Technical Notes: InDesign Data Merge Side Quest

I used InDesign to create a set of cards for our PROD121 physical game remix project, so this is not exactly PROD142-related but I did learn some new things!

I followed this tutorial.

I wanted to create the cards using this method as I figured it would be more efficient and leave less room for error than copy and pasting entire formats, or writing them all by hand. It also means that I can easily adjust or edit the card template later on without having to re-input anything. 

I had a vague idea in my head of how the cards would be laid out. They would be based off of business cards to fit our theme and they could be very bare-bones for this project and especially for this stage (initial prototyping). I made a very quick and simple layout on InDesign, including the title, description, and two card descriptors. I then input all the card details to a Google Sheets sheet. 

If I wanted images, I would need to add an "@" at the beginning of the column titles on the spreadsheet.

After downloading the sheet as an .csv file and placing it into my working folder (so it doesn't get misplaced - needs to be linked), I opened the Data Merge window in InDesign. 

    Window > Utilities > Data Merge.

I retrieved the spreadsheet data by clicking the hamburger icon on the Data Merge window, then clicking "Select Data Source..." 

Then, I just selected each textbox and clicked the column I wanted to link them to. 

Google Sheets can be a little confusing I think (although I don't really know as I have limited spreadsheet experience). I initially added the column titles to the column headers(?), but when I Data Merged on InDesign, it appeared to use the 1st row instead. 

The icon next to the sheet name is the "Create Merged Document" button. It creates a new InDesign document with all the pages. This is what I used to export all the cards I needed.

To print, I just set up an A4 page document and inserted all pdf pages into it. There is probably a more efficient way to do this, by laying out a printing page template beforehand, but I was short on time and felt that learning that wouldn't save me much time in the moment. Hopefully, because the pdf pages are linked, any future changes would update on my printing page as well - this worked when inserting a logo image for all cards on the template.

Through having to insert all pages of the pdf onto the InDesign print template, I learnt how to place all pages using scripts:

    Window > Utilities > Scripts (or Ctrl + Alt + F11)

    Then in the Scripts window, Application > Samples > JavaScript > PlaceMultipagePDF 

I also learnt how to place only a selected range of pages (or place them all).

    Ctrl + D to Place, then on the file explorer window, tick the Show Import Options box.