Merge records with a publication

ired of copying and pasting when doing mass mailings? Take advantage of the new data merge feature in Adobe® PageMaker® to create form letters, envelopes, or mailing labels from records. The following steps show you how to use the data merge feature.

		Create or open a target publication. The target publication contains the text and graphics that appear the same in each merged publication. Make sure your design can accommodate the records that will merge with it. For example, if a word exceeds the line of space available to it in the publication, the word’s tracking will tighten to fit. If a block of text from a record exceeds the space for it, the text will overflow.
		Select the data source. Before selecting your data source in PageMaker, use the data source program Save As or Export text feature to export your records to a comma-delimited text file. Open the PageMaker Data Merge palette by selecting Window > Plug-in Palettes > Show Data Merge palette. Choose Select Data Source from the Data Merge palette menu and select your comma-delimited text file. All data field names will then appear in the palette. Text data fields will appear with an uppercase T icon in the palette, while image data fields will appear with a generic image icon. Make any changes to the data fields in the data source program; the changes will appear automatically in the Data Merge palette.
		Troubleshoot the data fields. If only the first field name appears in the Data Merge palette, your data source file might not be in a comma-delimited file format. Use the data source program to save or export the file as a comma-delimited text file. If any data fields are missing from the Data Merge palette, use the program that created the data source to check for blank, missing, or duplicate field names. Also, make sure you select any export options the program may use to export field names. Sometimes the first record’s values may appear in the Data Merge palette instead of field names. This can happen when the field names are not included in the comma-delimited text file. Use the data source program to save or export the file again, and make sure you select any options needed to include the field names in the exported file. If you’re using FileMaker Pro, you need to make the first record’s values the same as the field names.

		Insert text fields into the publication. To insert a text field, select placeholder text or click an insertion point in your publication, and then click the appropriate field name in the Data Merge palette. Any selected placeholder text will be replaced by the field name. Each field name will be enclosed by double-angle brackets in the publication. If you change a data field name in the data source file after placing the field in the target publication, delete the old field in the publication and insert the new one.
		Insert image fields into the publication. To insert an inline image field, click an insertion point in the text or select placeholder text, and click the image field name in the Data Merge palette. To create a floating placeholder image, make sure there is no insertion point in the publication, and click the image field name. The image placeholder will be 0.5-inch by 0.5-inch. You can resize the image either before or after merging.
		Preview the records in the target publication. Select the Preview checkbox in the Data Merge palette to preview your records in the publication. Click the arrows at the bottom of the palette to move forward and backward in the records, or click the record number in the palette to go to a specific record number. Use the data source program to make changes to records or fix fields that produce error messages. The changes will appear in the publication. If an image field cannot be opened, use the data source program to correct the image filename or path. For more information, see the online Help topic “Including images in the data source file” in Help > Help topics > Data Merge > Working with data source files. To resize an image to its original dimensions, select it and press Ctrl + shift (Windows) while dragging a handle.

Merge the records with the publication. Choose Merge Records from the Data Merge palette menu. If you’d like multiple records to appear on a single page of the merged publication, select Manual Layout from the Records per page pull-down menu, and define the gutter sizes. This option will not appear if there is not enough room on the page to display multiple records. Blank lines appear in records that contain a blank field. Remove these lines by selecting the Remove Blank Lines for Empty Fields checkbox. When your data source contains a lot of records, you can improve the performance of PageMaker by selecting the Start New Publication After checkbox and defining the number of pages that will limit each publication. If the publication contains a lot of graphics, set the image-display preferences to Gray Out. When you click OK, PageMaker creates a new publication and replaces the data fields with the appropriate record fields. Sit back and watch PageMaker do all the work!

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