Blank Page Issues in FrameMaker

<b>Difficult to Remove Blank Pages Caused by Custom Master Pages</b><br /><br />Consider the following troubleshooting concerning customized master pages and unwanted blank pages:<br /><br />Make sure you assign default Left or Right master page to the empty page(s) you want to remove. <br /><br />To elaborate: if the empty pages are NOT due to book-level pagination changes by FM when the book is updated, then they could be due to one or more chapters having had user-created master pages assigned to body pages prior to content editing that resulted in smaller chapters. For example, in a 4-page chapter that has the following master page assignments: <br /><br /><ul><br />Right<br><br />Left<br><br />Special_Right<br><br />Special_Left </ul><br /><br />If content editing results in a 2-page chapter with only the Right and Left pages and then the book is updated, FM's "pre-historical memory" remembers that the Special_Right and Special_Left pages had been there <can we whisper B-U-G?>, and blindly adds 2 blank pages to the chapter. <br /><br />The way to delete these kinds of pages is to:<br /><ul><br />1. Open the recalcitrant chapter.<br /><br />2. Add a couple of new paragraphs and force them to start at the top of column so that you get 4 pages.<br /><br />3. Use Format > Page Layout > Master Page Usage to specifically apply the default Right/Left master pages to the two new pages, thereby clearing FM's "memory" of the user-defined master pages having been applied previously.<br /><br />4. Save the chapter.<br /><br />5. Update the book.<br /><br />6. Open the chapter again and remove the two new pages.<br /><br />7. Update the book.<br /><br />8. <required step>Resume your favorite "don't sweat the small stuff" chant.</required step></ul><br /><br />Thanks to Sheila Carlisle for her expertise on this issue!

Blank Pages Inserted when Printing from a Book

If you have a chapter in your book that comprises a single side of content, then when printing duplex from the book, a blank page will be between the single side of content and the next chapter, regardless of your settings.

That is, your pages print from the FrameMaker book like this:



And, you want this:



To eliminate the blank side, try creating and printing from a PDF or rearrange your content so that you have no chapters that contain only one page of content.

Sean

Working with Empty or Blank Pages

For the most part, if you have empty or blank pages in FrameMaker and want to get rid of them:

1) For your FrameMaker files, use Format > Page Layout > Pagination and set the Before Saving & Printing drop-down to Delete Empty Pages.

2) If you end up with pages you don't want, in your body pages, use Special > Delete Pages to delete one page or a range of pages.

Additionally, see Tim Murray's web site for some tips on handling blank pages, go to http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/help/ and select Other how-to > Pagination Issues in the left column.