Adobe Create Pdfs From Data

InDesign Data Merge Skill

Orchestrates the complete InDesign data merge pipeline. The naive path — calling document_merge_data_layout directly — often fails because the template must have its data-merge fields linked to the correct data columns before merging. This skill ensures that linkage is in place first, including automatic placeholder creation when the template has none, and PDF-to-INDD conversion when the user only has a PDF layout.

Pipeline at a glance:

Tool Reference

⛔ MANDATORY GATES

Two rules are non-negotiable and override all efficiency instincts.

Gate 1 — PDF template: analyse layout before converting

Never call convert_pdf_to_indd on a user-supplied PDF without first inspecting its page layout structure. A multi-page PDF (e.g. a prior merged output) produces a multi-page INDD which breaks the merge. Always distil it to a single-layout condensed PDF first.

Gate 2 — Mapping: show and wait before creating placeholders

Never call prepare_indd_merge_template in the same turn you generate or display the mapping JSON. Show the mapping summary + raw JSON, ask for approval, and end the turn. Only call prepare_indd_merge_template after the user explicitly approves in a later turn.

Workflow

Step 0 — Initialize Adobe Tools

{ "skill_name": "adobe-create-pdfs-from-data", "skill_version": "1.0.1" }

Call adobe_mandatory_init once, before any other Adobe tool.

Step 1a — Convert PDF Template to INDD (skip if already .indd)

When to run: The user's template is a PDF (or any non-INDD layout). If you already have a usable .indd URL, skip directly to Step 1b.

Sub-step 1 — Inspect all pages

Record the user-supplied PDF URL as originalPdfUrl.

Call asset_inline_preview on the PDF (or asset_preview_file as fallback). Record totalPages.

If totalPages == 1: set templatePdfUrl = originalPdfUrl and skip to Sub-step 5.

Sub-step 2 — Compare page layouts visually

Look at each preview image. Ask: "If I removed all text and image content and compared only the skeleton — frame positions, structural regions — would this page match another page?"

Group pages by layout skeleton into layoutGroups:

layoutGroups = {
  "layout-A": [1, 2, 3, ...],   // pages sharing layout A
  "layout-B": [N+1, ...],        // pages with a distinct layout B
}

Pick templatePages as a single representative page:

• If layoutGroups has exactly 1 entry: templatePages = [first page in that group].
• If layoutGroups has >1 entry: ask the user which layout group to use (or default to the group with the most pages) and set templatePages to one page from that group.

Tell the user:

"Your PDF has {totalPages} pages. I found {N} unique layout(s). I'll use page {templatePages[0]} as the template. (If you need multiple layouts, we can run separate merges per layout.)"

Sub-step 3 — Extract only the template pages

Download the PDF from {originalPdfUrl} and extract only page(s) {templatePages} (1-indexed) to template-condensed.pdf using PyMuPDF (fitz). Report the absolute file path as intermediatePdfLocalPath.

Record the path as intermediatePdfLocalPath.

Sub-step 4 — Upload the condensed PDF

asset_initialize_file_upload({ path: "template-condensed.pdf", media_type: "application/pdf" })
// PUT the local file bytes to the returned upload URL, then:
asset_finalize_file_upload({ filename: "template-condensed.pdf", transfer_document: <from initialize response> })

Record the resulting presigned URL as templatePdfUrl.

Sub-step 5 — Convert to INDD

convert_pdf_to_indd:
  pdfSourceUrl:                        {templatePdfUrl}
  outputFormat:                        "indd"
  embedLinks:                          false
  waitForCompletion:                   true
  includeAdobeZipDownloadLinksInResult: false

Use the first entry in extractedDocumentPresignedUrls as inddUrl. If that field is missing, re-run with embedLinks: true. Do not attempt to download or unzip the output ZIP.

Step 1b — Prerequisite Check

Confirm all inputs are accessible (attached files, URLs from conversation, or prior tool calls):

• .indd URL — if missing, prompt the user to upload their template
• Data file — CSV, TSV, or other delimited text; if missing, ask the user
• Image assets (optional) — any images referenced by the data file (e.g. photo columns)

If any file is a local attachment without a URL, upload it first:

asset_initialize_file_upload → asset_finalize_file_upload

Record inddUrl and dataUrl. Proceed only when both are confirmed.

Collect image assets (if the data file references images)

Parse the header row of dataUrl. If any column values look like image filenames or paths (common with @-prefixed image fields in InDesign templates), collect those images:

1. For each unique image filename referenced in the data, obtain a presigned URL — either from the user's supplied URLs, or by uploading local files via asset_initialize_file_upload + asset_finalize_file_upload.
2. Build additionalImageFiles: a map of { "filename.jpg": "<presignedUrl>", ... } covering every unique image referenced across all rows.

Record additionalImageFiles (or {} if no image columns are present).

Step 2 — Export IDML and Inspect for Placeholders

Export IDML

export_idml:
  assets:
    - sourceUrl: {inddUrl}  destination: "template.indd"

Record the presigned idmlUrl from the response.

If export_idml fails (missing execute URL), tell the user you cannot proceed with automatic placeholder creation and ask whether they want to continue manually.