InCatalog / Xcatalog » Em Software

All of Em’s plugins are now released for InDesign 2023. We released WordsFlow and DocsFlow a week ago (a day after the 2023 release itself), and released InCatalog, InData and Xtags for InDesign today.

We do appreciate your patience with us on these releases. Normally we’re ready with all of them on the day of InDesign release (we’ve even been a bit early in recent years), but these releases include wrapping up some multi-month complex engineering efforts that took us right up to, and just over the wire.

You can download these latest releases, as ever, from each product’s main page, sidebar Downloads for InDesign. Individual release notes are coming right up.

Release: InCatalog 2.29 for InDesign 2021-2023

This release primarily adds support for InDesign 2023.

Subscriptions finally come to Em Software

Be sure to read the section Auto-upgrades to subscriptions at the end for a very important note about using pre-2023 licenses with the new MAX 2022 (InDesign 2023) release plugins. Understanding what it says may save you time and expense.

With the upcoming plugins for InDesign 2023 that Adobe will release (as usual) at MAX 2022 (October 18th) — and for newly-released plugins under InDesign 2021 and 2022 (we only officially support the latest and 2 years back) — we are making a major change in how we license all our products. This will affect everyone going forward, so we’re giving you a heads-up a month ahead of the big change, and we will be attempting to contact every user via email, pointing to this message.

Release: InCatalog 2.28.1 for InDesign 2020-2022

This patch fixes a crash when updating with ODBC.

Release: InCatalog 2.28 for InDesign 2020-2022

This release adds high resolution previews for auto-downloaded pictures, “smart” picture updating, a progress bar, and more.

Release: InCatalog 2.27.1 for InDesign 2020-2022

This patch fixes issues with path extraction and HFS-style paths.

Release: InCatalog 2.27 for InDesign 2020-2022

This release adds support for InDesign 2022 and discontinues support for some older versions.

LA InDesign User Group: Data Merge with InDesign

The LA InDesign User Group’s October 21st meeting will feature Em’s own Joe Mathia presenting Data Merge with InDesign, as an online event.

From the overview:

You’re probably familiar with the word processing mail merge function that allows you to send personalized letters to a number of people. In this presentation, Joe Mathia will explain how to use InDesign’s somewhat similar Data Merge function, a capability built into InDesign straight out of the box. Learn how to create personalized letters, envelopes, mailing labels, even catalogs with images.

But as powerful as the InDesign Data Merge function is, it has limitations. Joe will describe those limitations, and show how InData and InCatalog, two plugins from Em Software, expand the boundaries, taking InDesign automation to new levels. For instance, InData’s English-like scripting language, allows you to build conditional rules, including or excluding fields based on the presence or content of other fields, including one or more graphics per entry based on picture availability, etc.

Follow up

The recording is here on Vimeo: Data Merge with InDesign.

Release: InCatalog 2.26.1 for InDesign CS6, CC2019-2021

This release supports alternative currency formats and fixes problems with URLs and Apple silicon machines.

Release: InCatalog 2.26 for InDesign CS6, CC2019-2021

This release adds URL-based picture imports and supports Apple silicon.

Release: Xcatalog 3.16 for QuarkXPress 2020 (end-of-life)

This release removes support for QuarkXPress 2018 & 2019 and concludes development for QuarkXPress.

Release: InCatalog 2.25 for InDesign CS6, CC2019-2021

This release enhances text-selection link editing.

Release: Xcatalog 3.15.2 for QuarkXPress 2018/2019/2020

This patch fixes a problem with updating data in a snapshot file.

Release: Xcatalog 3.15.1 for QuarkXPress 2018/2019/2020

This patch fixes online connections with FileMaker Pro versions 7 through 11.

Release: InCatalog 2.24.1 for InDesign CS6, CC2019-2021

This patch mainly fixes online connections with FileMaker Pro versions 7 through 11.

Release: InCatalog 2.24 for InDesign CS6, CC2019-2021

This release adds support for InDesign 2021 and discontinues support for some older versions.

Release: Xcatalog 3.15 for QuarkXPress 2018/2019/2020

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 2020 and discontinues support for QuarkXPress 2017.

Release: InCatalog 2.23 for InDesign CS6, CC2018-2020

This release adds support for InDesign 2020 and discontinues support for some older versions.

Release: Xcatalog 3.14 for QuarkXPress 2017/2018/2019

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 2019 and discontinues support for QuarkXPress 2016.

Release: InCatalog 2.22.6 for InDesign CS5–CC2019

This patch fixes the handling of special characters in Price Styles files.

Release: InCatalog 2.22.5 for InDesign CS5–CC2019

This patch improves product stability when using tagged text initialization files.

Release: InCatalog 2.22.3 for InDesign CS5–CC2019

This patch fixes a problem with ODBC key field auto-quoting.

Release: Xcatalog 3.13.1 for QuarkXPress 2016/2017/2018

This patch release fixes a few issues with key fields.

Release: InCatalog 2.22.2 for InDesign CS5–CC2019

This patch fixes a crash when closing a Create Data dialog in newer macOSes.

Release: InCatalog 2.22.1 for InDesign CS5–CC2019

This patch release fixes a problem with key-from-contents links.

Release: InCatalog 2.22 for InDesign CS5–CC2019

This release adds support for just-released InDesign CC 2019.

Release: Xcatalog 3.13 for QuarkXPress 2016/2017/2018

This release adds support for default field values and addresses a couple minor issues.

Release: InCatalog 2.21 for InDesign CS5–CC2018

This release adds support for default field values and addresses a few minor issues.

Release: Xcatalog 3.12 for QuarkXPress 2016/2017/2018

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 2018 and discontinues support for QuarkXPress 2015.

Release: InCatalog 2.20 for InDesign CS5–CC2018

This release adds support for just-released InDesign CC 2018.

Connecting with FileMaker Pro 16

On macOS, our InCatalog and Xcatalog data linking products use a technology called Apple Events to make a direct, non-odbc connection with FileMaker Pro. Unfortunately, FileMaker Pro 16’s new Extended Privilege security setting disables support for this type of connection by default. So while InCatalog 2.19 (or later) and Xcatalog 3.10 (or later) support FileMaker Pro 16, they may fail to establish a connection with a fresh installation of it or may fail with an error like

The on-line access of field ‘price’ (subfield ‘0’, key ‘xyz’, data descriptor ‘MyDD.txt’, map ‘’) failed: error -10004 ()

when attempting to update with it.

Release: Xcatalog 3.11 for QuarkXPress 2015/2016/2017

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 2017, discontinues support for QuarkXPress 10, and fixes a couple of problems.

Release: InCatalog 2.19.1 for InDesign CS5–CC2017

This quick release fixes an unintended expiration problem with the previous release.

Release: InCatalog 2.19 for InDesign CS5–CC2017

This release adds support for just-released InDesign CC 2017 and enhances the look of the Data Linker.

Release: Xcatalog 3.10.2 for QuarkXPress 10/2015/2016

This quick release fixes a problem with data links marked as XPress Tagged.

Release: Xcatalog 3.10.1 for QuarkXPress 10/2015/2016

This patch release mainly fixes the Select Data Descriptor Map menu on macOS.

Release: Xcatalog 3.10 for QuarkXPress 10/2015/2016

This release of Xcatalog adds support for FileMaker Pro 15 and introduces a major improvement to editing text with links.

Release: InCatalog 2.18 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This release adds support for FileMaker Pro 15 and fixes a problem with key from group links in tables.

Release: Xcatalog 3.9 for QuarkXPress 10/2015/2016

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 2016, discontinues support for QuarkXPress 9, and fixes a couple of problems.

Release: InCatalog 2.17.2 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This patch fixes a problem with updating long fields from ODBC sources and includes an updated InFlow plug-in.

Release: Xcatalog 3.8.3 for QuarkXPress 9/10/2015

This patch fixes a picture box update problem.

Release: Xcatalog 3.8.2 for QuarkXPress 9/10/2015

This quick release fixes a startup crash when using QuarkXPress 2015 on Windows 10.

Release: Xcatalog 3.8.1 for QuarkXPress 9/10/2015

This dot release includes fixes for problems with link editing and link updating.

Release: InCatalog 2.17.1 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This quick release addresses problems with key from text < links and the update document scripting event.

Release: InCatalog 2.17 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This release removes the antiquated requirement that DD sets always match, fixes a corruption issue with InCatalog snapshot index files (.x files), and addresses various issues with tables, odbc, price styles, and the Data Linker.

Release: Xcatalog 3.8 for QuarkXPress 9/10/2015

This release removes the antiquated requirement that DD sets always match, fixes a corruption issue with Xcatalog snapshot index files (.x files), and addresses various issues with odbc, price styles, and the UI.

Release: Xcatalog 3.7.1 for QuarkXPress 9/10/2015

This release adds an XTension for QuarkXPress 2015/Windows, fixes the annoying Shrinking Palette problem on Windows, and improves overall stability.

Release: InCatalog 2.16.2 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This patch release fixes problems with odbc connectivity, the batch folder facility, and price formatting.

Release: Xcatalog 3.7 for QuarkXPress 9/10/2015

We’re thrilled (and relieved!) to announce the immediate availability of our Xcatalog XTension for both QuarkXPress 2015 and QuarkXPress 10 on Mac OS X. (We’ll have a release for QuarkXPress 2015 Windows posted soon.) This release also includes a number of fixes and improvements.

Release: InCatalog 2.16.1 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This release enables data file support under OS X El Capitan and addresses issues when using posix-style paths on Mac OS X.

Release: InCatalog 2.16 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This release introduces our custom installers, adds support for FileMaker 14, and addresses problems with licensing, file extensions and encodings, and picture link generation.

Release: InCatalog 2.15 for InDesign CS5–CC2015

This release adds support for just-released InDesign CC 2015 and abandons Extension Manager CC in favor of, for now, a manual installation procedure (see below).

Release: InCatalog 2.14.1 for InDesign CS5–CC2014

This patch release includes a number of file handling improvements.

QuarkXTensions porting to Mac OS QuarkXPress 10 and 2015

To paraphrase an old proverb about justice, “the wheels of Em Software development turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.”

It’s been a very long time since we’ve released any news about our XTensions for QuarkXPress 10 under Mac OS X—the Windows port was done mid-last-year—, mostly because we had no good news to share. We’re a small 4-man company, severely engineering-resource-limited (there’s really only one engineer who could do the work, Chris Roueche). The QuarkXPress 10 Mac OS XTension porting work loomed as a mountain we couldn’t really start climbing until we had cleared away some major obligations (the ports involved converting all code from Carbon to Cocoa, which is a serious change). We kept having to make tough engineering resource decisions over the past year that we judged the best for our customers overall. The end result of those decisions was a major delay affecting some of our QuarkXPress customers, and we’re sorry for that.

Release: InCatalog 2.14 for InDesign CS5–CC2014

This minor release finds and updates links nested within a frame, fixes ODBC exports of long fields to Microsoft Excel, and lets Mac users select any file in the DD and data file dialogs.

Release: InCatalog 2.13.3 for InDesign CS5–CC2014

This release fixes a problem with international price styling.

Release: InCatalog 2.13.2 for InDesign CS5–CC2014

This patch release improves compatibility with InDesign CC and InDesign CC 2014 on Windows.

Release: InCatalog 2.13.1 for InDesign CS5–CC2014

This release adds compatibility with InDesign CC 2014 and a few fixes.

Release: Xcatalog 3.6 for QuarkXPress 9/10

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 10 (Windows only, for the moment), discontinues support for QuarkXPress 8, and includes a number of improvements.

Release: InCatalog 2.12.3 for InDesign CS5/CS5.5/CS6/CC

This patch release addresses a couple of problems found when working with tags using indirect keys.

Release: InCatalog 2.12.2 for InDesign CS5/CS5.5/CS6/CC

This patch release includes a fix for a problem that could cause InDesign to shut down in some OS X 10.6 and 10.7 configurations.

Release: InCatalog 2.12.1 for InDesign CS5/CS5.5/CS6/CC

This patch release of InCatalog adds support for FileMaker Pro 13.

Release: InCatalog 2.12 for InDesign CS5/CS5.5/CS6/CC

After a painfully long time in the works, we are pleased to be able to finally announce the availability of InCatalog for InDesign CC.

Release: InCatalog 2.11 for InDesign CS5/5.5/6

This release of InCatalog adds key from text ^, handles pasted links better, and makes several other improvements.

Release: InCatalog 2.10 for InDesign CS5/5.5/6

This release of InCatalog adds support for a keyboard shortcuts-based auto-tag’n’update-style workflow, includes a fix for where tags could spontaneously appear in tables, and addresses various issues with link markers, empty links, empty keys, and ODBC updating.

Release: Xcatalog 3.5.4 for QuarkXPress 8/9

This patch release of Xcatalog fixes a DD selection problem introduced in the 3.5.3 release.

Release: Xcatalog 8/9.3.5.3 for QuarkXPress 8/9

This patch release of Xcatalog addresses an issue with FileMaker Pro 12 and adds support for the picture tool while tagging.

Release: InCatalog 7/8.2.9.6 for InDesign CS5/5.5/6

This patch release of InCatalog fixes issues with FileMaker Pro 12 and text pasted into existing links.

Release: InCatalog 6/7/8.2.9.5 for InDesign CS4/5/5.5/6

This release of InCatalog adds support for InDesign CS6, officially ends support for CS4, improves compatibility with InDesign’s Smart Text Reflow and fixes issues with InDesign-flavored tagged text.

Chris Gill, Editor of Where to Ski and Snowboard, Britain’s leading winter sports resort guide, writes about how InCatalog acts as a critical part of their automated editorial processes.

Where to Ski and Snowboard is the British skier’s “bible”—a comprehensive and detailed annual guidebook running to 700 pages, covering of all the major ski resorts in Europe and North America. It was first published in 1994, became an annual publication a few years later and is now in its 15th edition.

Beta release: InCatalog 8.2.9 beta 1 for InDesign CS6

We’re happy to announce the immediate availability of InCatalog 8.2.9 beta 1 for Adobe InDesign CS6.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.9.4 for InDesign CS4/5/5.5

This patch release fixes a problem with the handling of special “start file” tags in InDesign Tags-tagged fields.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.9.3 for InDesign CS4/5/5.5

This patch release fixes a problem with truncated keys and improves product stability.

Server plug-ins for InDesign CS5/5.5 Server

We’re pleased to announce that we now have server versions of our popular, field-proven data publishing solutions available for Adobe InDesign CS5 Server and Adobe InDesign CS5.5 Server.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.9.2 for InDesign CS4/5/5.5

This patch release fixes compatibility issues with InCopy, InDesign libraries, CJK languages and the indent-to-here character.

Release: Xcatalog 8/9.3.5.2 for QuarkXPress 8/9

This Xcatalog patch release addresses problems with indent-to-here characters and corrupt links.

Release: Xcatalog 8/9.3.5.1 for QuarkXPress 8/9

This minor release of Xcatalog improves the compatibility of text links with copying and pasting.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.9.1 for InDesign CS4/5/5.5

This release of InCatalog improves link editing at an insertion point, and fixes several bugs.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.9 for InDesign CS4/5/5.5

This release adds compatibility for Adobe’s 7.5.1 update to InDesign CS5.5, improves scripting support and fixes some minor problems.

Release: Xcatalog 8/9.3.5 for QuarkXPress 8/9

This release of Xcatalog adds support for QuarkXPress 9 to that for QuarkXPress 8 and drops support for both QuarkXPress 6 and 7.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.8.4 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This maintenance release addresses issues with styled prices and ODBC connectivity.

Em 9.x XTensions now available for QuarkXPress 9

Quark announced recently that QuarkXPress 9 is set to ship on April 26th (later this month), with a “test drive” version available until then on the Quark web site.

We’re delighted to announce that the 9.x versions of our XTensions–compatible with the final QuarkXPress 9 release–are now available from the right sidebar of this post, and from the respective product pages.

InDesign Secrets podcast talking about InCatalog, InData

The latest InDesign Secrets podcast—from David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion—talks at some length about both InCatalog and InData. (The lead-in to our products starts around 11:00, but the whole podcast is gold for data publishers.)

These podcasts are always great, but this one is particularly relevant to anyone interested in our products.

One nit, though: David talks about InCatalog being the big brother of InData, which isn’t quite true: it’s more like a brother who does something fairly distinct but complementary. (InData builds, InCatalog links, very roughly.)

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.8.3 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This minor release addresses an issue with scripted udpates.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.8.2 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This release provides a UI fix for folks using the X qualifier and sets the default ODBC character encoding, if not otherwise specified by the % qualifier, to UTF-8.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.8.1 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This minor release addresses problems with subfields and tagged text and completes InCatalog’s adoption of Unicode.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.8 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This release adds picture positioning options, improves compatibility with legacy documents and fixes issues with nested styles, scripting and the tagger palette.

Release: Xcatalog 6/7/8.3.4 for QuarkXPress 6/7/8

This release adds picture positioning options, improves compatibility with legacy documents and fixes issues with subfields and the ODBC Login dialog.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.7.1 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This minor release adds control over master pages updating, improves type on a path support and addresses UI issues.

Release: InCatalog 6/7.2.7 for InDesign CS4/CS5

This release of InCatalog for InDesign adds support for InDesign CS5 to that for CS4, drops support for CS2/CS3, adds full XPress-tagged text support bi-directionally without needing our Xtags product, adds anchored text frame support in Xtags, changes the link markers to display as brackets (like in Xcatalog), adds link markers for tagged page items, merges the Pro and non-Pro binaries, adds support for abitrary per-field or all-field WHERE clause prefixes when using ODBC, adds full Unicode support when communicating with FileMaker, and fixes some long-standing bugs.

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