Microsoft Office

Publisher features templates that you can use to create a short catalog. Just choose a catalog template, and then replace the placeholder pictures with your own and type in the text that you want.

Your catalog merge template should have the same layout (page size and orientation) that you want for your final merged pages. Also, it should contain any text or graphics that you want to appear on each page of your final publication, for example, a background image or the name of your company.

If you plan to add your merged pages to the end of an existing publication, make sure that your catalog merge template matches the existing publication in the following ways:

Page size (height and width)
Page view (one-page spread or two-page spread)
Publication type (Web or print)
Page order (left-to-right or right-to-left)

Create the catalog merge template
On the File menu, click New.
In the New Publication task pane, click Blank Page Sizes, and then choose the size that you want..
Note If you plan to post your catalog to a Web site, click Web Sites under Blank Page Sizes, and then click the size that matches your target screen resolution.

Click Create.
On the File menu, click Page Setup.
In the Page Setup dialog box, make any changes to the margins that you want, and then click OK.
On the Tools menu, point to Mailings and Catalogs, and then click Catalog Merge.

Connect to your data source
After you format your catalog merge template page, use the Catalog Merge task pane to create or locate and connect to your data source. The option that you choose next depends on whether you already have a data source or whether you want to create a new list in Publisher.

In the Catalog Merge task pane, under Select Product List, do one of the following:
Click Use an existing list if you already have a data source that you want to use.
Click Select from Outlook Contacts if you want to create a directory of your contacts.
Select Type a new list if you need to create the data source for your merge.
Click Next: Create or connect to a product list.

Use an existing list
In the Select Data Source dialog box, locate and click the data source that you want.
By default, Publisher saves data sources in the My Data Sources folder. You may need to browse to the My Data Sources folder to locate your data source.

Click Open.
Depending on the type of data source you select, other dialog boxes may appear requesting specific information. For example, if your data source is an Excel worksheet that has information about multiple tabs, you must select the tab that contains the information you want, and then click OK.
Select from Outlook Contacts

Do one of the following:

In the Select Contacts dialog box, click the list of contacts that you want to use.
In the Choose Profile dialog box, select the correct profile for the contacts that you want to use.
Click OK.

Insert merge fields into the catalog merge area
In the Catalog Merge task pane, under Prepare your publication, click the first merge field that you want to insert.
In the catalog merge area, select the merge field and then move and resize the merge field by doing the following:
To move the merge field, position the mouse pointer over the merge field until the pointer changes to the Move pointer , and then drag the merge field to a new position.
To resize the merge field, position the mouse pointer over one of the handles on the text box or picture frame until the pointer changes to the Resize pointer, and then drag the mouse until the text box or picture frame is the size that you want.

Click outside of the merge field so that it is no longer selected.

Repeat Steps 1-3 until you have inserted all of the fields that you want from your data source.
If a previously inserted merge field is selected when you insert a new merge field, Publisher will insert the new merge field together with the previously inserted merge field.