Auto page numbering in PM7.0.1

[theodorevoelkel]

I find something screwy in PM 7 regarding AUTOMATIC PAGE NUMBERING. When I put "LM" and "RM" on the master pages, like I'm used to doing, what pops up on the document pages are just "LM" (left pages) and "RM" (right pages), NOT THE PAGE NUMBERS I WANT.

Has PM7 switched to some other code designation for page numbering on master pages, and no longer uses the old familiar "LM" and "RM"?

Very good of you to shed any light you can!

 

[Eggles]

I haven't found any differences in the way PM7 autonumbers pages. Are you sure you put them on the master pages?

 

[theodorevoelkel]

Oh yes, I tried it again and again on various files. The problem has come up on files created only after the first update (7.0.1). It's something screwy. So to autonumber, I have to copy-and-paste the LM and RM from older files onto the master pages of a new file. Oddly, when I do this, PageMaker treats "LM" and "RM" as a single type unit on the master page, and won't allow me to insert the cursor between the two letters. Screwier and screwier. But at least I can change attributes on the copy-and-pasted LM and RM.

 

[Eggles]

How bizarre! I am not sure if the version I use of PM7 has the update applied or not. Will have to check at work tomorrow and let you know.

 

[theodorevoelkel]

Thanks so much -- always nice to talk with a fellow PageMaker, uh, sufferer. I mean, PM's marvelous when everything's working, but on other occasions . . .

For example: In a newly opened PM file, when I paste into it text from an older PM file, the text sheds its original type attributes and comes in as Times New Roman, not AGaramond, the font I ALWAYS work in. Bizarre, eh?

 

[Cresby]

not at machione but this sounds like you are describing the difference between text LM and instruction/code LM

the former is just text
the latter is an instruction, and, doesn't it have to be inserted, as that? will try at home.

Not seen the problem myself - even converting from PM5 and PM4 docs.

 

[theodorevoelkel]

But page autonumbering code (LM, RM), is simply typed on the master page LIKE ORDINARY TEXT. The master page is supposed to recognize "LM" and "RM" as being code, and so create the page numbers accordingly. In my case, as I said, the master page IS reproducing the "LM" and "RM" on the document pages, but it isn't creating the page numbers!

So, when I need the auto-page numbering, I have to go to older docs that still have functioning LM's and RM's, and copy-and-paste them into the new doc.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Cresby]

I searched the help file for "page numbering" and this is what it told me

1 Turn to a master page or a publication page.

2 Use the text tool to click an insertion point on the page where you want the page number to appear, or click in a text frame you've placed on the page for the page number.

3 Press Ctrl+Alt+P -(Windows) or Command+Option+P (Mac OS).

my memory was that it was a special insertion code but not the precise version of it.

 

[Eggles]

I checked my version of PM at work and it is V7.01. And I can use the auto page numbering feature exactly as I alwys have in previous versions. It sounds like somewhere along the way, yours has been corrupted (try a reinstall?) My PM was already 7.01 when purchased i.e. I did not have to apply an update patch to V7. I wonder if it is something in the patch that is causing this. Since no-one here seems to have experienced the same problem, perhaps you should try asking on the Adobe User-to-User forum? Here's the URL of the Windows version.

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.ee6b344

 

[Cresby]

Not the patch per se. I installed the patch. and text enters as text and Ctrl+Alt+P defines the text LM RM as page number. theodorevoelkel's problem has to be more subtle - registry or file corruption.

 

[theodorevoelkel]

HOLY MACKEREL! Yes, Ctrl + Alt + P does it. You didn't mention that you need to SELECT "LM" and "RM" on the master pages and then Click Ctrl + Alt + P on the selected text.

That did it for me.

Now I'm really puzzled: in the past, I have used LM and RM all the time (on master pages) for page numbering, but I NEVER EVER did a Ctrl + Alt + P -- I had NEVER HEARD OF THIS COMMAND! I just typed LM and RM on the master pages, period, nothing more!

Well, what matters is what works, and this works, and my hat is off to you guys. The old $25-per-question Adobe service never helped me like you have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ted Voelkel

 

[Eggles]

Great flying goshawks, Batman. I cannot believe you never had to type Ctl+Alt+P to get auto page numbering before, but simply typed 'LM' and 'RM' on the master pages.

Re: You didn't mention that you need to SELECT "LM" and "RM" on the master pages and then Click Ctrl + Alt + P on the selected text.

This is not quite right either. You don't actually type 'LM' and 'RM', then select the text and do the C/A/P on it. You just do the C/A/P, and the LM and RM (depending on which master page you are on) automatically appear. THEN you can select the text and format.

 

[theodorevoelkel]

Wow, you're right. You just open a text block with the text tool, then click C/A/P and presto the "LM" (or "RM&quot appears.

I just never did it that way. I just typed LM on the L master, copied that text, and pasted it on the R master, and "RM" of course would appear. That's all I did.

Shows how "loose" this software can be.

You haven't got anything more definitive on Adobe's discontinuing PM, do you? This "InDesign" of Adobe's -- I've checked Adobe's website on it, and it's not immediately clear that InDesign is a desktop publishing (page layout) program, rather than an image-manipulation program like Photo Shop. But I understand that InDesign will open PM files (God knows what it would do to complicated page setups like tiling, column guides, and basic type attributes). Do you have any experience of InDesign? Is it a page layout program?

 

[Eggles]

InDesign is definitely a page layout program, and it is the bees knees according to those who have used it. Blows Quark out of the water, I'm told. Has all sorts of features, like the ability to accept native Photoshop files, complete with layers etc plus the ability to do things like add drop shadows right within the program itself and all sorts of other goodies.

The problem with Pagemaker is that its coding is now so old, in order for it to be able to incorporate the whizz bang DTP features on the newer operating systems (both Mac and PC) it would have to be rebuilt from the ground up - and that is effectively what InDesign is. PM has been around for a long time now, and Adobe must have decided that it would start again and not just try a 'bandaid' approach with PM - which they 'inherited' from Aldus some years back, so were not even responsible for the original coding.

 

[theodorevoelkel]

You've been very generous with your time, and I hesitate to impose again. Have you tried opening a PM 7 file in In Design? Does the original PM file actually "come up" in InDesign so that if you didn't know better you'd think you were still in PageMaker?

 

[Eggles]

I wish I could say I have used InDesign, but I haven't. But I have read that ID is quite capable of opening PM files (either V65. or 7) with everything right where it should be. As you would expect in two programs produced by the same manufacturer.

 

[Goff]

Does anyone know how to make a publication with the page number format being in 'Page X of Y' format??


Cheers

 

[theodorevoelkel]

The only way I know how to create a page numbering scheme of (e.g.)"Page 2 of 10" would be to put the "Page" and the "of 10" part of it on the master page as simple text, and then to use the command Ctrl + Alt + P to create CODE for auto page numbering, then bracket these two pieces of text around the code, using, of course, the same type attributes for all of them. You ought to be able to get the effect you want through this mixture of code and text on the master page. In the document, the actual page number will change from page to page like an odometer, but the bracketing "Page" and "of 10" will stay frozen.

Hope this helps. Ted Voelkel

 

[Goff]

Could i do it by having 'Page [RM] of ' in the master page and then have a script counting the number of pages in the document then at the end of the script paste the total number of pages on each page??

Anyone think this is possible? Would anyone like to suggest the code for how i can get the script to change through the pages.....


Cheers


Goff

 

[theodorevoelkel]

Jeez, you have me there. I don't know of any command in PM that makes it count up the number of pages in a document and then put that total on the master page. The total number of pages in a document is determined by the volume of text, whether you add each new page as you type your way along, or whether you paste in a long existing text using Autoflow, which opens up the pages automatically. It's a pretty simple operation, it seems to me, to look and see how many pages there are in the document, and then type that number on the master page as text -- unless you have a pretty esoteric business going on that I'm not getting!

Ted Voelkel