Data Merge Wishlist?

[mwenz]

OH--be careful with the freebie installer. Like Magix, use a custom install and don't install whatever it is wanting to other than PP. What "that" is changes.

I don't know if the freebie does data merge or not. It is quite limited. I can hunt down the offer for X7. Previous versions can be had quite cheaply if by no other means, calling them and haggling. But there is a link somewhere I saw on the Serif forum.

[mwenz]

OK. Now that the warning about the installer is out of the way...

First, adding capabilities keeps the person from "jumping ship" as much as possible. The same argument can be made for adding any new capability to any application--it already exists in something else. Heck, InkScape is in many ways more capable than XDP is--and it's free. For a low cost, Serif's DrawPlus has more capabilities than XDP. Why bother even buying XDP?

Serif's color handling is better than XDP. Xara products are not color managed, Serif's are. But with "better" and "color managed" comes a slight learning curve. Which hopefully will happen in XDP at some point.

I far prefer XDP to other vector drawing applications despite it lacking certain "professional" features. Those "professional" features are sorely needed in XDP but one can in most all instances make do without them. Even if that means it begins in XDP and ends up in something else.

As regards the point of the thread--and I'll mention once again it is a valid request that may benefit others beyond the OP--merging would not be very high on my personal list. Not at the expense of other items on that list anyway.

[Acorn]

The PagePlus Free Edition unfortunately doesn't allow Mail Merge.
For those who are interested, installing it took the 15 minutes as advised. Dithering about gave the offer of a 10% discount. Then going to purchase X8 offered another reduction with a final cost of £67.48 instead of £90 so almost 30%.

I decided not to buy.

Acorn

[mwenz]

And calling Serif would likely bring a little bit more off X8, which is the current release.

One link to X7, the immediately previous version. It's gone up a little since the thread I found the link in:

http://www.serif.com/pageplus/offer/

Now, unless one has a true need, don't spend whatever it costs. With software, I use the same principle for myself that we use to inform our consulting clients: Prove a compelling need to the company. Needing software once, twice or thrice isn't compelling need. If it cannot be used with regularity, find a work-around or hire a contractor as needed.

Mike