Importing text using Xdata or InData as opposed to simply importing or placing text in QuarkXPress or InDesign is where the automatic style sheets come into play. Xdata/InData will import the custom text generated by the databases and apply style sheets, colors, and even local formatting, on the fly.

Xdata, a QuarkXPress XTension, and InData, an InDesign Plug-in, are much like the mail-merge option in a word processor. Use Xdata/InData to customize letters, build directories, assemble catalogs, or to make a calendar — in a very small fraction of the time that you would spend creating the document manually.