If you're looking for an alternative to ID then have a look at Serif's Page Plus and it's well priced. It handles its own data well but it gets a choosy with others types but most basic CSV from M/S Excel it handles. It does both Photo and Mail Merge but it works and it works well. I have used it to publish tickets, run mail merge for newsletters. I have also used the free type office programme and they work as well but not with the same ease. You pays your money or not but Serif's PP does not allow you to do a 30 day trial but it does have an unconditional money back guarantee if your not satisfied. You can buy page plus X9 for £20 which is the most recent version but they are about to release the new Affinity Publisher I think in early July and if the pricing goes the same way as Affinity Designer then the new one should cost around £30: http://www.serif.com/pageplus/