Indesign automation data merge1/7/2023 ![]() Data merge provides an easy way to bring in data from a spreadsheet and have it populate your design automatically. Running headers, a running page count, and output date are all easily created with text variables. Text variables allow you to automate and change text according to rules you set up. Some of the other automation tools in InDesign - which deserve far more in-depth discussion than I can do justice to here - include text variables, data merge, and scripting. Text variables, data merge, and scripting Make a change to a parent master page, and all the changes ripple down through the child master pages, then down to any document pages with that master applied. By basing your subsequent masters on that one (for instance maybe the first page of a chapter includes a header graphic, but still needs that common footer) making document-wide changes is a snap. If you were to set up a book document and you want a footer with the title of your book and page numbers, you’d put that information on a master page. If you’re using master pages - and really, why wouldn’t you be? - chances are you’ll have to make a change somewhere along the way. This takes a little pre-planning, but I can guarantee you’ll be glad you took the time. In the same way that you can base a style on another style, you can base a master page on another page. Just imagine all the time you’ll save when your client announces just before deadline that they want all the text fonts changed from Palatino to Nimbus Sans! Building a style based on another style makes it easy to make wholesale changes to text, even across long documents. ![]() Nesting character styles within paragraph styles allows you to automatically apply character-specific attributes when paragraphs have a repeating pattern - think classified ads or a list of team member bios. By setting - and consistently using - paragraph and character styles in your documents you avoid repeating many of those tasks and ensure consistency in your finished product. Setting all the possible characteristics in the Character and Paragraph panels can seem overwhelming. One of the best things you could possibly learn to automate in InDesign is the proper use of styles, particularly text styles. What I love best is the amount of control you maintain over the process, enabling you to customize the workflow. I work in InDesign for a majority of my projects, and it is an automation lover’s dream! InDesign gives you tools to control text, objects, document layout, styling, and importing. ![]() The first step to harnessing the power of automation is learning what automation is capable of within your specific workflow, then deciding which pieces fit that workflow best. That’s because we often let our software do all the work without actually learning how to steer and control the results. Sometimes automating workflows brings questionable results. ![]() Erica will be at ebookcraft running a workshop called GREP and Regular Expressions for Mere Mortals. After living as a nomad for almost a year, she recently put down roots in El Paso, Texas, where she hikes and bikes every chance she gets. She is the creative track chair for the iBooks Author Conference, a regular contributor to InDesign Magazine and, and offers online training and tutorials on as well as through her own YouTube channel. She is a speaker, writer, and trainer focusing on Adobe InDesign and Illustrator, Apple Keynote and iBooks Author, and other print- and production-related topics. Erica Gamet has been involved in the graphics industry for nearly 30 years.
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