Challenging Question Automatic Catalog builder

by using folder of images and product text

[swissguy8]

Hi,

I need to create a small catalog for print (can also be used for web at a smaller resolution) which should work as follow:

i have a folder of around 500 images (same size)
i have a excel sheet of 500 product descriptions (1 line only) for each of the 500 images.

i need a program that will take each picture from my image folder and center it on a 8 x 10 paper size
and
at the same time, it should place the product text from the excel sheet under the picture.

It should do that for all 500 pictures so that i can have it printed out and also use it on a CD room (e-Catalog)

any advice? tips? is it possible to create a batch in photoshop that will do that? (it's database driven)

there must be a way to do that without spending hundreds of dollars for expensive catalog softwares.

will appreciate any help. I really think, this is a challenging task.

[divaone]

actually, you could try using the merge feature in your product. i dont recall if excel provides this feature, but ms word (and similar) allow you to create a template and merge desired items according to the tags you label. you can try one page as a pilot and determine how automated the process will be for you. with text its 100% automated, but with images i am not completely sure.

perhaps also search using keyword: merge.

hth

[swissguy8]

Divaone, yes I tried using the mail merge function in word, excel, I even have MS Publisher and it tells me that I need to do it like you said. However, I am receiving an error message every time at the following step:

TOOLS-->MAIL MERGE

Step 1: select document type [works fine]
step 2: starting document [using a MS template, works fine]
step 3: select receipient, create a new list [here i received error, whatever 3 option I chose from ("using existing list, "select from outlook contacts", "type a new list")

ERROR MESSAGE: This operation cannot be completed because of dialog or database engine failures. Please try again later.

I run a search on google for this error, but I couldn't fix it. Someone sugguested that you should start the process from outlook directly but does not work for me.
(I also have a legal copy for all my Microsoft products.)

There must be another way to creat this small catalog, I am sure I am not the first person with this problem. Just can't find any information. PageMaker will do it, but it costs $500.

[divaone]

you are quite right - there is a product out there. hopefully someone here has some direct experience with something outside of ms. im not sure if this will solve your microsoft merge issue, but here is their support document: [support.microsoft.com...]