SkillShare Update: How to Make a 3x3 Card Sheet in InDesign DataMerge

Let's say you already know how to use InDesign's DataMerge function to create a whole deck of cards from a single spreadsheet. You already know that's way better than making each card one-by-one, but has one obvious drawback if you want to make a print-and-play prototype. It only makes one card per page!

What you want is 3x3 card sheets sized just right for a home printer, plus die cuts to aid in trimming. But you don't want to make a whole document with individually placed flat card images. That would be just silly, considering the trouble you went to make the basic deck as variable and automatic as possible.

You need the Multiple Record option of DataMerge, which duplicates an individual card layout nine times on a standard letter size sheet of paper, while still maintaining your original variable data elements. There are some tricky things to troubleshoot during this process, like accounting for the bleeds you've set up in the original layout that might interfere with the multiple record layout.

I've added a new video to my Card Design SkillShare course that covers this useful took and some little bugs that might pop up in the process. For just $25, you get over two and a half hours of video tutorials covering the basics of card design all the way up to professional production tools. Check it out here:

Design Your Own Print-Ready Cards for Table Top Games

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