Step 7 - Start the merge

After you've finished setting-up your Data Merge, the final step is to start it. After you start a Data Merge, Portant checks the file for any errors, then displays the progress and alerts you when it's complete.

In this article you’ll learn how to:

1. Start the data merge
2. Open the output folder
3. Resolve any tag errors
   
4. Stopping a data merge

Start the data merge

To start creating documents click the Create Documents button.

This will open a progress bar above the Data Sources Table where you can track the process of your documents. The automation works through the following steps:

1. Portant checks all the tags are correct in the document and there are no 'bad tags'. If there are bad tags they will be shown here and you will be able to resolve them.
2. Then, Portant retrieves the spreadsheet data
3. Portant will then show the total number of documents to be made and the progress through the automation.

Open the output folder

You can click this status bar to open the folder where the documents are being saved (even while the automation is running).

Resolving any tag errors

Before Portant starts a data merge, it checks all the tags in the document to see if they are correct. If you have a bad tag in your document it will stop the data merge and ask you if you'd like to resolve it. At this stage you can highlight the problem tag in your document so it is easy to find. (Or if it is not an issue, you can click ignore to progress.)

After you have rectified the bad tag, you can press the 'Create Documents' button again and the data merge will start.

Stopping a Data Merge

If you need to stop the automation at any time you can press the ‘X’ next to the progress bar. The documents already created will be saved in the output folder.

Feedback and feature suggestions

We created Portant in 2021 and the feedback we have received since then has been very helpful and greatly appreciated. If you have any feedback please feel free to send us an email at contact@portant.co or use our contact form here: https://www.portant.co/support

Thanks,

Blake and James