3

I'm fairly new to InDesign for complex documents (in a past life I used it for magazine layout, but I'm now typesetting a 300 page book using it) and have probably made a rookie error.

My main body text Master Page uses a Primary Text Frame which was linked across the spread. I pasted 90,000 words into it and it automatically reflowed as expected, adding all the pages I needed. So far, so good.

I then did some rearranging, moving pages around (the text is a collection of interviews, which I wanted in a different order). This too seemed fine. I also inserted page breaks at the end of each interview so there was a clean break between each item.

One page has gone a little weird: the page break came at the very end of a page, meaning the following page is now blank. If I delete that blank page, the page which takes its place isn't the next one in the pagination, but the next one that was originally there before I re-ordered pages. The same thing happens if I use the arrow keys and try to navigate down onto the blank page: I jump from p149 to p63, not p150.

This effectively means I have a blank page I can't delete. Is there any hope for me here, or will I have to manually re-set all the text? Rearranging the pages wasn't the quickest job in the world and I'd sooner not do it again.

If there's a better way to group each individual item and move them around without manually dragging pages around the spread, though, I'm all ears...

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

As you have found out: the "story" (the body of the text) is linear, but the placement of the "boxes" (windows looking in on the story) has no such requirement.

If you are re-arranging text in such a way that page 163 flows to page 63, then you have a basic structure problem with the story itself. You should break the story into logical subunits which can be moved/placed independently.

The exact breakdown is up to you--and there is no reason beyond plain craziness why you shouldn't break it down even to sentence level--but you mention interviews plural. At the least each interview should be an atomic unit.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks, that seems to make sense – sounds like I need to break down my monolithic story (which is the entire content in the original order, not the edited order) into separate stories for each content item (interviews).
    – Matt Andrews
    Dec 11, 2013 at 16:23
  • in the future, with linked boxes, make a new set of pages and move the boxes, then delete the old pages. Additionally, when doing major reorganization like this, BACK UP your file and give the backup a meaningful name so if it gets tangled up so much you can't make sense of it, you can revert.
    – horatio
    Dec 11, 2013 at 18:30

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.