Subscriber only lesson.

Sign up to the Microsoft Publisher course to view this lesson.

View pricing

About this lesson

Create a manual of products with corresponding pictures.

Exercise files

Download this lesson’s exercise file.

Creative Ideas - Catalog.docx
399.2 KB

Quick reference

Creative Ideas - Catalog

A Catalog is a manual of products with corresponding pictures. It uses the same concept to create as the Mail Merge process.

When to use

Creating a catalog mimics a mail merge in that it uses a database of information that you create and can include pictures of products.  The final layout is determined by your own particular preferences.

Instructions

  1. Start with a Blank publication, then click “Insert” , Catalog Pages
  2. Click Add List , then choose from the 3 options: 
  3. For this exercise, start by selecting “Type a New List”
  4. Enter the base information into the blank database template: 
  5. Add or delete columns as needed by clicking the “Customize Columns” button at the bottom of the database screen:                                                               
  6. Because Catalogs generally include product photos, the “Picture” field is a common feature in the database, but there is no “Browse” button to click to the picture location.
    1. You will have to find the picture location in the SEARCH section of your computer, then copy/paste the location into the database.  
    2. BE SURE to include the picture file type on this line or it won’t work. 
      i.e.:  .JPG  or  .TIF  or .PNG
  7. After you have entered the product data, you will SAVE the database. 
    1. If you need to edit anything you will have to select the name of the Data Source, then click EDIT.                                                                                 
  8. The entire ribbon will be active at this point and you can finish the catalog project: 
  9. To merge product information into the Catalog pages, click the “Text Field” button and arrange the fields to your preference.
    1. This is a good time to also format the font of the Text Fields.
    2. Be careful not to delete the arrows on either side of the text field or it won’t find the corresponding database entry.
  10. To include a picture with the catalog items, click the “Picture Field” button and place the field to your preference.         
    Note: if pictures do not appear as expected, confirm the database contains the correct file location of each picture as well as the file type extension: .JPG  or  .TIF  or .PNG
  11. To arrange the entire catalog, click the Layout gallery and choose a layout of your preference.
  12. When the fields are all in place, click the “Merge to New” button and review the catalog for any changes or edits, then Print the finished catalog.
  • 00:04 This lesson's going to show you how to create a catalog of your products with
  • 00:08 pictures.
  • 00:09 So we're gonna double-click a blank publication.
  • 00:12 Right in here we're gonna go to Insert and click Catalog Pages.
  • 00:17 My title page remains single but
  • 00:18 as you can see the Catalog Pages look like they're stacked.
  • 00:22 I also have a new option right over here that says Catalog Merge Area.
  • 00:26 If I click there and zoom in, it basically gives you a definition of what's
  • 00:30 gonna happen here, and notice up on top I have a Catalog Tools ribbon.
  • 00:34 When I click on Format,
  • 00:35 everything is grayed out except the very first option that says Add List.
  • 00:39 This is going to be your product list as well as pictures.
  • 00:42 When I click that,
  • 00:43 I can Type a New one Use an Existing or Choose from Outlook Contacts.
  • 00:47 I'll go ahead and type a new one so you can see what happens.
  • 00:50 Right here we have Product, Description, ID, Price, Picture.
  • 00:53 You can absolutely customize this and maybe I wanna add a new one,
  • 00:57 I'd like to put the size in there.
  • 00:59 So I hit OK and I could of course move it up or
  • 01:02 down and click OK and there we have our new field right there.
  • 01:06 So these are database fields.
  • 01:08 Now I'm gonna enter in base level information, but
  • 01:10 I want to explain to you about the picture part.
  • 01:13 So first of all, I'm gonna expand this.
  • 01:15 At no point does it give me a browse button so
  • 01:17 I can browse my way to the picture.
  • 01:19 I actually have to go to my file,
  • 01:22 my file system, and surf my way to the pictures from here.
  • 01:28 So I have a file I'm sorry, called Japan flowers.
  • 01:33 Now I went in through my Windows Explorer system.
  • 01:37 I can click on this address bar right here and copy this, but
  • 01:40 notice it didn't give me the name of the actual flower.
  • 01:43 So this is Japan flowers 1,
  • 01:45 I've gotta type that in afterwards along with the file type.
  • 01:49 So I'll go ahead and click back here, I'll just paste that,
  • 01:53 put a backslash and it was called Japan, spell it correctly,
  • 01:59 JapanFlowers1.dot jpg.
  • 02:03 If you should forget to put the file type, it will never find that picture.
  • 02:08 So it's a little in-depth, it's a little awkward, but
  • 02:12 you have to actually go outside of Publisher to go get the file location and
  • 02:18 then back into Publisher and paste it and type it.
  • 02:21 So, all right, I'm gonna finish filling out my information.
  • 02:26 I have the information in here so I'm gonna go ahead and hit OK.
  • 02:29 It is going to ask me to save it.
  • 02:31 So I'll save it.
  • 02:32 I'll name the database, and there it is.
  • 02:34 At this point, I can uncheck any particular ones I don't want to include in
  • 02:38 the catalog, I can sort these, I can filter these.
  • 02:42 I cannot edit from this screen, though.
  • 02:44 No matter how much I wanna type here,
  • 02:46 I have to click on the name of it, click Edit.
  • 02:49 Now I can come in here and edit or make any changes.
  • 02:52 Just wanted to point that out to you.
  • 02:53 All right, I'll go ahead and click OK, and let's go ahead and finish this.
  • 02:56 Now, notice that the ribbon has all, everything has lit up on here, and so
  • 03:01 I can change the way the entire catalog page is going to appear.
  • 03:08 Now the items that are on here are simply your suggestions or suggestions for you.
  • 03:13 So basically,
  • 03:14 you've gotta put in the merge field to go find that matching field in the database.
  • 03:18 So I'll go ahead and click on Text Field here and I'll click Product and
  • 03:22 it put it right over here in its own little placeholder box.
  • 03:26 You have full control to move these around,
  • 03:28 to move everything around that you want, okay?
  • 03:32 So you're not stuck with anything here.
  • 03:34 So there's my product and now I can have the size and
  • 03:37 I can move that whereever I want.
  • 03:40 And I'll just keep continuing, continue going through these.
  • 03:45 I guess the important thing to point out to you, though, is if at any time,
  • 03:48 if you've gotta delete any of these, make sure not to delete these little arrows.
  • 03:53 Those are called chevrons, and if you delete that arrow right there,
  • 03:57 you're gonna be stuck with the word Size on every one of them instead of the actual
  • 04:02 merged field from your database.
  • 04:05 Another thing I did after I put those in was I actually increased the Font size, so
  • 04:10 you can actually just see it better.
  • 04:12 Now the last thing I want to do here is actually put in the pictures.
  • 04:16 So at the picture field, I'll go ahead and put the picture and there it is.
  • 04:20 And of course,
  • 04:21 take a little look at what's going on over here on the left-hand side.
  • 04:24 As I made that block bigger, the picture got bigger.
  • 04:26 All right, alls I have to do at this point is finish and Merge to New.
  • 04:30 Now this will merge to a new, brand new, publication.
  • 04:34 Before I do that,
  • 04:35 if I wanna change my layout, I can come right over here, change the layout.
  • 04:39 It's going to keep all my fields in place,
  • 04:40 it's just going to adjust the layout a little bit.
  • 04:43 Let's go ahead and hit the Merge to New.
  • 04:45 I get a brand new publication on my screen.
  • 04:48 Move that into view for you, and take a look.
  • 04:50 There is my catalog with everything in there.
  • 04:53 All right.
  • 04:54 So that's basically how you create your own catalog.
  • 04:57 You're in full control of the layout, so don't be afraid.
  • 05:00 And come right back into the next video.
  • 05:02 We're gonna add one more thing to this whole concept.
  • 05:05 Thank you.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Gift this course