Creating Master Pages in InDesign 1

[Jeep]

I am currently doing a couple of newsletters in Pagemaker 7.0 and recently installed InDesign 2.0. Many differences but biggest problem involves setting up Master Pages. Have read "Creating and applying masters" and "Defining section numbering," but can't seem to get the page numbers to show themselves on the desired pages or at all. For starters, I'm just trying to number pages for an 8-page newsletter, starting with the second page. Have managed to drag a page from the top half of Pages palette and highlight corresponding pages in the lower half, but after that nothing happens. Thanks in advance for any help available.

 

[AdobeTim]

Given that I can't see what you're doing, I can only be of very limited help. But, if you're setting up auto-page numbering characters on your master pages (as well as any other objects) and dragging them to the doc pages, then you should see the master elements on the document pages...unless you've turned them off...in which case you wouldn't...which would be expected behavior.

 

[Jeep]

Adobe Tim: I do have a check mark before Display Master Items and they are displayed, evidenced by the newsletter title and month/year appearing at the top of each page. My sole problem is that I can't get the Page No. to pop up on the document page. Your reference to "dragging them to the doc page" is not clear to me. As stated, I have dragged a "page" from the top half of the Pages palette to the corresponding pages in the lower half, producing an outline in black around pages in the lower half, but after that nothing happens. This operation is described in a Help article titled "Creating and applying masters." Is this the "dragging" operation to which you are referring? Thanks.

 

[AdobeTim]

Yes it is...assuming that your master pages in the top window pane. And, if you've got automatic page# characters on the master page, they should show up on your document page.

 

[Jeep]

Adobe Tim: My Master Page is highlighted in the upper pane, as described, and I drag to the lower portion of the pane and see the black outline around the desired page . . . but the page and number do not show up on the document page. Apparently the Page LM and Page RM do not work in InDesign, but all other elements of the master page are OK. I do have some uncertainties about the Numbering and Section Options window: I have the Start Sector function checked; but am uncertain about the Section Prefix and Section Marker boxes. What goes into them? Is there another route to inserting page numbers into a document?

 

[AdobeTim]

How are you inserting the page numbers, Jeep? What you should be doing is creating a text frame on your master, then going to Type>Insert Special Character>Auto Page Number. It will display on the master using the prefix of the master page name, but on the doc pages it will display the appropriate page number.

The Section Prefix and Marker fields are places where you enter strings you'd like to accompany the page number. For example, the Prefix string always gets added to prior to the number:

A-6, A-7

The Marker string is optional. There's another special character called Section Name...wherever you insert that Section Name special character, the string you enter in the Section Marker field gets dropped into the text, independent of the page number. You might, for example, use the section name character in a header, but and the number and prefix in a footer.

 

[Jeep]

Thanks, Adobe Tim. My problem centered around trying to insert the prefix Page before the page number. Finally got it.