Automatic Page Numbering — Booklets

[Lorie Zweifel]

I am desperately searching for an answer I know someone is sure to give me.

I have a booklet layout with a 28 page (14 spreads). So, there are 7 pieces of paper, printed both sides. Page 18-1, 2-17, 16-3, 4-15, 14-5, 6-13 etc... I need to add some additional spreads (multiples of 4 of course) but for the life of me I can not get the numbers to continue in sequence. I am going mad!!! Please help!

[jmlevy]

I am not sure to understand: 

1.  if your booklet has 28 pages, you will get 28-1, 2-27, and so on (not 18, 17, 16…)
2.  how will this booklet will be printed? Imposition is the printer's job, not yours

[Lorie Zweifel]

Thank you for your reply...  You are correct....  I had 18 pages so my first spread shows 18-1 and then 2-17 and 16-3 and 4-15 and then 14-5.  This is where I inserted 4 new pages (2 spreads), however the numbering on these new pages are 12-13, 14-15...  then it returns to the proper sequence of 6-19, 18-7, 8-17, 16-9, 10-15, 14-11.  It does not alter the numbers to keep in sequence when I add new pages.  The reason for this is that the pages are 11 x 8.5 which will be printed and then folded, but each individual "page" is actually 4.25 8.5.  Am I doing this completely wrong? 

[jmlevy]

The main question is: why do you want to impose yourself the document? That's not your job. Why don't you setup your document as a 4.25 x 8.5 facing pages with 28 pages and use the automatic numbering for each page? 

[Creamer Training]

>>Am I doing this completely wrong? 

Unfortunately, yes. You should build your booklet in reader spreads (1, 2-3, 4-5, etc.) and not printer spreads. 

Most likely, your pages have been sectioned in the Pages panel to "hard code" the page number. If that is accurate, you will have to remove this setting to update the number. (Double click on the little triangles over each page in the Pages panel and enter in the correct number.)

Normally, the printer would handle the imposition (rearranging the pages). If you are printing the job yourself, InDesign  can do  it with the Print Booklet feature, or if you export a PDF, Acrobat Pro can do it too.

If you want to keep working in printer spreads, you need to resection the pages to the correct numbers. An easy way to remember how to number the pages is to take your final page count and add one (in this case, 28+1=29) with the high/low page numbers alternating. Each spreads numbers have to equal 29: pages 28+1, pages 2+27, page 26+3, etc.)

The disadvantage of working in printer spreads is you will have to renumber the pages each time the page count changes. I would definitely look into working with reader spreads.

[rob day]

The reason for this is that the pages are 11 x 8.5 which will be printed and then folded, but each individual "page" is actually 4.25 8.5. Am I doing this completely wrong?

Hi @Lorie Zweifel , If you are trying to print your own booklets in-house, and are not sending your document to a commercial printer, there is InDesign’s Print Booklet feature, or you can Export a PDF and use Acrobat’s Booklet feature, which is part of the Acrobat Print dialog.

Commercial printers handle the impostion of pages, and would expect single pages in reader order in order to setup their imposition.

The InDesign Print Booklet dialog looks like this and outputs 2-up printer spreads:

[Robert Tkaczyk]

As already mentioned - do your document as page-by-page with spreads controlled by InDesign - and then generate PDF. This way you can add pages whenever and wherever you need. 

Printing place will take care of the rest. 

And even if you plan to print it on your own printer - most printers can handle simple booklet option in the printer's driver - with or without duplex option. 

And if you have a professional printer with a booklet maker... 🙂 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

If you are working in print spreads for good reasons, you may simply have to manually number your pages. It's not that hard with only 28 pages and they are unlikely to move after the first few stages of layout.

[Lorie Zweifel]

Solved, thank you all for your helpful suggestions.

[Creamer Training]

Can you post your solution for future reference by others?

[Robert Tkaczyk]

Pretty sure she started from scratch - done the document properly 😉