Expert: James Fritz - 8/13/2009

Question
I need a way to import a graph (example: a 3 bar from excel or a graph from Illustrator)into my InDesign file. The data can not be set- it needs to be able to be changed for different clients that we have. So I'm wondering if there is a way I can create the chart in Illustrator or some other program and have that pull in the client specific data and then have the links automatically be updated in InDesign. I have the rest of the text data coming into InDesign using XML tags, but I'm running into a problem getting the graphs figured out.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Answer
Trish,

It is not possible to have the links auto-update. You would have to manually update them whenever an external file is modified (like your illustrator or excel chart). You might want to look to a 3rd party plug-in to help manage this problem. Try looking into data linker. It might solve the problem that you are looking for.

http://www.teacupsoftware.com/products/datalinker.html

good luck