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Text Box Numbering

ch_mika Posted messages 207 Status Member -  
contrariness Posted messages 17903 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -
Hello,

I am in the process of creating gift vouchers for my business using InDesign. I've made a template that will include 3 vouchers; I plan to make about 50 pages (which means 150 vouchers), and I want to number my vouchers. I know how to do it manually, but I don't feel like copy-pasting for 50 pages. My question is how can we do this from the template?

Note, I'm not talking about numbering the pages but rather automatically numbering my 3 sections so that every page I add will be numbered from 1 to 150.

Thank you for your help.

1 answer

  1.
    contrariness Posted messages 17903 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   6 243
     
    The easiest way is to do a data merge....
    You can also do it with numbering, but honestly when you don't have time to waste, data merging is the quickest ...

    In Excel, you do an automatic numbering across 3 columns:
    from 1 to 50 for the first
    from 51 to 100 for the 2nd
    and from 101 to 150 for the 3rd
    You save it in TXT format with tabulation as the separator

    In InDesign, you open the "Window/Utilities/Data Merge" panel
    You select your database
    You place your merge fields
    And you export to PDF from the data merge panel

    You can preview the result before exporting...
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    1. ch_mika Posted messages 207 Status Member 71
       
      Hello and thank you for your response.

      I did everything you described, but when importing my .txt file, InDesign tells me:

      "Cannot open data source. Please confirm that the file exists and that you have permission to open it, then choose the Data Source Select command."

      I have my file (saved in TXT format with tab separator) that exists with my database. I don’t understand.

      Thank you.
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    2. ch_mika Posted messages 207 Status Member 71
       
      I finally found it. It's because my file was still open in Excel. It needs to be closed for InDesign to be able to open it.

      I will come back with the final verdict.
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      1. contrariness Posted messages 17903 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   6 243 > ch_mika Posted messages 207 Status Member
         
        Exactly!!
        Even after many years of using this system, I still get caught out from time to time...

        I keep the Excel file (xlsx) aside in order to modify it for other numbering...
        The first line (in A1) serves as the name (the one that appears in InDesign)
        in A2 you enter the starting value of the numbering
        in A3 you put the formula =A2+1
        and you copy and paste it over the selection made below... for x number of lines...

        And it numbers itself...
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    3. ch_mika Posted messages 207 Status Member 71
       
      Yes for Excel, I have no problem but with InDesign, yes.

      I created 3 text frames in my template and I went to get my database file but I can't get any sequence on my pages, it's always the number 1 that is displayed everywhere on my 50 pages.

      Any idea what I might be doing wrong?
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      1. contrariness Posted messages 17903 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   6 243 > ch_mika Posted messages 207 Status Member
         
        I think you need to export to PDF from the file menu..
        You should use the PDF saving option from the mail merge window

        Your document serves as a template and the PDF contains the merge.. (you should not have 50 pages in a new document!!)

        You can specify to do the entire number or just a part..
        Personally, I create lists of 2000 or 3000 in Excel and only number the desired amount.
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