Can I transfer master pages from one document to another?

[pfgpowell287]

I am designing a very long book, 550 odd pages and 208,000 words. I have just two master pages so far: A which carries the book title and pages number and B which is blank. Almost all the pages use the A master.

The book has 37 chapters, each with a title, and it occurred to me that it might look better to have each relevant chapter title at the top of each page instead of just the book titel. I always work on a ‘test’ document and have one such in which I have created and additional 37 masters, each different for each chapter.

I am about a third of a way through when I realised I might be wasting my time: I am not working on the main document but on a test document and will have to start from scratch, creating all those masters for the main document.

So I thought I might stop and ask for advice: is there ANY way I can transfer the masters from one document to the other?

I had thought of copying and pasting the main document copy into the test document (the one with the chapter headings) but as the main document is divided into self-contained stories (to enable me to add endnotes with the endnotes of different chapters starting afresh at i, ii, iii, iv etc) I would have to copy and paste the text of each story individually.

That’s fine and I don’t mind doing the work, but in my experience it also leads to all kind of glitches.

So: is there ANY of transferring the 37 master pages I am creating in my test document to the main document, or must I start anew?

[Willi Adelberger]

Move a page from one document to the other (by various means) it carries its master / parent page into the new document.

In the page panel menu you find a command to load master/parent pages from other documents.

Several documents in an INDB can be synchronized and load master/parent pages.

[Willi Adelberger]

But tell us, what makes you to create 37 master page in one document?

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

My takeaway is that the OP is using a separate master for each chapter for header and footer titles. If that's the case, @pfgpowell287, you need to look into how to use running header variables to simplify your structure.

[pfgpowell287]

Thanks for that info, and I would be grateful for further details on how I might achieve that.

You are right that I am using the different masters for separate chapters and I have now completed the job. However, if there is a simpler, more efficient way of doing what I want to do - have the relevant chapter headings at the top of each chapter - I would be pleased to know. Thanks, Patrick

[Barb Binder]

Use the <Running Header> variable. See "Create variables for running headers and footers" on this help page: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/numbering-pages-chapters-sections.html#create_variables_for_r.... You can set it up to pull in the chapter titles by calling in a paragraph style, or part of the title (if it is too long) by calling in a character style.

Once set up InDesign pulls in the content from the page. If you edit the titles, the headers update automatically.

~Barb

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

And curses, Barb beats me to it with a better answer than I might have given. 🙂

InDesign has LOTS of document automation like this that can really streamline and simplify creation of books and other long, complex documents. You're missing out on much of its power if you don't explore these features and learn the ones that can assist you. ID is more than just a "page layout" app.

[Laubender]

Hi @pfgpowell287 ,

be aware that if you use the load parent page feature, all parent pages are always loaded.

You cannot pick one or some parent pages from a source document or source IDML file.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Barb Binder]

Here's a look at the drag and drop option. You can do this one at a time, or you can select the ones you want to copy and move them all over at one time.

~Barb