AboutGlen Demers Expertise I am a Prepress Technician for Best Printing Online and can answer any question about
preparing your PageMaker document for print.
Experience 20 years working in prepress
Prepress technician for Best Printing Online
Have used Pagemaker since version 3.0 and realize there are still some people using it.
Education/Credentials Some college training in printing and have attended numerous seminars.
I have need to place a multiple (300+) page document file in such a way that each page—but only one page—of the file is flowed into the PM7 document, on separate pages. Every method I've been able to conceive ignores the fact that the file being placed has a "hard page" code on each page...with the result that placing the file with Autoflow enabled results in the page content being in continuous columns.
Some detail: The source file is a simple WordPerfect file with one name and address one each page. There is a HPg code on each page at the end of the last line of text (Zip code). I've also converted the source file to (ugh!) WinWord "doc" format.
What I need to do is place the source file so that only the content of each separate page is placed on a page of the PM document, with new pages created by PM as necessary.
I've tried using Autoflow in its simplest way, with the result that the series of names/addresses appears on multiple PM pages, but the name/address entities are in a series of columns, two "Returns" separating the name/address entities. However, a series of 40-odd pages is created (Autoflowed).
I've tried to restrict the area used when placing the file (click/drag). This results in a single name/address appearing...but there are now new pages created. The familiar "more text" handle appears at the bottom of the placed text.
I've tried placing the source file in a text frame, with the same result as above: only one name/address appears, and no additional pages are created.
The original data file from which the WP (or WW) source file is created is an XLS file...but it's not practical to use the XLS file for merging in the PM7 document. Many—but not all—of the name/address entities have commas in them, precluding saving the XLS file as a CSV file and inserting commas at strategic places among the fields.
Presuming that I've explained my problem clearly enough, can you advise how to cause PM to respect the multi-page nature of the source file I wish to place?
Thx in advance for any advice and guidance.
John P.
ANSWER: Hi John P,
Set up a new document with large margins top and bottom so it will only accommodate the small text box needed to put one address on each page. This should get the bulk of the job done with minor adjustments to be made throughout. You can make normal margins after the sory has been placed and the pages generated.
When working in PM story editor you need not constrain yourself to commas, I've been known to input lists of names starting with %John & Linda%Dick & Jane ... then at the end find all the "%" and replace with "^pMr. & Mrs. ", "^p" being a hard return.
Pagemaker as far as I know, does not recognize any new page code.
Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com
QUESTION: Thx for the quick, informative answer, Glen. You've pointed me to a path that will probably reach the goal I seek.
I have an esoteric question that pertains to PDF creation in WinXP vs. in Win98. It involves image control and line frequency control when printing to a PostScript printer, and it seems to relate to PM7, ID3, and even Corel Draw. I see from your profile that you're a Mac guy, so should I pose the question to you?...or to one of the other experts?
If private answer is appropriate, I am at JP1_at_AOL_dot_com. (...and I am more experienced than an AOL address may imply.)
Thx.
John P.
ANSWER: Hi John,
Your best bet would probably be someone with Windows experience in the InDesign Forum.
I know Ken Black in the Acrobat section but he is primarily a Mac guy also. In the ID forum they can post the question to the group if they don't know the answer and they have a large group of experts.
Good luck,
Glen
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thx again for your advice re PM7, Glen. I did some experimenting along the lines you suggested, with results close to what I needed. I also experimented with PM7's data merge tool and found that the CSV format exported by Excel (source of my data) uses two commas at the end of lines. Thus, single commas used in addresses did not require work in the story editor, and data merge is an excellent solution.
John P.
Answer Hi John,
My knowledge of data merge is nill, sadly, I leave all that stuff to our digital press operators and the mail dept. But, I will keep it in mind whenever I run across a similar problem.
I'm glad it's working and Thank you for the information.
Glen Demers
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com
