Data merge

[Patrick Connor 5,016]

15 hours ago, figety said:

There is a new beta to download today and the first thing I think of is Data-Merge...

I do not expect to see "Data-Merge" in the initial 1.7 release. You may continue to look forward to it, but perhaps not in each pre-release public beta. As with the rest of the Affinity range, we are known for introducing additional features in free updates post release. I cannot say what those new features may be.

When Affinity Publisher is launched I suggest that you buy it if it has the features that you need, and not based on your hopes for the future.

[PaulEC 242]

Is does seem a pity that, with so many people asking for this feature, Serif won't at least commit to providing it at some time in the future! 

I really like Affinity Publisher but without Data Merge, (and a few other things,) I have no choice in continuing to use PagePlus for the foreseeable future. I would really prefer not to have to juggle between the two applications, especially as there's no easy way to transfer documents from one to the other.

[Alfred 5,463]

1 hour ago, PaulEC said:

It does seem a pity that, with so many people asking for this feature, Serif won't at least commit to providing it at some time in the future! 

This looks to me like a commitment, albeit an open-ended one:

 

[MikeW 2,327]

29 minutes ago, Alfred said:

This looks to me like a commitment, albeit an open-ended one...

And once the public release has happened, everyone will know if it is on the 1.x roadmap.

I've got my own list of "must-have" features and a whole bunch of "I really want this added" features. Some of the this (these) features will maybe make an X.x release and some that likely never will. And some of my "must-have" features probably won't make a future version much less be on a someday feature list.

As Patrick said, purchase a license on current capabilities or not. Maybe purchase a license based upon a roadmap list...but do so knowing the wait may be a long one. An application either has current value or not. It's a simple decision.

[AleMello 14]

Well, I'm really interested and anxious about data merge but, guys, let's be patient. The Affinity guys are doing a GREAT job, delivering excellent product. 

I'm pretty sure they're listening to us. They said they have some other stuff to take care before. I truly believe they'll add data merge to Publisher in the due time. 

I'm waiting, and testing other features they already done as much as I can. I must say I'm very happy using Publisher beta as my first app, already rebuilding some INDD files I have from scratch, testing all my workflow. 

Be patient.

[undercovergypsy 5]

Mike W has a good point and I will keep this into consideration. But since it is a layout/publishing program - or am I wrong about that -How is one to do catalogs? For my purposes - I have to create labels or hand write addresses. Which means one more thing to purchase, layout/create and manually apply.  I loved serif and have purchased the other two Affinity  programs both for Windows and Mac. In fact that was the best thing about the Affinity software - they can be used on and the files  edited  on either OS - AND they are so affordable. I am still a fan and will hope for the best. I have completely switched from Quark Xpress (I have a high res. laptop and struggled to see the tools - so I am happy about that) and have rebuilt the files. 

[AleMello 14]

3 minutes ago, undercovergypsy said:

This is a good point and I will keep this into consideration. But since it is a layout/publishing program - or am I wrong about that -  this missing feature makes it (for lack of a correct phrase) just a hobby program. How is one to do catalogs? For my purposes - I will have to create labels or hand write addresses. Which means one more thing to purchase, layout/create and manually apply. What a shame. I loved serif and have purchased the other two Affinity  programs both for Windows and Mac. In fact that was the best thing about all of them - they could be used on either and the files were editable on either os - AND they are so affordable. I am still a fan and will hope for the best. 

But they never said they won't do it. Just need a little more time to do they the right way. And probably we'll be able to test it a lot before it goes to commercial. I understand I was "gifted" with the opportunity to help developing a better app. Beta testing is this, we don't have the final version, we're helping build it. 

I really don't complaint about data merge lacking (or that I can't import my GBs of INDD and save a lot of work), because this is a beta version. A going work. I'm testing the best I can, trying to find holes and bugs (like the diacritics problem I have when writing in portuguese -- like typing ' and a to get "á", which is giving me " 'á " instead).

Let's wait. Be patient... This is a real pro app, able to face Indesign straight in the eyes and say "I'm better than you and a lot cheaper".

[figety 0]

Hi Dominik

Here is the latest download link...

https://store.serif.com/en-us/update/windows/publisher-beta/1/

affinity-publisher-beta-1.7.0.2579.exe

[dominik 853]

11 hours ago, figety said:

Hi Dominik

Here is the latest download link...

https://store.serif.com/en-us/update/windows/publisher-beta/1/

affinity-publisher-beta-1.7.0.2579.exe

Thankyou @figety,

this version was released on March 9th. I was confused because you wrote on March 17th 'There is a new beta to download today...'. It was just a misunderstanding on my side. Never mind 

d.

[Gnits 26]

I am seriously interested in this product, but only if has an easy to use DataMerge option.   I am intimately familiar with the options available within InDesign and Photoshop (and other tools)  and have coded Javascript mini apps to automate their use.

I have watched this discussion now for a long time.   I am now going to turn off  the notifications and forget about this.  I will re-vist, maybe in 6 months, maybe a year.  I hope this feature is added. I will not be purchasing this product without this feature.

[Calibinder 1]

7 hours ago, Gnits said:

I am seriously interested in this product, but only if has an easy to use DataMerge option.   I am intimately familiar with the options available within InDesign and Photoshop (and other tools)  and have coded Javascript mini apps to automate their use.

I have watched this discussion now for a long time.   I am now going to turn off  the notifications and forget about this.  I will re-vist, maybe in 6 months, maybe a year.  I hope this feature is added. I will not be purchasing this product without this feature.

Yes +1

Many companies have products online and also want a paper catalog as well so being able to export that online product database to a CSV for XML and then use that in a page layout program like Affinity Publisher is a must. The biggest problem I had was that the client would spend all night changing prices and I could not easily update the catalog without re generating the pages using mail merge in PagePlus. It would be nice to be able to just re export and download my clients product database to a XML file and then open Affinity Publisher and all the prices and whatever else was changed be refreshed to the new values. Indesign does this all the way, PagePlus does it half way. It's not a convoluted process, it's the future of the ways things are done today.

[Adrian Mardari 0]

Data merge is a must! Second, I would like to see a greater compatibility then Indesign. For example, in Romanian language we have special characters like diacritics, witch I cant import with the only support format of indesign, CSV. Maybe we will have with publisher more importing options. Best

[MikeW 2,327]

3 hours ago, Adrian Mardari said:

... Second, I would like to see a greater compatibility then Indesign. For example, in Romanian language we have special characters like diacritics, witch I cant import with the only support format of indesign, CSV. ...

InDesign can, of course, import Romanian (or nearly any other language).

I don't use comma separated value files (CSV) but instead use tab separated, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that the merge file be UTF-16 with no BOM.

Mike

[Adrian Mardari 0]

Hello Mike, 

Thank you very much! I just solved a problem I had for a while.  Silly me. 

Cheers!

[MikeW 2,327]

15 minutes ago, Adrian Mardari said:

Hello Mike, 

Thank you very much! I just solved a problem I had for a while.  Silly me. 

Cheers!

You are most welcome, Adrian.

[g_prompt 0]

I am also a user of Data Merge to minimize time in typing all those details which were already encoded on a data sheets and also their photo like what we did for company ID's.

[Bad_Wolf 99]

I bought the Affinity range Designer and Photo from the moment they became available. To be honest it was a difficult switch because those Plus range products could do so much more than the Affinity range. From the moment I switched to Affinity, I forgot about the Plus range and never returned back to them.

I found out that creativity will get us much further than even the most versatile application will do. Look to the astonishing artwork created with the Affinity range, masterpieces in their own right.  

I want to add +1 support for the mail merge feature. I agree, this feature is essential for Publisher to compete with the others. Nevertheless, I will buy Publisher without this feature.

Chris

 

 

[carl123 2,156]

10 minutes ago, Bad_Wolf said:

I agree, this feature is essential for Publisher to compete with the others. Nevertheless, I will buy Publisher without this feature.

Just between you, me, other people that read this thread and all Internet capable users world-wide.

Don't tell them that!

It negates any negotiating power you may have had.

Serif staff, there is nothing to see here, please skip this post.

[PaulEC 242]

15 minutes ago, Bad_Wolf said:

I bought the Affinity range Designer and Photo from the moment they became available. To be honest it was a difficult switch because those Plus range products could do so much more than the Affinity range. From the moment I switched to Affinity, I forgot about the Plus range and never returned back to them.

I found out that creativity will get us much further than even the most versatile application will do. Look to the astonishing artwork created with the Affinity range, masterpieces in their own right.  

I want to add +1 support for the mail merge feature. I agree, this feature is essential for Publisher to compete with the others. Nevertheless, I will buy Publisher without this feature.

Chris

I fully agree with everything you say! – Although I will have to carry on using PagePlus just for it's Mail Merge feature as there are some jobs I just can't do without it.

[angang 1]

Third discussion in number of replies (193 replies) in 8 month : knowing that Publisher is still in beta, it gives me hope.
It already exists on Open source project like Scribus with ScribusGenerator  http://berteh.github.io/ScribusGenerator/
So please please please... Data merge is a must, without that, Affinity can't pretend that Publisher is usable for pro.

[Alfred 5,463]

1 hour ago, angang said:

Third discussion in number of replies (193 replies) in 8 month : knowing that Publisher is still in beta, it gives me hope.
It already exists on Open source project like Scribus with ScribusGenerator  http://berteh.github.io/ScribusGenerator/

I think it has been stated definitively — perhaps even somewhere in this long thread — that data merge won’t be included in the initial retail release.

1 hour ago, angang said:

So please please please... Data merge is a must, without that, Affinity can't pretend that Publisher is usable for pro.

That’s a bit of a sweeping statement! There are plenty of professional DTP use cases where data merge is not needed at all.

[Calibinder 1]

1 hour ago, angang said:

Third discussion in number of replies (193 replies) in 8 month : knowing that Publisher is still in beta, it gives me hope.
It already exists on Open source project like Scribus with ScribusGenerator  http://berteh.github.io/ScribusGenerator/
So please please please... Data merge is a must, without that, Affinity can't pretend that Publisher is usable for pro.

Thank you so much for posting this, I didn't know Scribus became so advanced. I need mail merge like a fish needs water because my clients have access to their product databases and changed things like prices all the time so having a program that can bring this new updated data back into the catalogs I design is absolutely a must. I so like the idea that ScribusGenerator can use dynamic colors and on the same document giving my clients more options for custom designs.

I still use PagePlus for everything and I haven't found anything that is as fast and intuitive. PagePlus is still a big money maker for me, and I will use it until it will absolutely not run anymore on Windows, unless something else comes out that does all it can do and more.

I like the recent update Affinity Publisher picture resizing in the picture frame but still feel it falls short that you can't just click on the picture frame and select a color in the color picker and have it affect the picture like it did in PagePlus. You have to drill down in the layers pallet click the picture and then color it from there. There might be a reason for this that I need to explore.

Have a very blessed day.

[Michael Hurley 15]

Let me just add another voice to the chorus of "please give us data merge!" Not only is the merge function itself necessary, but the ability to generate cut-stacks would also be lovely.  That is, once the print run is complete and ready to trim, the first position of the stack is, say 1-500, second position is 501-1000, etc. I.e., the first sheet would have record 1, record 501, record 1001, and record 1501; sheet two would have records 2, 502, 1002, and 1502; and so on down the stack. This kind of thing is absolutely essential for maintaining the order of pre-sorted mail lists on things like postcards. Right now we use a third-party Acrobat plugin called FusionPro for that, but it would be very nice to have everything in one place.

[davide445 2]

+1 for Data Merge, using PP for our associates certificates creation

[flashpoint 1]

Is there work on a property such as data merge? Beta versions were not available. Does anyone have information?