare your Excel spreadsheet for a mail merge.
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