InDesign Data Merge Specialist – Complex Catalogs, Tables & Product Variants

Please login or register as jobseeker to apply for this job.

: TYPE OF WORK

Full Time

: SALARY

28000

: HOURS PER WEEK

40

: DATE UPDATED

Aug 3, 2026

JOB OVERVIEW

Job Overview
We are seeking an expert InDesign Data Merge Specialist to design and automate a high-density, 4,000+ item product catalog. Many of our products contain complex tables, matrix spec sheets, and multi-SKU variants (e.g., variations in size, color, material, or pricing grouped under a parent product).

STRICT REQUIREMENT: This role relies entirely on automated data merging and scripting/plugins in Adobe InDesign. Manual data entry or manual table creation will not be accepted. If you do not have proven experience structuring source data to merge tables and multi-item variations cleanly into InDesign, please do not apply.

Key Responsibilities
Template Design: Build robust, highly structured InDesign templates using Parent/Master Pages, Paragraph/Character Styles, Object Styles, and Table/Cell Styles.

Data Structure & Mapping: Prepare, format, and map complex CSV/Excel datasets—handling parent-child product hierarchies, variant tables, and image ---------- Catalog Merge: Flow 4,000+ items and their associated variation tables (specifications, size charts, pricing grids) into InDesign without breaking layout structure or page flow.

Variation Layout Optimization: Ensure product variants (multiple SKUs sharing a single primary image/title) display concisely in grouped tables rather than repetitive individual listings.

Quality Assurance & Delivery: Fix text overset errors, adjust table wrapping/padding, verify image links, and generate print-ready (CMYK with bleeds) and digital interactive PDFs.

Mandatory Requirements (Non-Negotiable)
Expert-level Adobe InDesign skills with direct experience in high-density catalog publishing.

Advanced Data Merge Expertise: Hands-on experience merging complex, multi-row datasets, product variation tables, and matrix specs.

Data & Excel/CSV Proficiency: Mastery of data manipulation, field tagging, relative/absolute image pathing, and structuring flat datasets for complex template layouts.

Advanced InDesign Automation: Mastery of Table Styles, Cell Styles, GREP styles, nested styles, anchored objects, and story threading.

Experience with Catalog Plugins (Preferred): Familiarity with tools like EasyCatalog, Pagination, or custom InDesign JSX scripts to handle complex table merging that goes beyond basic native Data Merge functions.

Application Instructions (Screening Questions)
To ensure you have the specific technical skill set required for product variations and tables, please answer the following in your proposal:
1. Portfolio / Proof of Work: Share 1–2 examples or a brief video walkthrough of a catalog you built that involved Data Merge with multi-SKU product tables/variants.

2. Technical Check (Image Paths): How do you format image column headers in CSV files so InDesign recognizes them as image links instead of text strings?

3. Technical Check (Variations/Tables): Native InDesign Data Merge handles single-record-per-field merges natively, but product variations often require repeating rows or nested tables under a single product head. How do you handle multi-SKU variant tables in your data prep and InDesign workflow (e.g., using XML, inline anchored frames, custom scripts, or plugins like EasyCatalog)?

Tooling: Which third-party InDesign catalog automation tools or scripts have you used, if any?

SKILL REQUIREMENT

Indesign Graphic Design Google Sheets

SHARE THIS POST

Job Post	Reporter	Rank	Reason	Date

BENCHMARKS

Loading Time: Base Classes	0.0011
Controller Execution Time ( Jobseekers / Job )	0.0199
Total Execution Time	0.0218

GET DATA

No GET data exists

MEMORY USAGE

1,497,312 bytes

POST DATA

No POST data exists

URI STRING

jobseekers/job/InDesign-Data-Merge-Specialist-Complex-Catalogs-Tables-Product-Variants-1701878

CLASS/METHOD

jobseekers/job

DATABASE: onlinejobs (Jobseekers:$db) QUERIES: 13 (0.0123 seconds) (Hide)

0.0004	`SELECT * FROM exrates WHERE rate_name = 'USD-PHP'`
0.0004	SELECT * FROM `employer_jobs` WHERE `job_id` = 1701878 LIMIT 1
0.0009	SELECT * FROM `employers` WHERE `employer_id` = 663685 LIMIT 1
0.0009	SELECT COUNT(*) AS `numrows` FROM `t_thread` `t` LEFT JOIN `t_thread_misc` `misc` ON `t`.`id` = `misc`.`thread_id` WHERE `t`.`job_id` = 1701878 AND `misc`.`id` IS NULL
0.0005	SELECT e.business_name, e.logo, e.website, e.rebill_date, e.date_added member_date, hits, DATEDIFF('2026-09-27',ej.date_added) duration_days, DATEDIFF('2026-09-27',e.rebill_date) duration_rebill, ej.*, e.deactivate FROM employers e, employer_jobs ej WHERE e.employer_id = ej.employer_id AND ((e.user_level >= '500' AND ej.date_added <= e.rebill_date) OR e.employer_id = '' OR (ej.date_approved <> '2000-01-01' and DATEDIFF('2026-09-27',ej.date_added) <= 14 )) AND e.deactivate != 1 AND ej.deleted = 0 AND job_id = '1701878'
0.0007	SELECT * FROM `employer_jobs_skills` `ejs` LEFT JOIN `skills_categories` `sc` ON `ejs`.`skill_id` = `sc`.`id` WHERE `job_id` = 1701878
0.0008	UPDATE employer_jobs SET hit_counts = '*Aug-03-2026=249Aug-04-2026=47Aug-05-2026=16Aug-06-2026=10Aug-07-2026=10Aug-08-2026=7Aug-09-2026=2Aug-10-2026=4Aug-11-2026=2Aug-12-2026=7Aug-13-2026=6Aug-14-2026=2Aug-15-2026=5Aug-16-2026=2Aug-17-2026=6Aug-18-2026=5Aug-19-2026=1Aug-20-2026=7Aug-21-2026=3Aug-22-2026=2Aug-23-2026=1Aug-25-2026=1Aug-26-2026=2Aug-27-2026=2Aug-28-2026=2Aug-29-2026=2Aug-30-2026=1Aug-31-2026=1Sep-01-2026=1Sep-02-2026=2Sep-04-2026=3Sep-05-2026=3Sep-06-2026=1Sep-07-2026=2Sep-08-2026=3Sep-09-2026=1Sep-11-2026=1Sep-14-2026=1Sep-15-2026=1Sep-16-2026=3Sep-17-2026=1Sep-18-2026=1Sep-20-2026=3Sep-22-2026=2Sep-23-2026=1Sep-24-2026=4Sep-26-2026=2*Sep-27-2026=1' WHERE job_id= '1701878'
0.0018	`UPDATE employer_jobs SET monthly_hits = '*Aug-2026=405*Sep-2026=37' WHERE job_id= '1701878'`
0.0015	`SELECT date_sent FROM jobseeker_sent_emails WHERE jobseeker_id = '' AND job_id = '1701878' AND status LIKE 'sent%' ORDER BY id DESC`
0.0003	SELECT * FROM `employer_jobs_skills` `ejs` LEFT JOIN `skills_categories` `sc` ON `ejs`.`skill_id` = `sc`.`id` WHERE `job_id` = 1701878
0.0036	SELECT COUNT(*) AS `numrows` FROM `employer_jobs` WHERE `employer_id` = '663685' AND `date_added` >= '2022-06-08'
0.0004	`select * from teasers`
0.0002	`SELECT * FROM skill_categories WHERE skill_cat_id=''`

HTTP HEADERS (Show)

SESSION DATA (Show)

__ci_last_regenerate	1790463460
last_page	https://v1.stage.onlinejobs.ph/jobseekers/job/InDesign-Data-Merge-Specialist-Complex-Catalogs-Tables-Product-Variants-1701878
csrf-token	6197ec6a8401b741e96562d32d9b51eb

CONFIG VARIABLES (Show)

base_url	https://v1.stage.onlinejobs.ph
log_threshold	2
enable_profiler
index_page
uri_protocol	PATH_INFO
url_suffix
language	english
charset	UTF-8
enable_hooks	1
subclass_prefix	MY_
composer_autoload	vendor/autoload.php
permitted_uri_chars	a-z 0-9~%.:_\=\-\+\@?\&
enable_query_strings
controller_trigger	c
function_trigger	m
directory_trigger	d
allow_get_array	1
log_path
log_file_extension
log_file_permissions	420
log_date_format	Y-m-d H:i:s
error_views_path
cache_path
cache_query_string
encryption_key	OdBUArjiWg9I7u7bvAwQ7Fu35VB1kzga
sess_driver	files
sess_cookie_name	ci_session
sess_expiration	2678400
sess_save_path
sess_match_ip
sess_time_to_update	300
sess_regenerate_destroy
cookie_prefix
cookie_domain
cookie_path	/
cookie_secure
cookie_httponly
standardize_newlines
global_xss_filtering	1
csrf_protection
csrf_token_name	csrf_test_name
csrf_cookie_name	csrf_cookie_name
csrf_expire	7200
csrf_regenerate	1
csrf_exclude_uris	Array ( )
compress_output
time_reference	local
rewrite_short_tags
proxy_ips
ojadmin	JpjZkQN5A8l@^L
salt	+UFjSAT49tPZLtmU2CIG2FYN7pRhgsWyLHgSyQa6k3I=
queue_enabled
twilio	Array ( [sid] => AC00c0594045c6eef9407e8fff01f3d467 [token] => f0bfc0b73444a077894a43f5f75e6d41 [length] => 6 [from] => +639221200200 [code_expiry_seconds] => 14400 )
maintenance	Array ( [admin] => Array ( [verification] => ) [announcement_bar] => Array ( [show_slow_issue_message] => ) )
trustpilot	Array ( [to_email] => onlinejobs.ph+3d844ebf71@invite.trustpilot.com )
services	Array ( [google_tag_manager] => Array ( [id] => GTM-T5CQMS6P ) [chatgpt] => Array ( [secret] => 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 ) [claude] => Array ( [secret] => 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 ) )
v2_url	https://v2.onlinejobs.ph
replacemyself_secret_key	Kk1WpgTMkc4wBQOqC5rqCssdLhACKrsJeTtO1ywUkT4=
app	Array ( [app] => Array ( [command] => Array ( [map] => Array ( [OnlineJobs\Mailer\Command\SendEmailCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mailer\Handler\SendEmailHandler [OnlineJobs\Mail\Command\SendEmailCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mail\Handler\SendEmailHandler [OnlineJobs\Mail\Command\QueueEmailPendingCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mail\Handler\QueueEmailPendingHandler [OnlineJobs\Mail\Command\QueueJobEmailPendingCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mail\Handler\QueueJobEmailPendingHandler [OnlineJobs\Mail\Command\QueueUnapprovedEmailCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mail\Handler\QueueUnapprovedEmailHandler [OnlineJobs\Mail\Command\ProcessEmailQueueCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mail\Handler\ProcessEmailQueueHandler [OnlineJobs\Mail\Command\PutJobseekerEmailOnHoldCommand] => OnlineJobs\Mail\Handler\PutJobseekerEmailOnHoldHandler [OnlineJobs\Purchase\Command\RealEstateVaCourseCommand] => OnlineJobs\Purchase\Handler\RealEstateVaCourseHandler [OnlineJobs\Test\Command\HelloCommand] => OnlineJobs\Test\Handler\HelloHandler ) [middleware] => Array ( ) ) [providers] => Array ( [0] => OnlineJobs\Bus\BusServiceProvider [1] => OnlineJobs\Database\DbServiceProvider [2] => OnlineJobs\Mailer\MailerServiceProvider [3] => OnlineJobs\Support\SupportServiceProvider [4] => OnlineJobs\Employer\ServiceProvider [5] => OnlineJobs\Jobseeker\ServiceProvider [6] => OnlineJobs\Mail\ServiceProvider [7] => OnlineJobs\Postal\ServiceProvider [8] => OnlineJobs\Queue\ServiceProvider [9] => OnlineJobs\Courier\ServiceProvider [10] => OnlineJobs\Job\ServiceProvider [11] => OnlineJobs\Purchase\ServiceProvider ) ) )
meta	Array ( [facebook] => Array ( [input] => 1 [connect] => 2 [timezone] => 3 [url] => 30 [id] => 31 [photo] => 32 [name] => 33 [email] => 34 [review] => 35 ) [trust] => Array ( [government_id] => 4 [utility_bill] => 5 [selfie_photo] => 6 [profile_picture] => 7 [phone_number] => 8 [facebook] => 9 ) [verify] => Array ( [profile_picture] => 10 [government_id] => 11 [selfie_photo] => 12 [utility_bill] => 13 [address] => 14 [name] => 15 [reviewed] => 16 [government_group] => 28 [address_group] => 29 [mobile] => 38 ) [address] => Array ( [complete] => 17 [room_unit_no] => 20 [house_no] => 21 [street] => 22 [subdivision] => 23 [barangay] => 24 [city] => 25 [province] => 26 [postcode] => 27 ) [reviewed] => Array ( [similar_names] => 1 ) [name] => 18 [phone] => 19 [sms_verification_code] => 36 [resend_verification_code] => 37 [address_read] => 39 [first_name] => 100 [middle_name] => 101 [last_name] => 102 [edit] => Array ( [government_id_group] => 40 [address_group] => 41 [mobile_group] => 42 ) [salary_re_entry] => 103 [id_proof_recalibrate] => 104 [email] => 44 [mobile_verification_type] => 45 )
honeypot	Array ( [name_field] => my_name [enabled] => 1 )

HTTP_ACCEPT	/
HTTP_USER_AGENT	Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
HTTP_CONNECTION	Upgrade
SERVER_PORT	80
SERVER_NAME	v1.stage.onlinejobs.ph
REMOTE_ADDR	127.0.0.1
SERVER_SOFTWARE	Apache/2.4.58 (Ubuntu)
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE
SCRIPT_NAME	/index.php
REQUEST_METHOD	GET
HTTP_HOST
REMOTE_HOST
CONTENT_TYPE
SERVER_PROTOCOL	HTTP/1.1
QUERY_STRING
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING	gzip, br, zstd, deflate
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR	216.73.216.74
HTTP_DNT

InDesign Data Merge Specialist – Complex Catalogs, Tables & Product Variants

Please login or register as jobseeker to apply for this job.

TYPE OF WORK

SALARY

HOURS PER WEEK

DATE UPDATED

Why is this blurred?