Exporting spreads from a book

[yerkanian]

Hi everyone. I've tried looking for an answer before posting this, but I couldn't find anything. 

So I have a book, a paperback version and an ebook, divided into many chapters. 
When exporting a pdf for print the chapters which have only one page export as a single pdf page and do not continue the previous chapter. 
Let's say chapter one's last page is on the left, and chapter 2 should start on the right, next to it, but it starts as a single page, so it messes up the entire layout. 

I'm sure there is a good fix for this in the settings, but I've looked everywhere and can't find it. 
Please help :))

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I'm not clear on a few details from your description, but it sounds as if InDesign's export to PDF is doing exactly what it's supposed to. If each chapter file begins on a right-hand page (recto), then that's how it will export, even if that leaves a blank page before or after, depending on how much content there is. That's the normal (formal) way books are organized.

If what you want is continuous page use, with no blank pages and chapters beginning on either the right or left, then honestly the best way to manage it is to have all the chapters in one file. (Splitting books into separate chapters is... too often done when all that accomplishes is more complexity in managing it.) But the solution is to organize the chapter INDD files into a single Book file, and use the Book features to control how the whole thing is exported. (There are features for controlling page numbering from chapter file to chapter file, and to control which page each chapter starts on.) You'll also have to remove all blank pages from your chapters, if, for example, one of your one-page chapters automatically included an additional left (verso) page.

Is that enough of a pointer to get you going? You can look up help and tutorials on the Book feature for more organized details, or ask away here.

[yerkanian]

Hi James,

Thank you for your prompt response.

Originally, the book was structured as a single InDesign file. However, due to the presence of footnotes requiring chapter-wise numbering restarts, I had to divide it into separate chapters.

I intend to maintain the layout from the original single InDesign file. Chapter endings can occur on either the left or right side; this detail isn't crucial. When a chapter concludes on the left side, a blank facing page follows, and the subsequent chapter commences on the right side, with a blank page on its left.

I hope this clarifies any potential confusion.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

That's a little clearer, yes, thanks. And things like numbering are one (good) reason for using a Book model. (Far too often, relatively inexperienced designers use it because they think they have to, or that it's better than a combined file... so had to get that in.)

I'm still not completely clear on what the prloblem is and what your goal is. Do you want all chapters to start on right hand pages, and they're not? Or do you want content to be continuous, with chapters starting on the first avaiable page, left or right?

If you want all chapters to start on the right, all of the component files must have a final even-numbered, left page. The Book management and export won't insert blank pages unless it's set to do so.

More importantly, if you want continuous content, there can't be any blank pages at the end of each chapter.

Everything else, as I recall, is dependent on the Book settings. I think everything comes down to this menu, which is under the Book pane's 'hamburger menu' icon:

Does that look familiar?

[yerkanian]

Yes, this looks familiar 🙂 And all these settings were correct, but I was exporting the pdf as spreads, instead of single pages, that's why the chapters' first page was exporting as a single page and not a spread. 

Now everything is perfect! 
Thank you for your time and help!

[yerkanian · Accepted solution]

Found the problem! 
I was exporting spreads instead of single pages with a two-up continues (cover page) setup.