Collecting images from a network drive with data merge in InDesign?

Question

Is it possible to link to/collect images from a network drive when doing a data merge? I've tried various paths in the csv/spreadsheet but nothing seems to work. Any tips?

Answer 1

Two things should get it working for you: 1. a specially named header row in the CSV and 2. the correct network path to the image. This path will vary depending if you're working on a Mac or PC.

Here's a really simple data merge CSV example for PC:

name,@image
Jay,\\nas\photos\jay.jpg
Bob,\\nas\photos\bob.jpg

And the same for Mac:

name,@image
Jay,Macintosh HD:Volumes:photos:jay.jpg
Bob,Macintosh HD:Volumes:photos:bob.jpg

Note the special @image title for the image field in the CSV and the way the network drive paths are addressed. On a PC it's easy - the regular UNC network path that you would expect. On a Mac it's the path to the mounted share, but it requires the name of the drive where the /Volumes folder lives that Finder mounts drives under (in my case Macintosh HD - note that there's no leading slash or colon, and the paths are colon-separated rather than slash separated.