Inspiring

Question

Opening From Book Changes Page Numbers

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 7, 2025
4 replies
1772 views

I updated an InDesign book file and the document files within the book.

When opening a document from the book the starting page number of the document was changing to 1, SORT OF. I noticed the problem right away because the file immediately went to unsaved. "Automatically Update Page & Section Numbers" on the Book Page Numbering Options dialog was NOT checked. Opening the file separate from the book the page numbers didn't change.

The funkiest part was that visually the page numbers updated on the page, but not in the page pallet and InDesign still "thought" all the numbers were what they should have been. So even though the first page showed "1" if you tried to go to page 1 (Ctrl+J in Windows) it would error saying there is no page 1 in the file.

Re-creating the book fixed the problem.

Has anyone else had similar trouble in 2025?

[EDIT]

After more fiddling it seems that this only occurs if the first page / section in the file is set to "Automatic Page Numbering" with the book NOT set to automatic. We do this so things don't change while editing, but we can still tell it to update all the page numbers if necessary.

Also re-creating the book isn't necessary, you only have to remove the problematic file from the book and add it back in again to make the problem go away.

Thanks,

Ken

Type

K

KenWKAuthor

Inspiring

This just keeps getting better. I have some files that I've opened in InDesign and used a script similar to Peter's that does a Save As. Then I created a new book and added those newly saved files. From the book opening files whose page numbering set to auto causes them to immediately become unsaved. The page numbers are, at least, correct, but something has changed.

If you then save the file it opens from the book properly thereafter.

Interestingly enough if you save the INDD file as IDML (per Eugene's comment), then back to INDD, THEN add it to the book the problem doesn't occur. BUT, given that opening in IDML can potentially change line breaks from what was in the INDD file that created the IDML, I'm not a fan of that tactic, though it likely creates the "cleanest" file.

Does anyone have any clever ideas about how to know what InDesign is seeing as changed?

Also, does anyone know of a way with a script to simulate opening a file from a book by double clicking it in the book pallet?

Thanks again,

Ken

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@KenWK

If you open a Book, and INDD files inside needs refreshing - they'll be shows as edited / unsaved.

And if you save Book - and files inside - next opening of the Book won't have any discrepancies.

With Book, individual files have no idea that they are part of a Book - you can even use the same INDD file as part of multiple Books. But it's most likely, that every time you open a Book - with INDD files that were used in a different Book - InDesign might treat those INDD files as out-of-date for THIS particular Book - probably by checking the last edited date of the INDD file.

If after IDMLing you've lost anything - it means that IDMLing fixed some errors..

K

KenWKAuthor

Inspiring

When you say "and INDD files inside needs refreshing" do you mean the book shows them with the yellow exlamation icon?

It doesn't seem to matter whether the file is showing in the book as out of date. In the scenario I just described they do NOT show out of date in the new book.

When opening a file other than by double clicking it in the book it does not open as unsaved. It only opens as unsaved when double clicked in the book, like the book isn't simply opening the file the same as File > Open would, but is changing something in the file, even though automatic numbering in the book settings is OFF.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Anytime you change indesign version it's best to create a new book file.

Anytime I've opened an Old Indesign book file in a newer version (or vice versa) there are issues.

My workaround for many years is that when it's a new version of InDesign

Open the files in the book in the Old InDesign version - save as IDML

Open the IDML in new version of InDesign - and save as a new files

Create a new Book file - and add the files.

I've been doing that routine for years.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Re-creating the book fixed the problem.

One of the first things to do in a project that goes screwy: Save-As all the component files, then rebuild the Book. The whole structure can be very fragile, especially when edited over multiple sessions.

One of the (subtle) downsides of using a Book is that it makes doing regular Save-As cleanup much more difficult.

Peter Kahrel

Community Expert

> One of the (subtle) downsides of using a Book is that it makes doing regular Save-As cleanup much more difficult.

This script makes that easy:

https://creativepro.com/files/kahrel/indesign/book-panel-extras.html

K

KenWKAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for the script, Peter. Much appreciated.

I have to admit to having some things written for similar functions.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

Was the Book initially created in 2024 / something older?

And 2025 is quite buggy anyway...

K

KenWKAuthor

Inspiring

Yes, it was created in 2024.

The problem was already in the bug report page with a bunch of people commenting.

An Adobe rep commented to manually tell the book to renumber but that doesn't fix the problem for me, it still changed the page number when it shouldn't when a file is opened.

Re-creating the book (will by my option) or removing and adding the documents back in has fixed it for me 3 of 3 thus far.

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