Imposing with external data file

[Gearstudios]

The clients job consists of a magazine gift subscription program. The magazine gift can have multiple recipients from one person.

The job that I have setup compares a column in the main data to the column in the external data and if they match it will pull the info in and format it. There can be a hundred gift recipients from one person.

The job runs correctly except when I use the imposer to impose 2 up on a larger sheet. (Finished size 8.5" x 7", press sheet 8.5" x 14") I get a message something like the number of pages in the file doesn't match the imposition file and x number of pages are truncated and body page is not set as master page.

Thanks.:(

[Dan Korn]

You probably are not outputting the same number of pages for every record. Try composing without Imposition and check for this. In the Output tab of the Composition Settings dialog, change the output format to PDF and check the "Create bookmark for each record" box. Then compose, view the output, and open up the bookmarks in Acrobat (from the menu in Acrobat 9, View -> Navigation Panels -> Bookmarks).

If this is indeed the problem, then we can talk about how your job is set up and what you need to change to ensure that you're outputting the same number of pages per record, which is an absolute requirement for Imposition. For instance, Overflow pages are not going to work in an imposed job.

[MHardee]

If this is indeed the problem, then we can talk about how your job is set up and what you need to change to ensure that you're outputting the same number of pages per record, which is an absolute requirement for Imposition. For instance, Overflow pages are not going to work in an imposed job.
I'd be most interested in the result also. It is a VERY frequent occurrence to have to impose a job that consists of this scenario. Even where you are simply running two up of a variable count external database. I would assume that in most cases that is why one would use an external data source.

-Mark-

[Dan Korn]

I'd be most interested in the result also. It is a VERY frequent occurrence to have to impose a job that consists of this scenario. Even where you are simply running two up of a variable count external database. I would assume that in most cases that is why one would use an external data source.
You can use external data sources and anything else in a job with Imposition. But you have to make sure that each record outputs the same number of pages. If you're doing 2-up imposition, there's nowhere for a third page to go. That's why Overflow pages won't work. If you have a variable amount of data, you need to use Copyfitting or some other strategy to make it fit into the space available.