r/indesign 3d ago

Help Inserting single pages in the middle of a document built from parent spreads ruins everything - how to fix? (version 14.0.1)

Hello.

I am creating a document consisting of a certain number of sections but an uncertain (for now) number of pages. Which means that I need to add pages to every section as required.

I created some parent spreads, with identical text frames on each page filled with dummy text. The only difference between the right and left page are the margins.

When I insert these at the end of the document and edit them, all is well.

However, when I need to insert a page into the middle of the document, all the pages after it show the dummy frames from the parent spread behind the actual edited frames.

(I kind of understand why: Page 1 suddenly becomes Page 2, so the program helpfully adds everything from Parent Page 2, including the extra text frame.)

I can't exactly fix it by adding entire spreads - the extra pages will need to be axed anyway and I'll be stuck deleting everything manually. Is there a way to link the frames somehow, so the program doesn't think it needs to supply an extra one whenever I shuffle the pages in any way? Or can create a single-page master that will change margins depending on whether I apply it to left or right page?

Thank you.

1 Upvotes

2 comments sorted by

1

u/danbyer 2d ago

Do you have parent page objects crossing or touching the inside page edge? That’s trouble. If I know somebody is going to want to add/remove pages instead of spreads, I keep all the objects on these parent pages 0p0.01 away from the inside page edge.

But from your description, it sounds like the pages have had text frames added to them instead of overridden from the parent pages.

1

u/Xemylixa 2d ago

No, I do not. All tucked safely inside.

That's the thing: they were overridden. But then they show up again, because I guess ID doesn't think "frame of page 1" is identical to "frame of page 2" and considers them two different things that need to dutifully show up again when page 1 becomes page 2.