Merging multiple records onto one page
bookreviewer Aug 16, 2009 11:10 AMI have two questions for successfully setting up a mail merge:
1. I have a .csv file that contains multiple records. All but one column contains one line of text. I have one column in the record that contains several paragraphs of text.
Problem: The merge sees the paragraph returns (or line breaks) as an indicator to go to the next record. What's the work-around for this?
2. I need the records to flow one after another.
Problem: It's merging one record per page.
Background that may help (maybe merge is not the feature I should be using):
I'm designing a newspaper that contains about 150 book reviews. The reviews stem from a database that I'm exporting as a csv. Rather than converting/formatting the reviews from the database by hand (like I have been doing), I thought InDesign must have some automated way of handling this.
This is an example of what one record looks like:
Italian For Beginners
By Kristen Hammel
Random House, $12.95, 53 pages
Don’t be fooled by the //Italian for Beginners// cover photo of an Audrey Hepburn look-alike on the back on an Italian motorcycle with her arms around a handsome man. This novel is stronger and meatier than another “American falls in love in Italy” love story. Yes, the protagonist Cat Connelly escapes to Italy to find herself after tiring of being the center of everyone’s dismay as an unmarried 34-year-old overly-responsible sister, daughter, and granddaughter.
And yes, there is romance, but it comes with a twist. The best part of the novel is watching Cat shed her carefully constructed identity and past. Harmel’s character discovers an authentic Rome from a family, insider’s perspective. The Italizan zest for life and her own connection to Italy allows her to throw off her accountant-style persona and take risks. As Cat examines her deep-seated fears and biases, she also discovers those things that give her true peace, joy and satisfaction.
Will Cat fall in love with a handsome Italian? Or will she fall in love with her own long-suppressed Italian heritage and natural gifts? Read the novel to find out, and you’ll also find a bonus at the end of the novel: five authentic recipes inspired by Italian for Beginners. Mangi, mangi, buon appetito!
Reviewed by John Smith
Can anyone help?


