Data Merge Workflows

[Anklebuster]

I'm new to Affinity Publisher. My current project is a puzzle book. Initially, my workflow was super simple:

1. Create Master Page for new puzzle category
2. Add pages for the new puzzles
3. Apply Master Page to the new pages
4. Type data onto pages or import an image/PDF
5. Export to PDF

Today, I learned about Data Merge! That's a game-changer, especially since I figured out how to generate Sudoku pages.

My question is whether I should maintain separate .afpub files for each data merge task and use step 4 to Add Pages from File? 

I tried running the data merge directly in my puzzle book document.

When I generated the merge, the new, untitled document correctly recreates all pages; however, it only uses the first  and last section names!

Thanks for your help!

[Komatös]

Hello and welcome to the forums, @Anklebuster

Without knowing how the Publisher document and the data file are structured, I would say that the transfer of section names does not work via data merge and you have to set this manualy.

A very comprehensive introduction to Data Merge is available here:

 

[Anklebuster]

Hi, Komatös, thanks for sharing this resource! Let me get my popcorn

If data merge can't preserve sections, that's okay. I've gotten used to exporting my main document to PDF and would prefer to continue doing so, for file management reasons. My current solution is to create a separate project for the data merge process, save the output as .afpub and then, back in my main document, add pages from file.