Affinity Publisher - Data Merge from multiple sources

[Daniel Bernardes]

Hello,

I am trying to merge information into my document on Affinity Publisher from two excel files. The first one always works well and I can insert the fields. When I add a second data source it shows on my data merge panel with the fields but when I try populating from that source nothing happens. I tried both using a second sheet on the same file as well as using two separate excel files with no result on either. I also made sure that my field names do not repeat on both sources.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Daniel

[Komatös]

Hi @Daniel Bernardes and welcome to the forums.

As far as I know, you can only use one data source at a time. The fact that you can use several data sources is intended for a quick change. For example, if you want to create a catalogue for lamps and then one for garden furniture and use the same layout for both catalogues.

[Daniel Bernardes]

12 minutes ago, Komatös said:

Hi @Daniel Bernardes and welcome to the forums.

As far as I know, you can only use one data source at a time. The fact that you can use several data sources is intended for a quick change. For example, if you want to create a catalogue for lamps and then one for garden furniture and use the same layout for both catalogues.

Thank you Komatös, I was afraid of that. I guess the only workaround will be to merge the tables, it will create a lot of duplicated data but will have to do for now. 

[Komatös]

@Daniel Bernardes 

Do you know Notepad++?  This is a text editor; there is a plug-in for it called Compare. With it, two text-based (database) files can be compared and duplicates can be recognised and eliminated.

If you on Windows you can download here: https://notepad-plus-plus.org

[Daniel Bernardes]

45 minutes ago, Komatös said:

@Daniel Bernardes 

Do you know Notepad++?  This is a text editor; there is a plug-in for it called Compare. With it, two text-based (database) files can be compared and duplicates can be recognised and eliminated.

If you on Windows you can download here: https://notepad-plus-plus.org

Yes Notepad++ is a great tool. But when merging the two tables, I'll have to duplicate data on purpose to make it work. This is my current setup:

Table 1 (Contact)
Name
Postition
Contact details (phone, email, etc)
Expertise
Years of exp
Image address
(...)

Table 2 (Service)
Service name
Service description
Image address

To merge them together, either each line in the Contact table has to incorporate all items in the Service table or the other way around.

 

Do you see the issue? I'm not a fan of having data repeated on a database as the chances of mismatch are big. I'll try using formulas to replicate but I haven't tested how Affinity handles calculated fields.

[Old Bruce]

When I am faced with this I just make a new spreadsheet and copy paste the columns I want.

[Daniel Bernardes]

On 7/1/2022 at 7:34 AM, Old Bruce said:

When I am faced with this I just make a new spreadsheet and copy paste the columns I want.

Thanks Bruce, I've done this workaround and I'm happy to report that AP can handle calculated fields so I can link my link the data instead of copy pasting in each cell. At least this way I know that the information lives in only one place and gets referenced to others. Still going to place a request for multiple data merges.

[Old Bruce]

49 minutes ago, Daniel Bernardes said:

Still going to place a request for multiple data merges.

I honestly do not know how that could be implemented. Say you have a spreadsheet/report with Customers' names and addresses. Another Spreadsheet has Names and phone numbers. Unless the two are setup exactly the same chaos will ensue. Imagine just having some customers who have not given you a phone number, they are not entered in the second spreadsheet and so it all goes bad. 36 records in the first and 24 in the second. If the first customer in the first spreadsheet/report is not in the second then the resulting Merged Publisher file will have 24 customers with wrong phone numbers.