An Urgent Plea for an Opinion and Info.

[His Boy Elroy]

I am publishing a catalogue similar to a phone book (for sake of an easy
picture). I want to be able to publish two columns per page almost the same
height as the page but there's a header & footer on each page. I need to be
able to do a mirrored two page spead.

Here's the problem:

I started to do it in MS Publisher. The data from each column of each page
comes from an Excel spreadsheet having 1000-4000rows. MS has placed a limit
of 128 rows to import a table into Publisher. To convert to plain text, then
doing text flowing from column to column, page to page is way too time
consuming as formatting has to be jimmied. Ideally, I'd like to be able to
do "table-flowing" so that I (and others) can make whatever changes I need
to in Excel, then just flow it back into the catalogue's template.

I tried using Adobe Pagemaker, but I found the interface way too awkward
(I'm going to be doing several similar catalogues) and tagging each line is
a pain.

Can anyone tell me, given what I need to do, is Publisher the best (although
not ideal) tool for this type of job? If not, can anyone suggest what
software I should be using? Does anyone know a "work around" for the 128 row
limit so, rather than copying & pasting ~50 rows of Excel at a time, I can
just "table-flow" the spreadsheet into a Publisher template?

What software would be ideal for publishing a catalogue of this description?

REALLY would appreciate a hand here. It means a job to me.

~~His Boy Elroy

 

[Erika]

I am publishing a catalogue similar to a phone book (for sake of an easy

picture). I want to be able to publish two columns per page almost the same
height as the page but there's a header & footer on each page. I need to be
able to do a mirrored two page spead.

Here's the problem:

I started to do it in MS Publisher. The data from each column of each page
comes from an Excel spreadsheet having 1000-4000rows. MS has placed a limit
of 128 rows to import a table into Publisher.

why not just do the job in Excel? Excel has nice formatting options. You
can pretty much do anything you want.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Is there some reason you have not considered a Catalog mail merge (Directory
in Word 2002) in Word? If you set up the mail merge main document with the
two columns and the required header/footer text (use "Mirror margins" and
"Different odd and even" to get different margins and header/footer on
facing pages), you can just flow the text in easily.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[His Boy Elroy]

Actually, I'm flowing in data from a table, not text. Will what you suggest
still work? Also, it ultimately needs to be converted/saved as a .pdf
document because that's what our printing company wants. Will/can Word do
this?

I'm disappointed in MS Publisher 2K. I really like it but I was disappointed
in the table size restriction. I would have thought it was theoretically
possible to publish a phone book in Publisher.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

A table is what Word likes best as a mail merge data source. See the
following articles:

How to create a Mail merge
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MailMerge/CreateAMailMerge.htm

Creating a mail merge Data Source
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MailMerge/CreateADataSource.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[His Boy Elroy]

Sooo.... How do you beat the 128 row limit? If there's a way that I can
directly table-flow a 4000 row Excel Spreadsheet all at once into a 2-page
2-up Publisher template (without copying & pasting a 1/2 page at a time),
I'd SURE appreciate it if you'd share it!!

 

[°°°M°S°°Publisher°°°]

You just set up a Merge and do it that way.

--

 

[His Boy Elroy]

I really wish you were right, but, like I said, you get an error message
that says you can't do table > 128 rows.

Try it & you'll see what I mean.

..

 

[°°°M°S°°Publisher°°°]

Why would you do anything with a Table. I would not use a Table, I would do
a Merge. No limit on a Merge.
5 minute job.

--

 

[His Boy Elroy]

The department uses Excel and is used this for formatting and data, etc. Are
you talking about saving the table as text and then text-flowing in
Pulisher? Because all lines are not identical format (some have 7 fields,
some have one left aligned, some have one centered, and so on) - text & back
again is a nightmare time wise to bring formatting back. Table retains all
this formatting.

Or am I being thick? I'd really love to learn something here if you can
help. I know what a mail merge is, but I can't picture what other steps you
might mean.

 

[Randall Arnold]

Instead of taunting the guy with sarcastic one-liners on how easy you allege
this to be, why not SHOW him?

To use the same condescending tone as you, your "advice" falls far short of
helpful. Why bother if all you're going to do is insult users wanting to
learn?

Randall Arnold

 

[Randall Arnold]

I'd use Quark. Failing that, Adobe Indesign.

Randall Arnold

 

[His Boy Elroy]

Thanks!!

Company won't spring for the large cost of Quark or I'd agree, Mac stuff is
GREAT for anything to do with graphics.

I've not heard of InDesign but I'll certainly look into it. Is it easier to
use than PageMaker? I find the GUI for PageMaker to be a pain in the butt
when compared to Publisher.

~~HBE

 

[Randall Arnold]

I agree, the GUI for Pagemaker stinks. Very poor workflow.

Indesign supposedly addresses this. You can download a time-limited demo
from www.adobe.com. I played around with it when I was trying to convince a
former boss that we needed it. It supports in-place editing for Photoshop
and Illustrator which is a nice feature, as well as other usability
enhancements over Pagemaker. It's marketed as a "Quark Killer".

Ed Bennett and I had an interesting discussion here on this subject
recently. I expressed my interest in a "Publisher Professional" to address
needs such as yours (and mine). I hope MS is listening...

Randall Arnold

 

[Mike Koewler]

Another alternative, though not as well known, is Serif PagePlus. Easy
to learn, a lot less costly than ID, can directly output pdf files
without a need for ANY other software.
www.serif.com

Mike

 

[°°°M°S°°Publisher°°°]

Randall how can I show the person when I don't have access to the data.
If the person is so mentally challenged that they cannot work out how to do
a Merge, then you cannot hand hold and butt wipe them without having access
to the data to see what they want.

--

 

[His Boy Elroy]

I'm terribly sorry to subject the rest of the NG to this sort of response to
"M.S.", but I felt it was only right to do so when a rude response was sent
back to someone who had only been kindly trying (and very successfully so)
to help me solve the problem I originally posted. If people are left
unchastised under these circumstances, someone might hesitate to respond
with help out of concern of having to deal with someone like "M.S.". I hope
you all agree.

First of all, "M.S.", please be advised that there's nothing worse in a
civilized newsgroup than a Troll. It's like finding a maggot inside a
beautiful flower. The fact that you've made the choice to use the annonymity
that the 'Net provides to be rude, only reflects on you as a person with
perhaps some growing up left to do. I suggest in future, it is just as easy
to type a polite response no matter what you have to say (unless, of course,
your goal is to cheese people off to get a rise out of them, in which case I
would advise, "If you're lonely, buy a dog").

Secondly, with the query as I worded it there is, in fact, absolutely no
need to have access to the original data itself. It shouldn't matter whether
the spreadsheet is about mutual funds or exotic fruit. It is the FORM of the
data and how to migrate it to which my question applied. I think you were
probably so busy attemping (notice the word "attempting") to be cool and
pseudo-guru-like that you missed this point. I noticed in at least one other
reply on this NG, you again mentioned that you couldn't provide a "proper
answer" without seeing the original data. Funny how you're the only one that
would seem to have this requirement to answer a general question. My
conclusion is that you are quite insecure in your expertise and use this
excuse as a buffer in case your answer sounds wrong to those in this NG who
are more knowledgeable than you are. The other reason, of course could be
that your knowledge level is still at the "let me see it and I'll play with
it until I get it to work", rather than the level where you are able to
understand and answer a more general hypothetical theoretical question.

Finally, as to refer to me as "mentally challenged" is laughable. You don't
know me from Adam. I would suggest that to leap to such a conclusion leads
me to conclude that the "M.S." in your alias is perhaps an acronym for
"Mentally Substandard".

I was in very polite way asking for some answers in an area of computing
that is new to me. I am certainly not a newbie to computers and and am quite
familiar with how to do a Merge. It' funny how the others who responded to
my query were quite helpful and, in fact, may have solved my problem. The
fact that you replied with such an angry response only demonstrates to
everyone how easily you are threatened. I'm sure once you learn a bit more
about computers, you're confidence will grow, you will no longer feel the
need to be a Troll, and will be able to join in a civilized exchange of
information in a helful manner.

In the meantime, thank you so very much to Erika, Suzanne, Mike, and
especially Randall for your helpful replies. Sorry such a simple thing ended
up unpleasantly.

~~His Boy Elroy

 

[°°°M°S°°Publisher°°°]

His Boy Elroy are you an epitaph writer?

--

 

[Randall Arnold]

There you go again.

A bit insecure, are you? Very sad. But you won't find the validation you
desperately seek here. And abusing people only "helps" for a little while.

Randall Arnold

 

[Randall Arnold]

He's certainly got issues, and I think you nailed the root cause
(insecurity). Typical motivator for a bully. And the Internet does indeed
provide a nice, safe haven for trolls who would otherwise have no venue for
their venom. Oh well. Can't cure him, just pity him and move on.

Did you try the Indesign demo yet? It's been a while since I plaed with it
and I can't remember all the pros and cons. I just wish MS would see fit to
create a "grown up" version of Publisher for the big business market. I
can't believe they've just decided to cede it to Adobe and Quark.

As for Serif Pageplus, I tried it a few years back and it was too awkward
and buggy for me-- but it may have improved by now. Worth a shot if you
have the time to try it!

Randall Arnold

I'm terribly sorry to subject the rest of the NG to this sort of response to
"M.S.", but I felt it was only right to do so when a rude response was sent
back to someone who had only been kindly trying (and very successfully so)
to help me solve the problem I originally posted. If people are left
unchastised under these circumstances, someone might hesitate to respond
with help out of concern of having to deal with someone like "M.S.". I hope
you all agree.

First of all, "M.S.", please be advised that there's nothing worse in a
civilized newsgroup than a Troll. It's like finding a maggot inside a
beautiful flower. The fact that you've made the choice to use the annonymity
that the 'Net provides to be rude, only reflects on you as a person with
perhaps some growing up left to do. I suggest in future, it is just as easy
to type a polite response no matter what you have to say (unless, of course,
your goal is to cheese people off to get a rise out of them, in which case I
would advise, "If you're lonely, buy a dog").

Secondly, with the query as I worded it there is, in fact, absolutely no
need to have access to the original data itself. It shouldn't matter whether
the spreadsheet is about mutual funds or exotic fruit. It is the FORM of the
data and how to migrate it to which my question applied. I think you were
probably so busy attemping (notice the word "attempting") to be cool and
pseudo-guru-like that you missed this point. I noticed in at least one other
reply on this NG, you again mentioned that you couldn't provide a "proper
answer" without seeing the original data. Funny how you're the only one that
would seem to have this requirement to answer a general question. My
conclusion is that you are quite insecure in your expertise and use this
excuse as a buffer in case your answer sounds wrong to those in this NG who
are more knowledgeable than you are. The other reason, of course could be
that your knowledge level is still at the "let me see it and I'll play with
it until I get it to work", rather than the level where you are able to
understand and answer a more general hypothetical theoretical question.

Finally, as to refer to me as "mentally challenged" is laughable. You don't
know me from Adam. I would suggest that to leap to such a conclusion leads
me to conclude that the "M.S." in your alias is perhaps an acronym for
"Mentally Substandard".

I was in very polite way asking for some answers in an area of computing
that is new to me. I am certainly not a newbie to computers and and am quite
familiar with how to do a Merge. It' funny how the others who responded to
my query were quite helpful and, in fact, may have solved my problem. The
fact that you replied with such an angry response only demonstrates to
everyone how easily you are threatened. I'm sure once you learn a bit more
about computers, you're confidence will grow, you will no longer feel the
need to be a Troll, and will be able to join in a civilized exchange of
information in a helful manner.

In the meantime, thank you so very much to Erika, Suzanne, Mike, and
especially Randall for your helpful replies. Sorry such a simple thing ended
up unpleasantly.

~~His Boy Elroy