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[Implemented] Data merge

CusumanoCasper
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Posted by Patrick Connor,

Readers of this thread may be interested to try the first beta implementation of Data Merge in the latest Affinity Publisher Beta You can find Affinity Publisher Customer Beta 1.9.0.796 for macOS HERE and for Windows HERE If you are coming to this post late the latest customer beta can be found in the last post in the relevant one of these announcement threads on macOS or Windows
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Richard Broom

Richard Broom

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I was planning to move over to Affinity Publisher from InDesign but I use Data-Merge all the time and, as far as I know, data-merge in Affinity Publisher is still a long way off.  Just wondering if anyone has any news about the possible arrival of Data-merge?  For the moment, I'm holding off making the move away from Adobe InDesign.  Oddly, it is the lack of data-merge in Affinity Publisher which is making me stay with Creative Cloud (high monthly payment I am keen to bring to an end).

 

Richard

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CusumanoCasper
CusumanoCasper

I use the data merge tool daily to create QR-codes in a batch or load data into a pdf. I think this is not present in the beta build?

Sponka
Sponka

Hello, one more vote for "data merge" tool like in InDesign. I use this function mostly for designing business cards and small catalogs, labels for boxes etc ... Everything, that have same desing and

sheldonkennedy
sheldonkennedy

Definitely need data merge. Would be ideal to plug in a spreadsheet or csv/tsv file.

MikeW

MikeW

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Richard Broom said:

I was planning to move over to Affinity Publisher from InDesign but I use Data-Merge all the time and, as far as I know, data-merge in Affinity Publisher is still a long way off.  Just wondering if anyone has any news about the possible arrival of Data-merge?  For the moment, I'm holding off making the move away from Adobe InDesign.  Oddly, it is the lack of data-merge in Affinity Publisher which is making me stay with Creative Cloud (high monthly payment I am keen to bring to an end).

 

Richard

I don't know the types of data merging you do, nor whether you use a plugin or not. But if you are using ID's built-in, outdated data merge, have you considered using Word or Libre Writer's data merging? In some cases, the resulting word processing file can simply be copy/pasted or imported into APub, or a pdf generated to open/place in APub. 

Which is what I would do if that was all that was keeping me from switching. 

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Marcos Silva

Marcos Silva

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4 hours ago, MikeW said:

I don't know the types of data merging you do, nor whether you use a plugin or not. But if you are using ID's built-in, outdated data merge, have you considered using Word or Libre Writer's data merging? In some cases, the resulting word processing file can simply be copy/pasted or imported into APub, or a pdf generated to open/place in APub. 

Which is what I would do if that was all that was keeping me from switching. 

humm not really. I have some projects that I do with Word when it doesn't required anything so professional. But if I have to work on a professional designed layout I would never be able to work with Word. I tried importing jpg onto Word for example, but the freedom you have with Indesign is just unlimited. I only wish I could merge Excel in Indesign instead of using CSV. Affinity would be definitely ahead of the game if they offer that feature for pros.

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Patrick Connor

Patrick Connor

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30 minutes ago, Gift said:

So does affinity publisher have data merge tool yet?

no it does not

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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dominik

dominik

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20 minutes ago, Gift said:

Hurry up Affinity

I doubt that we forumsters are in the position to tell Serif (the publisher of the Affinity range of software) to hurry up.

d.

Affinity Suite on Windows (V2) and iPad (V2). Beta testing when available.

Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

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petrpastor

petrpastor

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On 10/11/2019 at 9:47 AM, tdilenarda said:

Data Merge is almost the *only* feature I need to switch to Publisher full time and give up the unreliable (and much too expensive) InDesign... :6_smile:

 

I Agree it is very important feature. I like affinity range a lot, but I still have to use 50% of time Serif PagePlus for the things that need data based repeated prints. I would live to use Afinity Publisher instead. The Serif PagePlus data merge can serve as an inspiration for laying out idea of implementation of data merge to affinity range. It has some good features mainly hanling the preview of the output and some bad features (using weird .sdb format for data input).

-pp-

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debiant

debiant

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Still a non-starter for me. It's a shame really, because I like the suite, but I can't justify the cost without data merge. For me this would necessarily include assurance that the software will further allow for merging images into a document based on the cvs file as well, even if at a later date. This is really the only feature keeping me from purchase, and with it a 5 star rating and review on the App Store. I used the beta software and really liked it until I went to merge the long sheet of data in a cvs file.

Has Affinity discussed a timetable for this feature at all?

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Patrick Connor

Patrick Connor

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@tdilenarda

Welcome to the Serif affinity forums :) 

This is something we are planning to add

1 hour ago, debiant said:

Has Affinity discussed a timetable for this feature at all?

No, not that I am aware of, sorry.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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Markimus

Markimus

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Data Merge would make Affinity Publisher an instant buy for me. I use it for creating and updating card games in InDesign, and there's not really a tool out there with the same ease of workflow. I understand this is a big feature request, though some update on this, a loose timeline, or just some showing off a very early prototype would be really nice! Thanks.

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fde101

fde101

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On 10/26/2019 at 7:38 AM, big smile said:

+1 for Data merge for all Affinity apps (Photo, Publisher and Designer)

It is extremely unlikely that this will ever make its way into Photo as that program is not really engineered for the construction of multi-page documents.

Designer doesn't build multi-page documents either, at least not yet, but there were hints that it might do so later on, so that is at least a possibility, though realistically I would not anticipate a data merge tool except in Publisher.

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big smile

big smile

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On 10/27/2019 at 11:57 AM, fde101 said:

It is extremely unlikely that this will ever make its way into Photo as that program is not really engineered for the construction of multi-page documents.

Designer doesn't build multi-page documents either, at least not yet, but there were hints that it might do so later on, so that is at least a possibility, though realistically I would not anticipate a data merge tool except in Publisher.

Data Merge doesn't necessarily have to be for creating multi-page documents.

Photoshop and Illustrator have data merge and it's used to output multiple JPEG files that have the same core design but use the data for variations in names etc. 

 

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rodh

rodh

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Yes please! Mail merge or Data merge for variable fields like InDesign et al. I would use it for personalised greetings, business and post cards to make the marketing messages stringer and more personal. The ability to link a data file csv etc) would be great. Soon as possible if you would peeps.image.thumb.png.a7130f40e0429a9d99b4c0568954dec9.png

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supajiggi

supajiggi

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Posted (edited)

Data or mail merge is a pre requisite, without it I cannot move from my existing publishing software, have been waiting to see that it is in before I purchase since beta days. We print variable data products like pl;ace cards, point of sale price tags, labels etc and without being able to handle variable data, the product is dead in the water before we start. Absolutely love affinity photo, use it every day and know that publisher would be the same :-)

Edited by supajiggi
made aprapgraph easier to read.
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Alfred

Alfred

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31 minutes ago, paull said:

still no data merge :( PLEASE dont make me re-install photoshop :(

Photoshop? For data merge??

Did you perhaps mean InDesign? :/

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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paull

paull

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11 hours ago, Alfred said:

Photoshop? For data merge??

Did you perhaps mean InDesign? :/

nope. I use photoshop to batch render lower thirds from a csv file.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/creating-data-driven-graphics.html

 

 

I just wish affinity photo, or designer, or publisher would allow me to do that.

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Roland1984

Roland1984

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I'm in total agreement.  I'm an engraver and create personalized products.  I love the Affinity software suite, but I've got an ancient copy of Corel Draw X7 specifically for it's data merge functionality and pre-rip layout / tiling tools. I hope that this feature is on the short list.  

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