Need example how to excel file look when data merging anchors & hyperlinks

[Printchic]

Hi all,  I just learned about data merge for affinity publisher and need help.

I have searched the forum and I think I found some info that may be helpful (which I share at bottom of this post) which seems to explain how to use anchors and hyperlinks with data merge however I need a real world example.  I am just learning about the data merge feature and I am basically trying to convert an existing printed planner/workbook into a digital one so my approach may not be the best way.  I want a way to link 365 daily planner pages (2 to a page) to 365 anchors points.  Also there will be a master page with all 12 months JAN-DEC which contains the days of each month.  When a day is clicked on it take the person to the correct anchor page. (hopefully through the excel data merge function)

I need a real world example of how the data should look in the excel file.  The example I saw just showed cell# like A1, A2, etc. (but not the actual data.

1.) Here is my screenshot. I have a daily planner page with 2 to a page.  I have an anchors on the "top" and "bottom" of the form.  The field for the anchor on top is DPLANO and DPLANE for the bottom.  O (odd days) and (e) even days. So DPLANO & E will returns DPLAN-01, DPLAN-02, etc. from the excel file.  The # after the (dash) - corresponds to the day of the year it is.  1-365 (or 366 in a leap year). I have attached a screenshot of my form,excel file, etc. to give you an idea what I mean.  I was able to generated the planner pages and get the DAYS in the box and anchor names showing but how to link them via data merge is what in need. 
 


*** Below is a portion of a post I saw.  I found it confusing as it seems like the excel example given was using cell #A1, A2, etc. and not what the  actual data is so I wasn't able to follow it or tell if I could even accomplish what I need.

I see there is option to check" "From data merge" if you do individual hyperlinks.  I can't wrap my head around how the data merge file should look or if it is possible to do as I would like.  Also, can i generate a page of "Hyperlinks" (like the page with all the months and days) shown in my example so when a day it is clicked on it will go to the correct anchor page.  I have attached a screenshot of my files.***

On 6/28/2023 at 4:01 AM, Ash said:

Apps: Publisher
Platforms: macOS and Windows

You can now include URLs, file locations, email addresses and anchors (anchors new in build 1931) in your data merge dataset and use those fields to create an active link in your merged result.

Anchors

You can also choose a data merge field link to an anchor in your document. Additionally you can also now create anchors from your data. This gives powerful options enabling you to have links from one record to another. e.g. You could have a record set like this:

Then insert an Anchor = <Record Anchor> and also create a hyperlink which links to <link to Anchor>, so in this case you could have a link in record 1 which links to record 5, 2 to 6, etc. and then record 5 linking back to record 1, etc.

Insert Anchor dialog now has option to create from a data merge field

 

Hyperlinks to Anchors can also now be created from data merge fields

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lacerto]

In Excel sheet, I would define both visible data fields and more complete link fields that can contain e.g. mime prefixes like https:// and tel:, and for email, could additionally contain subject and message parameters (or group multiple email addresses, cc and bcc addresses):

When setting up data merge, you would then extract both the visible fields, and then select the data merge field and use Text > Interactive > Insert Hyperlink, and pick the appropriate data field where you have the link format:

When you merge and export to PDF (enabling inclusion of hyperlinks), you will get this:

mergedlinks.pdf

 

 

Edited January 13 by lacerto
Replaced PDF attachment which now has the last name field added as an anchor and PDF bookmark.

[Printchic]

@lacerto thank you  the example showing how the data merge works with data.  I can see that it isn't what I am trying to do.  But it is definitely good reference for future projects.  Since I want to link to areas within a document (not external urls) I see I have to do the linking manually in the file. Thank you so this example it helped a lot.

Signed,
Printchic