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Create a table and use information filled in to populate a document - help!!!

Jun 15, 2012 6:54 AM

Hi all

 

Firstly, I'm not even sure if this is possible.  I'm new to InDesign and I'm trying to create a document similar to one I've made in Word using form fields and cross references.  What I want is to have a table at the top of the document which is to be filled in with information, for example, "Name", "Address", "Occupation".  Once this information is filled in, I need it to also be filled in within the body of the document so that, if there are three references to occupation within the document, they'll be updated with the corresponding answer filled into the table. 

 

Is there any way of doing this?  (I'm using InDesign cs3.)

 

Thanks!!

411 Views   5 Replies   Latest reply: Peter Spier, Jun 18, 2012 2:33 AM
 
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  • Laubender
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    1. Laubender,
    Jun 15, 2012 7:33 AM   in reply to ForFi
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    If you plan ahead and if you could use three different character styles for the texts you want to substitute in the body of the document. You can do that with three text search/replace sessions.


    Example:
    Use command+f to get to the search/replace palette

    Set the search to the appropriate character style, say "Name".

    Copy the corresponding string of your table to the edit field of your replacement section.

     

    Set the search scope to "Document".

     

    Then you hit "change all" if you dare.
    Repeat that with "Address" and "Occupation" and you are done.

     

    Uwe

     
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  • Laubender
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    2. Laubender,
    Jun 15, 2012 8:23 AM   in reply to Laubender
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    Sorry! One omission on my side with my example.

     

    IMPORTANT!
    To make that work you have to set another thing:

    in the replace section do add the character style "Name" as welll.

     

    Otherwise you'll end up with deleted substitutes.

     

    Uwe

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    3. Peter Spier,
    Jun 15, 2012 9:34 AM   in reply to ForFi
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    Who is filling in the information? Is this during the setup of the doc, or is this a form that is to be completed by someone else that you are desinging in ID?

     
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  • ForFi
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    4. ForFi,
    Jun 18, 2012 1:53 AM   in reply to Peter Spier
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    Thanks guys.  I thought about going down the find and replace route, and it's quite likely that's what I'll end up doing.  I was hoping to have it some way automated though, because there are going to be more than 40 fields to fill in.  It's basically to be a precedent form and what we were hoping to do is send out a document with a list of questions and with form fields that can be filled out by the client and then pasted into InDesign once it's completed and that will populate the document.  I know it can be done in Word, but I'm really not familiar with InDesign at all.

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    5. Peter Spier,
    Jun 18, 2012 2:33 AM   in reply to ForFi
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    It's possible to do this in a PDF form, I think (linking fields to one master field that you fill out), but I'm not sure how this would help getting it back into ID.

     
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