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Automatic page numbering on even-numbered pages

Forum|Forum|21 days ago
May 9, 2026
4 replies
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I’m working with a InDesign template created in earlier versions, where the first page is an even-numbered page (page 2), with automatic page numbering. In version 21, when I place an object on page 3 (for example, an image), InDesign changes the numbering of the first page to 1 and makes it an odd-numbered page (and so on with the page numbering throughout the document); and if I try to manually reassign the number 2 to the first page, the application simply ignores it and keeps it as page 1. The only way I’ve found to keep the first page as an even number is to place it on the first page, select ‘Start page numbering at’ and assign it the number 2. But then, when I add the documents to a book, it forces me to change all the documents back to the ‘automatic numbering’ option, which slows everything down unnecessarily. Does anyone know of a way to avoid this and ensure that the pages retain the order of the template, as in previous versions?

numbering pages

Correct answer Dave Creamer of IDEAS

@danielc19920212 I think there is something wrong with the document that saving as IDML did not fix.

I created a new document of the same page size and imported the parent pages into the new document. It started acting normally.

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

Do you perhaps have a version of this template that has not been saved in the most recent version of InDesign? You say that it behaved differently in 20.5. When I open up the file you posted, it doesn’t match your description. I opened up your file with 21.3, and tried to follow along with the commentary in your initial post.

> I’m working with a InDesign template created in earlier versions, where the first page is an even-numbered page (page 2)

When opened in 21.3, the first page in your file is numbered page 1 (not page 2), and is verso instead of recto. Getting InDesign to put page 1 on the left, or page 2 on the right, is tricky without using the “Start page numbering at:” field in Numbering and Section Options, which itself is tricky to use in a book file.

> In version 21, when I place an object on page 3 (for example, an image),

There isn’t any page 3 in your template. Are you adding an additional page before adding this object?

> InDesign changes the numbering of the first page to 1 and makes it an odd-numbered page (and so on with the page numbering throughout the document)

Can you explain what you mean by this? 1 is always going to be an odd number, right? I assume you mean “InDesign changes the number of the first page to 1, and forces it to the right hand side.” Is that what you mean by “makes it an odd-numbered page”?

>and if I try to manually reassign the number 2 to the first page, the application simply ignores it and keeps it as page 1

Now, that is somehting I cannot recreate over here. I can “manually reassign the nubmer to 2 on the first page” by using Numbering and Section Options. Is this not what you are describing here?

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danielc19920212Author

Participating Frequently

> Do you perhaps have a version of this template that has not been saved in the most recent version of InDesign? You say that it behaved differently in 20.5. When I open up the file you posted, it doesn’t match your description. I opened up your file with 21.3, and tried to follow along with the commentary in your initial post.

I’m attaching a document created from the template I have from version 20 (for some reason I can’t attach templates: they appear grayed out when I try to select them), as well as a screenshot of what I see when I open it with version 20. Please open it with version 20 if you can.

>When opened in 21.3, the first page in your file is numbered page 1 (not page 2), and is verso instead of recto. Getting InDesign to put page 1 on the left, or page 2 on the right, is tricky without using the “Start page numbering at:” field in Numbering and Section Options, which itself is tricky to use in a book file.

As I said, when you open it in version 20, you’ll see that the first page is page 2.

>There isn’t any page 3 in your template. Are you adding an additional page before adding this object?

Sorry: that was a test I ran in another document. The result was that, in version 21, the page shifts when you add an object large enough (no matter where, on any page) to cause the text to overflow the page.

Thank you again.

MEF.indd

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

Okay, I now see why you’re calling this a bug. In version 20, your template file behaves as you describe. I go to page 3, I add some text, and Smart Text Reflow adds an empty recto page 5. The same file in version 21 creates a recto page 1 whenever any pages are added or removed, either manually or by Smart Text Reflow, or whenever Automatic Page Numbering is selected in the Numbering and Section Options. I’m looking at the Numbering and Section Options and seeing that a) Auto-numbering is on, but b) the number 2 still appears in the “Start page numbering at” field, and the first page number is still 2.

So, clearly, some change made to page management was made between v20 and v21, and that change is breaking whatever technique was originally used to force the state where auto-numbering was starting at 2 on the verso instead of 1 on the recto. I still don’t think you’d get much traction with a bug report - I’m imaging a response like one I’ve heard many times, something like a polite, professional version of “We’re sorry that our new update broke your weird old hacky workaround. Maybe don’t use weird old hacky workarounds?”

I know that there are a few older threads here devoted to this topic; I’m going to go review them to see if there is an obvious solution to your issue.

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danielc19920212Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your help. Page markers are checked and are correct. Please check the video you can find here https://www.dropbox.com/t/qM3e2kkRC6hP9SRy. The page number is well assigned in the beginning (wrong in the page pane), but when I add a section marker, the page number changes. And if I delete the text of the page, the even page changes automatically to an odd page.

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

You have “Allow document pages to shuffle” so whenever you do something that changes your document pages, it’s going to shuffle the pages so that they are “correct” ie having the page numbered 1 appear as the first recto page.That is InDesign’s typical default behavior, and if your book-composition workflow requires that you have page 1 set to verso, then you might need to change some settings in order to get it to work.

If you make any changes to a text box, that is likely to try to add pages, because you have Smart Text Reflow turned on in your Preferences, which will attempt to add pages whenever you have text overflow. You have an overflow built into your template, so literally any change to the text frames in your document is likely to force page 1 back to the recto and page 2 to the verso, where you do not want it to appear. That is exactly what Smart Text Reflow is always going to do.

I’d suggest that, upon opening your template, that you select your template pages, then context-click on them and uncheck “Allow Document Pages to Shuffle.” Then turn off Smart Text Reflow in your preferences. This should allow you to work with your template (although adding new pages and getting them to appear in the correct place will become more difficult). I wonder, though, if perhaps there isn’t some less awkward way to make your template file. The last time I was in your shoes (working on a chapter in a book file with lots of graphical content crossing the spine, with a bizarro numbering scheme that forced page 1 of the chapter to the verso) I used a normal page-one-recto file, left the first page blank, and just accepted that the page numbering was going to be incorrect in InDesign until I deleted the blank page 1 and added the chapter to the book file. I don’t know if that method will work for you, but it might be worth thinking about.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

A book has document section and numbering options just like a document has section and numbering options. But these must be in agreement. Pay attention to both the upper half of the dialog box, and the lower half of the dialog box (relative to books) in the Books panel menu button. Putting the pages together of separate documents means thinking physically about page count and page handedness. One way to keep an even page even is to have the book auto add blank pages where necessary.

Mike Witherell

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danielc19920212Author

Participating Frequently

It is happening before creating the book. The template begins in page 2 because the layout usually needs to start on an even page.

Only when all documents are finished I create the book and, yes, the order of the start pages and the book pages numbering are in agreement. I could not work in this way if the first page of the documents were not in their correct place.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Upload the template if you can.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Can you show a screen capture of your Pages panel?

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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danielc19920212Author

Participating Frequently

Sure. Here it is. Please notice that the first page appears as page 1 in the pane, but as it’s set in the template and appears in the automatic number page box, it is numbered as page 2. It turns to an odd page (right page) when an object is inserted and the text overflows and wraps to a new page (please look the second screen capture).

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Without seeing the document, it appears as if you used the wrong marker. It also looks like you might have activated the document pages or selected spread to shuffle from the Pages panel. (If you did a section change, the page would have a small triangle about it like the first page.)

Check your parent pages and make sure they are all using the Current Page Maker.
Remove any parent-page overrides you did on individual pages.
Turn off the document/spread shuffle.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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