You can use a mail merge to personalize documents for different recipients.
Our step-by-step tutorial explains how to do a mail merge in Adobe InDesign. To make it easy for you to test the process, we’ve provided a free InDesign and data template.
A mail merge consists of an Adobe InDesign document and a data source (e.g., a Microsoft Excel list) containing the recipient data. By merging the two files, the recipient data can be automatically be transferred into the InDesign document.
The starting point is an InDesign document without personalized elements.
A table containing all recipient data, such as first name, last name, and salutation.
Adobe InDesign will merge the recipient data with your document.
You can create a mail merge letter online using our free Mail Merge Letter Generator. Simply upload your Adobe InDesign document as PDF and the recipient data as CSV file, and the mail merge letter will be created automatically.
Create a mail merge letter online for freeTo do a mail merge in Adobe InDesign, the first thing you need to do is design your letter. You can create it from scratch or download our free InDesign template.
For now, all text that needs to be personalized, such as the address or salutation, can be substituted with placeholders. The placeholder text will be replaced with the recipient data from your data source.
"Data source" means a table containing recipient data. You can create the table using Microsoft Excel or a similar tool and export it as a CSV file.
It's important that the first row of the table has a meaningful column name such as "First name". If you don’t want to create these names yourself, download and use our free data template.
Return to your InDesign layout to merge the data source with your document.
Now it's time to place each data field on your InDesign layout. The "Data Merge" panel lists all the column names from the data source.
Adobe InDesign provides a preview for allows you to check the personalized data attached to each recipient.
Once you are satisfied with your personalization, you can either export it as a PDF or create a new InDesign document containing all the personalized letters.
Creating a mail merge letter in Adobe InDesign can take a lot of time – but the free Mail Merge Letter Generator makes it a snap! You can simply upload a PDF and create a mail merge letter online in seconds.
Create a mail merge letter online for freeLarge files: Export a mail merge with high-resolution graphics takes a long time with Adobe InDesign.
Paid program: If you don't use InDesign, you'll need to purchase an expensive subscription from Adobe first.
Complicated post-processing: You can't use InDesign to add additional recipients or edit existing records after the fact.
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