I am formatting two of my novels. This is my first time using CS3 although I had some familiarity with Quark. I formatted my first 296 page novel without difficulty and created a blank book block for future novels with a 6x9 trim size. On my second book, I changed the grid to accommodate a larger font and ran into problems when I tried to add page numbers.

On the first book, I had added Master Page B on which I placed a title header for the verso page and author name on the recto page. I included a dialogue box at the bottom which held some wingdings and the page number. When I went to insert the special character - marker - automatic numbering, I don't get that choice (as the help instructions tell me I should). I only get the option of adding Current Page, which I did. The problem is that once I completed this, none of these items: headers, page number or wingdings show up in my book.

I know that I must be forgetting a step but I cannot think of what it is. Master Options does not seem to be the problem. I went to Apply Master to Pages which seems to be what I want but it does not allow me to enter a spread. I want numbering to begin on page 5. When I type in 5- or 5-end (to go to the end of the document, because I have not imported the text yet and do not know how many pages the book with run) I get an error. When I enter 5-10 (the current number of pages in the document) I get an error. When I type just 5, that is the only page that gets the numbering and headers. I also tried changing the start page in the Numbering and Sections dialogue box and that does nothing at all.

Help me please. I am at my wit's end.

Welcome to PCHF

I have sent a message to another member who is a writer and may know (or know someone that knows) the answer to your issue.

thank you very much

Hi Lizzie,

I am an author as well, so Hengis thought I might be able to help. I regret to say I don't have an instant answer for you as I have used InDesign only very briefly. The learning curve is a bit much, and I'm impatient. I want to master the program in five minutes. But, I will try to find a solution for you asap. I know how it is when you're in a hurry for one!

Out of curiosity, may I ask why you changed the font size? Does your second book have less pages than the first? What were the font sizes?

What happens if you change back to the original font size? Do the numbers behave?

Okay, I'm off to investigate!

And, good luck in your writing projects!

Hello Lizzie,
Sorry it's taken so long to get back here. I found a few help links for page numbering in InDesign. I hope they will be of help to you.

Page Numbers in InDesign

InDesign CS3 Page Numbering

InDesignSecrets Blog Archive How to Add Page Numbers

Also there is an InDesign group on Yahoo Groups which could help you too. I am still subscribed to it.

Hope this will help you in some small way.

NeenahDee

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Jelly Bean.