Different Headers for Left and Right Pages

[Guest]

One more question for the forum.  When we create books using InDesign we want to have different headers for right pages and left pages and only starting on page two.  In other words, the first page of a chapter will never have a header, and then all subsequent pages need to have one of two different headers depending on whether that page ends up being a left-page or right-page.  These conventions are traditional for book design but I can't figure out how to do it.  How can I go about this?  Thanks!

[BobLevine]

Different masters with text variables on them.

Check the help on it and if you need more specific assistance, ask away.

[AnneMarie Concepcion · Accepted solution]

What Bob said. But a bit more detail to get you on your way.  I'll assume  you've  set up  your  doc as facing pages (2-page  spreads).

Create at least 2 master pages,  each will be a 2-page spread.

1. Chapter opener, with whatever header/footer you want or don't want. You'll probably  want a current  page number placeholder (from Type > Insert Special Characters > Markers) in a text frame somewhere in the master's header or footer. Even if you'll  only use the right-facing page (if all your  chapter start on the right), it's fine to have a 2-page master.
2. Main text, with the same page number  placeholder,  positioned where you want on each side of the 2-page spread. If the headers remain the  same throughout the book (static headers), then add them here, one for the left-facing page, and different static text in the right-facing page. If one or both headers will change  based on the chapter name/section (or whatever), don't insert static text, instead use InDesign's Variables feature (Type > Variables > Insert Variable).

The Help documentation can help with understanding Variables, or ask away here.

Then  you flow in the text to the book, applying masters as you go, or just use the Main text master as the default (apply it to page 1), auto-flow the text so it creates pages and flows the text in as necessary, then apply the Chapter Opener master to the chapter opener pages.

AM

[Guest]

Thanks for the guidance.  It helps a lot.  But what would I do if I want something like three masters -- one which would always be the first page of an article (with a page number on the bottom, a title section, but not an actual header), a second (with a page number on the bottom and a header whenever this page ends up being a right-sided page), and then a third (with a page number on the bottom and a header to use whenever this page ends up being a left-sided page).  All of this can be imagined thinking about any book, as this is standard formatting for the first page of a chapter in a book, followed by left and right pages.

The only solution I could imagine from my level of knowledge with InDesign is to create only two master pages whereby the first has both the "first page" title as well as the "subsequent page" header and then delete the header manually every time I use this template from the first page.  But surely there's a better way.

Thanks!

[BobLevine]

Less is NOT more.

Create multiple masters, each having the elements you need. If you plan it properly, you can base one master on another so elements, such as page numbers, that will appear on all pages only need to be added to the base master page.

[Guest]

Thanks, Bob.  So if I design three masters -- a page one master, a subsequent left-page master, and a subsequent right-page master -- how would I tell InDesign to use each of the three in this order?

[BobLevine]

You apply them properly to the live pages. Easiest method is to drag the master onto the live page using page proxies.

May I take the liberty of suggesting a really good book?

InDesign CC: Visual QuickStart Guide by Sandee Cohen https://amzn.to/2BIrq7B

It should be on the bookshelf of any InDesign beginner.

[Guest]

Thanks, Bob, for your hints and book suggestion.  In some ways, such as typography, I am quite an advanced user but I haven't done much of anything advanced with master pages.  Usually, I set up the master pages do work automatically but you seem to suggest that I have them set in the template to be used as-needed.  This makes a lot of sense, I just hadn't thought of using them that way.  Thanks!

[Guest]

On second thought, it would be much easier to have InDesign automatically apply three different master pages, if possible, because we are working with long articles and manually applying master pages to live pages would sometimes be tedious.  I understand that I could make two-facing left and right master pages which are used automatically and then have an alternate master page to apply manually to the first page.  But is there not a way to tell InDesign to automatically use a single page master page for the first page and then all subsequent pages automatically conform to a separate two-page master page spread?  Then we would have the first page along with both left and right subsequent pages automatically generated.  This would be incredible.  Is it possible?  Thanks`!

[BobLevine]

Take a walk down the hall to the scripting forum and ask there. Someone might be able to bang something out.

[Steve Werner]

Here's the link to the InDesign Scripting forum:

InDesign Scripting