Want to make numbered tickets - 16 up - Adobe Indesign

Design on a master page. Make a text frame for the ticket number and link all 16 on the Master Page, but leave them all empty. Make a new Paragraph Style using a numbered list. Start numbering at your first ticket number (this won't work if you need leading zeros). Make a text file that full of returns. One return for each ticket you'll need. Place that text file into the first ticket number frame on page 1, holding Shift to force the text to autoflow and add pages where necessary.

Untested.

That's a new one... There are two ways we do this. First by using the merge
dialog to do multiple records. This takes a little messing around with the
margins to get the proper position and n-ups you want but works quite well.
The problem with this method is it puts the records in ascending order on
each page, so when you go to cut them, the stacks will be out of order. Not
a big deal of you're doing a 100 or so, just sort the cut pieces. But if
you're doing thousands this is a pain.

The other method is to step and repeat your ticket set up on the page as
many times as you want.. Then create a CSV file with in your case, 16 data
coloums. Call them pos1, pos2 pos3 etc. Then if for example you are number
to 1000, each colomn will have 63 numbers. For example pos1 will number 1 to
63, pos2 will number 64 to 127 and on. Then when you do you're data merge,
select that file as the data file, and place one merge field in each
position. Then when these are cut in stacks, they will be in order. sounds
complicated but it's really simple once you've done it and even if you start
with a blank Excel file to create the number columns, it shouldn't take more
that 10 minutes or so for the entire.

I use a text file all the time to number tickets, essentially as Scott described it.

I use Excel to make the number list (and I don't know why you couldn't include leading zeros) the save as a CSV text file, one field per record.

Set up the master page as described, with a separate frame for the numbers, but there's no need for a list. Just create a paragraph style with the option that each paragraph start in the next frame and apply it to the active cursor in the frame, leaving the frame blank, or build it into an object style and apply that to the frame. I build one ticket, then step and repeat to fill the page, and finally link the number frames.

The last step is to just place the CSV file using autoflow. Piece of cake.

Peter

"I have tried a data merge and used multiple paste but that messes up the data merge."

It would. DataMerge requires that you put just a single instance of the ticket on the page, and use the spacing values available through the multiple record option to distribute the tickets on the merged pages. Use preview to get it to your liking.

k

I use Excel to make the number list (and I don't know why you couldn't
include leading zeros) the save as a CSV text file, one field per record.




I said leading zeros wouldn't work using my numbered paragraphs method. For leading zeros I'd do exactly as you describe (but with a different spreadsheet application).