Controlling whether a single page is a left-hand page or a right-hand page

Question

In a document with facing pages, in the Pages palette, with shuffling turned on, we can shuffle left-hand pages to the right to make them right-hand pages, and vice versa.

But when separating spreads into single pages, they still act as either left-hand pages or right-hand pages, indicated by a ‘spine line’ on the left or the right of the page icon in the palette. And I've been unable to find any info helping me to control whether such a page acts as a left-hand page or a right-hand page – that is, any way of changing its left or right state.

Sure, there are workarounds, like reconnecting pages to spreads and then shuffling the pages in the spreads and then disconnecting them again, but I was hoping Adobe had actually included a way of simply setting whether a page acts as a left-hand page or a right-hand page, without any need for workarounds.

Maybe a script could solve this, but again, it seems Adobe should just allow users to quickly and simply set a page’s state to left or right in the Pages palette – by maybe simply adding this option under Page attributes.

But I've failed to find any such options in the application or to find any info on the subject online.

Does anyone here have any insight on the subject? Are there any options to control the left or right state of single pages?

Kellerman Design · Accepted Answer

Yes, I'm in full control of where a dragged page ends up on the resulting spread (its internal position in relation to the page I'm dragging it to), but the point is that I don't have any control over whether the new spread consists of left-hand or right-hand pages, or even where the spine on the spread ends up.

Look at the attached screen grab. I can drag page one to the left or right edges of page [2], or vice versa (drag page [1] to the left or right edge of page [2]), and in either of these four scenarios, I will end up with a spread like [5-6] (just below [1] and [2]). That is: if I combine two right-hand pages into one spread, I'll end up with a spread consisting of two right-hand pages, with the spine going along the leftmost page on the spread (and not in the middle of the spread).

And if I drag page [4] to the right edge of page [3] I'll end up with a normal spread, where the left-hand and right-hand page combine to a spread with the spine between these two pages, looking like spread [7–8] (just below page [3] and [4]). If on the other hand I drag, page [4] to the left edge of page [3], or even drag page [3] to the right edge of page [4], this too will result in a spread just like [5–6], with two right hand pages and the spine on the left of the spread instead of in the middle of the spread.

No matter how I drag either page to any other page, have I found a way to control whether the dragged page changes its left or right status, so if there's a trick that achieves that control, please let me in on the secret.

How do I, for instance, drag page [2] (a right-hand page) to page [1] (another right-hand page) in a way that combines the two right hand pages into a spread like [7–8] (with a left-hand page, and a right-hand page, with the spine in the middle) … as opposed to a spread like [5–6] (with two right-hand pages and the spine on the left of the entire spread)?

AHH!! Finally.

So the trick is that it's not enough to just drag a page onto another page, which only leaves you with the options I've been stating. But depending on your needs, you need to also drag it past the other page, which then flips the mouse pointer icon horizontally to indicate that the left-right status of the page will indeed be flipped by dragging the page to that position.

This is appears to be what I've we've looking for. I don't know if that covers all possible scenarios, but it certainly allows for far more control, than when only dragging pages onto other pages.

Willi Adelberger · Answer

Start with an even page number to make a single page document left side.
You can change the number, select the page thumbnail in the page panel and in the panel menu go to the section settings to change the first page number.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded