How do I delete blank pages in FrameMaker?

Question

I have combed through these community pages and there does not seem to be an answer to this question.

I have several documents that have blank pages at the end of them. The first thing I tried was Format/Document/Delete Pages. The window pops up with the page numbers I want to delete, and I hit "Ok." Voila! Page gone. But the minute I save it, page comes right back.

Then I thought I'd resolved the problem by using Format/Page Layout/Pagination and the selecting "Delete Blank Pages" from the dropdown menu in the window. This seemed to solve the problem, BUT....When I published the book, guess what? Blank pages return, in all their glory.

I have played around with Book properties and there is absolutely NOTHING that allows me to delete empty pages at the book level.

I have to assume this is a bug, or FrameMaker is just that un-user friendly. Adobe, please fix your bugs. With what you charge for a subscription, these sorts of problems should not be happening. I'm embarrassed to publish these documents!

Does anyone know a fix to this???

Barb Binder · Accepted Answer

Hi @Susan305351693t3o

Happy to answer questions on the links that @Jeff_Coatsworth provided—you can ask at the bottom of any post, or ask here.

Most printed books start each new chapter (or section) on a right page. If a chapter ends on a right page, Fm will add a left page to allow the the next chapter to start on the right. If this is how the book is set up, even after you delete the trailing left pages manually, they will return after you update the book.

What is the goal here? Do you want each chapter to begin on the next available page, left or right? If so, select the files in the book window that you want to modify, right click > Pagination:

Pagination to 1st Page Side: Next Available

Before Saving and Printing: Delete Empty Pages

Then update your book.

Caution: if you do this, keep an eye on your running heads. This doesn't force FrameMaker to update the custom master pages applied to the body pages (unless you have defined a master page mapping table), and you might end up with a right page running head on the left page, or the other way around.

~Barb

Jeff_Coatsworth · Answer

Generally it comes down to the template/master pages that were used to create the document. A lot of them come from the book creation paradigm, so you have things like odd & even pages that drive them to auto-add a blank page to even them up and start on the right page again with a new chapter.
See Barb's site for help - https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-framemaker-9-deleting-empty-pages/ or https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-framemaker-master-page-basics/ or https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-framemaker-start-chapters-on-the-next-available-page/

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