Merging across frames and pages

To merge across text frames, the text frames need to be linked together in a single story. Here is Adobe's guide on how to do that.

Let's say you wanted to link two fields from DataLinker in two separate text frames, and then merge with DataLinker. We recommend the following workflow:

  1. Create two empty text frames
  2. Link them together
  3. Put the text cursor in the first frame and insert your first field from DataLinker
  4. Insert a column break to jump to the next frame (Type > Insert Break Character > Column Break)
  5. Insert your second field from DataLinker in the second text frame.
  6. Insert another column break. This will cause the merge to start a new page for every record
  7. Select everything in the text story (Edit > Select all or Ctrl/Cmd-A) and choose DataLinker > Merge

DataLinker will merge the data, starting a new page for each record.

Note: The two text frames don't have to be on the same page. You could have the first frame on page 1 and the second frame on page 5, and when DataLinker merges, it will copy all five pages for each record.

Note: The data you are merging can be anywhere in the text flow, as long as the linked story spans all the pages you want to merge. For example, if you have a 5 page document, and you only have data you want to merge on page 3, you must still put the first text frame on page 1 (you can even leave it empty!), enter a column break, then put link the text frames with data you want to merge on page 3, and finally link to a text frame on page 5. You'll need a column break at the end of every text frame, including the last one on page 5.

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