Elevate Your Reporting: Updates to CtrlPrint Integrate

If your reporting process involves copying figures, tables, or narrative text from spreadsheets or documents into a designed report, you already know the pain points: last-minute changes, duplicated effort, and the risk of inconsistencies. CtrlPrint Integrate is built to remove that friction by securely linking Excel and Word sources to Adobe InDesign and InCopy. So your designed report can be refreshed from the source when you decide, at the click of a button,  with full control over access and versions.

This year’s Integrate updates focus on three things: faster adoption (use what you already have), safer updates (avoid surprises), and better visibility (know what changed and what needs attention). Highlights include linking existing InDesign tables to Excel, ignoring hidden rows and columns, relinking without reinserting, Microsoft Word as a data source, and improved handling of broken links. 

Table of Contents

1. 1. Link an existing InDesign or InCopy table to Excel
   2. Ignore hidden rows and columns from Excel
   3. Use Word documents as a data source
   4. Relink tables and text without reinserting
   5. Improved handling of deleted data sources and broken links
   6. Enhanced visibility and control
      • Updates and visual cues
      • Safer editing and deletion
      • Sorting and filtering
   7. Smoother navigation and data source management
      • Jump from a table cell to its source
      • Cleaner data source management in the project
      • Data source version history
   8. For Designers
      • Header rows now update as expected
      • More control over line breaks from Excel
      • More reliable tables in complex layouts
   9. Streamlined project duplication and link management

• • Further reading
  • Ready to Upgrade Your Workflow?

1. Link an existing InDesign or InCopy table to Excel

This is one of the biggest workflow upgrades this year: you can now link a table that already exists in your layout directly to a named range in Excel. The Excel data populates the table without forcing you to rebuild the design. 

Why it matters:

• Design First: Your design team can build and style the perfect table—custom borders, shading, and fonts—before the Excel is even ready.
• Zero Rework: Once the Excel is ready, you simply map it to the existing structure. No more re-formatting every time you refresh the numbers.
• Seamless Updates: Push new figures into your approved layout with a single click.

2. Ignore hidden rows and columns from Excel

Hidden content in Excel is often used for calculations or supporting detail that should not appear in the final report. You can now choose to ignore hidden rows and columns when inserting tables, so only visible content is brought into the layout.

Typical use cases:

1. Calculation rows used to derive totals
2. Draft lines that should not be published
3. Optional sections you want to keep in Excel but exclude from design 
4. Single Source of Truth: Keep your "working" data and "reporting" data in the same master file. You no longer need to create a separate, stripped-down Excel copy just for the design team.

3. Use Word documents as a data source

Integrate is no longer only about numbers. You can now use Word documents as data sources, either by inserting bookmarked sections or by placing an entire document as one item. Updates in Word can be pushed to the linked content in InDesign and InCopy. 

Where this shines:

1. Narrative-heavy sustainability content
2. Governance text that moves between teams
3. Content authored in Word that still needs a designed output

4. Relink tables and text without reinserting

Need to point a table or a text element to a different named range, or even a different data source, without losing formatting? The new Relink option lets you swap the source behind an existing placed element, keeping the design intact.

What you gain:

1. Faster restructuring when your Excel model evolves
2. Less formatting churn, especially late in the process
3. Safer roll forward when source files or ranges are reorganised

5. Improved handling of deleted data sources and broken links

Handling of deleted data sources

Documents move between projects all the time – and their data sources don’t always follow. When a linked Word/Excel data source is deleted or doesn’t exist in the current project, tables and text used to be “trapped” behind the scenes. The only workaround was to contact us or to recreate the content entirely.

Now, the Integrate panel in InDesign and InCopy:

• Shows the name of the original data source or named range
• Makes it clear that a new data source needs to be selected
• Lets users unlink or relink the affected elements in just a few clicks

Broken link indicators

If a named range is renamed or removed in Excel, Integrate flags it directly in the panel so you can quickly identify what is broken and choose whether to relink or unlink.

6. Enhanced visibility and control

Throughout 2025, we’ve added quality of life improvements to the Integrate panel to help you manage complex documents with many linked tables and text elements.

Updates and visual cues

To make it easier to stay on top of changes in larger projects, Integrate now gives you clear cues both in the panel and directly in the layout.

You will notice two types of cues:

1. Updates available cues in the panel
   Flags named ranges that have changed, and lets you filter to focus only on items that need an update.
2. Visual cues in the layout
   Small markers on linked tables and linked text in InDesign and InCopy, so you can instantly see what is connected to a source.

Safer editing and deletion

Integrate now warns you when you are about to edit or delete linked tables or linked text, reducing accidental changes.

Sorting and filtering

When you have a long list of named ranges, it is now easier to find what you need. For example, you can:

1. Sort by Excel order so ranges appear top to bottom, like in your spreadsheet
2. Filter by status to show only items with updates available

7. Smoother navigation and data source management

These updates help you move faster between the layout and the source, and reduce friction when sources change.

Jump from a table cell to its source

Click a linked table cell, and Integrate can take you directly to the corresponding named range in the panel, automatically switching data source when needed.

Cleaner data source management in the project

It is now clearer when you are adding a new data source versus updating an existing one, helping teams avoid mistakes and keep source files organised.

Data source version history

You can now open a clearer history view that displays the currently used file version, the original filename, and the version it was promoted from.

8. For designers

Header rows now update as expected

Table header rows in InDesign are now handled correctly during updates, so the header stays consistent when you refresh the table content. This reduces manual fixes and helps keep long tables readable across frames and pages.

More control over line breaks from Excel

When inserting content from Excel, you can control how line breaks are handled, so the text flows as expected in InDesign and InCopy. This is especially useful for multi-line cells used in notes, table labels, or structured lists.

More reliable tables in complex layouts

We have improved stability when working with advanced table setups, including locked layers, merged cells, and copy-paste between linked tables. This reduces the risk of layout issues after updates and after reopening documents.

9. Streamlined project duplication and link management

Previously, duplicating a project with outdated links could create confusion and extra manual work. Now, when you duplicate a project, CtrlPrint carries over the current data source version and keeps each chapter linked to the exact source version it used. That means you can roll forward faster, with less manual relinking and fewer surprises.

Project duplication that keeps the right sources

When duplicating a project, Integrate now carries over the same linked data source versions, so chapters stay connected to the exact files they were using. This reduces setup work and avoids accidental changes caused by linking to the wrong version.

More reliable link management across chapters

Link handling has been improved so you get clearer control over what is linked where, including better visibility when a data source is connected to content that is not currently active. This helps admins and project owners keep governance tight when many chapters and stakeholders are involved.

Further reading

If you want the full overview of everything released, you can browse the complete update log here.
For step by step guidance, best practices, and troubleshooting, you can find detailed articles in our Support Site

Ready to Upgrade Your Workflow?

These updates represent our commitment to making CtrlPrint Integrate the most robust, user-friendly reporting tool on the market. Whether you are dealing with last-minute number crunches or rolling forward to a new year, these features are designed to save you time and reduce risk.

All these features are available now. If you want to see how they can transform your specific reporting process: