I'm using InDesign's data merge to generate playing cards for my game. Is it possible to convert a specific string to an inline image?
"You may roll :red_die: and add the rolled valued to this card's value"
For example the :red_die: in the text above would be automatically converted to an inline icon of a red coloured die.
No you can't this way. But you can place images with datamerge to the condition some fields of your source is set as an image one meaning having a "@" prefix. InDesign will process fields like @image as an image to place. It's up to you to add such a field in your source. However you can't nest it within another datamerge tag so it may not work eventually. Other solution is using F/C dialog to replace :red_die: with clipboard content (your image) or to use scripting. You may also consider variable content plugin like EasyCatalog.