I'm looking for a better solution on importing catalog data into Adobe InDesign

The last time I produced a catalog I used a software called EasyCatalog that worked with Adobe InDesign to merge data from a spreadsheet with graphics. I wouldn’t say it was completely successful. I know of one other catalog building software called Catalog Builder by Computer Pundits. I'm just looking for any suggestions from someone who might have gone 开发者_运维百科through this process on what software I should use.

InDesign can create a really beautiful output from XML. Depending on the catalog content's complexity, you can either have a straightforward mapping of the elements in your catalog to the paragraph and character styles of the IDD file, or you may need to preprocess the XML with XSLT. For example, if your data source can output the content as XML, but it doesn't map easily to InDesign tables, XSLT can be used to make the XML more "IDD-friendly" before you import it. IDML is another way to handle XML content; instead of importing the XML content manually or with a script into your catalog template, you generate the IDML directly from your XML. (IDML files are a package of XML files that describe the page/spreads, fonts, swatches, text, images, etc. of the InDesign file.) You're probably going to need XSLT consulting help if this is not a skill you already have. Take a look at the InDesign documentation for XML for the version you use. IDML is for CS4 or CS5.

Have a look at xCS.press by a company in Belgium. XML markup that is parsed to InDesign. Great for product catalogs.

I wouldn't use Catalog Builder by Computer Pundits again. I've used it in the past (mostly their website builder) and it is completely outdated in my opinion. Their templates are not easily customized and it was pretty slow for me. As for their website builder,(in case you're wondering) it's all tables and very little css IDs or Classes throughout the html.

I haven't used InDesign, but it seems there are lot of scripting features. Easiest thing that comes to mind is creating an XML Schema with IDML to get data from Excel into an InDesign document.

XML schema basically is a template for XML documents, and they're called XML Maps in Microsoft Office.

Am not familiar with catalog tools, try superuser.com as well for 3rd party tools & tips.

John. have you come across additional solutions since posting this? I wonder if you have considered CatBase or EM Software solutions.

InDesign works wonderfully with XML and XSLT. You can export the data from Windows Excel only to XML, but only when you create an XML-compatible worksheet. Don't save the file as an XML spreadsheet, that file is useless in InDesign.

What I do is either create a schema file (xsd) for the data that you want to use and import that into Excel on Windows (Mac version doesn't support XML) Once the schema is imported you can create an XML worksheet based on this schema and then copy and paste the data from the non-XML worksheet into the XML sheet. Once the data is in the spreadsheet you can export to an XML file and import it into InDesign.

As mentioned above you can map XML tags to Paragraph and character styles and create dynamic layout directly in InDesign or by using an XSLT to structure the data before you import it.

MS Access allows you to export directly to XML. If you move your data to InDesign you can save the time needed to build the XML spreadsheet. Image references have to be built properly before you export to XML or build an XSLT that will do it on the fly as you import the data in to your layout.

The entire process is described in detail in the book A Designer's Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML.

If the data is in MS Access Woodwing has a product that allows you to interface and import data for a catalog. I have not used it personally but I know people who have. Also, another product called In-Data also interfaces with InDesign, but I have no experience with that either. I usually just use XML and XSLT myself.

I've used EasyCatalog very successfully for a number of years now, even for really large catalogs (35,000+ articles). In the meantime, I offer EC consulting and hands-on user training as well.

I'd need many more details of what went wrong with your specific catalog in order to be able to point your attention to a different solution that may better fit your needs.

I personally would not recommend Jim Maivalds solution because a) Excel and Unicode are not friends b) working with Excel and XML really is a pain c) the process is relatively complicated d) you need a lot of specialized skills regarding XML, XSLT programming and so on e) it's not bi-directional f) when updating you'll do the whole process again.

With EasyCatalog, you just import your data into a panel and place them from there into your document, from manually up to fully automatically. It's really easy, and it's bi-directional - so you can update your document from the database at any time and - if you need to - your database from your document. By the way, you can import your data directly from Excel into an EasyCatalog panel as well.

However, EasyCatalog might not be the best solution if graphics are included in you spreadsheet as well - but who would ever include the real graphics in a spreadsheet instead of the name (and maybe path) to the actual graphic files?