How do I reorder/rearrange parent pages on InDesign?

[viastudio]

Every time I try to move a parent page, it applies the style rather than moving the page up or down. Please help!

[Angela Roche]

YOu can do it — its just very fiddly

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[Sebastian32381144cvaa]

I know. But it is a UX fail if have to ask Google how it works.

[KDH123]

Hi there, having read lots of solutions of how to do this, everyone misses out a key point. To move the parent pages you need to select the hamburger in the top right of the box and place a tick by 'Allow Document Pages to Shuffle'. Then when you grab the parent page to move it up or down it will give you a horizontal line between the pages where you can drop it to move it. Hope this helps everyone!

[turner111]

Cool - I'll check this out.

FWIW, Parent Pages aren't Document Pages... 

[giuseb]

As @turner111 wrote, document pages are not the same as parent pages. In any case, toggling that switch does not help.

[giuseb]

Same problem here (macOS 14.5, InDesign 19.5)

None of the suggestions, including Jumbo-ing the parent page icons or dragging by the name, seem to work.

As soon as you start dragging, the "apply parent" icon appears and no drop lines are ever shown.

[Fritz Hansen]

I had this problem a year or so ago, but it resolved soon afterward. It appears to have been a glitch in the software. It was not an issue of knowing how to drag the page icon to a different position. I don't recall what, if anything, I did to fix the situation. Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling InDesign? 

[leo.r]

Try standard troubleshooting steps - sometimes it helps resolve weird UI glithes:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

[Peter Kahrel]

If all else fails or if there are many parent pages to sort, you can use this script:

https://creativepro.com/files/kahrel/indesign/sort-parent-pages.html

[giuseb]

@Peter Kahrel, thanks for the hint.

The script runs without errors (InDesign 19.5, macOS 14.6.1), but the resulting IDML file cannot be opened:

Please note that I have no issues with other IDML files.

Thanks for your help,

Giuseppe

[Peter Kahrel]

Sorry. I fixed that bug yesterday but didn't upload it. I've done that now.

[giuseb]

BRILLIANT! Many thanks for your help, it worked perfectly.

My only concern is whether the INDD→IMDL→INDD round-trip might result in information loss, as I read that the native file format keeps track of many advanced aspects that get lost in translation...

[Peter Kahrel]

In my experience the roundtrip is fine. But do check whether the before and after documents are the same, e.g. page and paragraph count.

[RogueFour]

A bit late to the party I know, but the easiest method I've found is deselecting the Show Vertically for Parent Pages in the Panel Options window. In the same panel as suggested above, but you don't need to alter the page size. It seems much easier to move the pages around.

Hope this helps someone. Such a small thing, but so frustrating for us that need to move the parent pages!

[giuseb]

@RogueFour, nothing seems to change for me using your suggestion.

Thanks, Giuseppe

[Julianna3321290660cz]

Thank you for this suggestion! It's the only thing that's worked for me. I don't get a little horizontal or vertical line when I hover between the pages, but I can still move and place the pages successfully in the gray space. Yep, a small thing, but super frustrating all the same.

[TylerDraws · Accepted solution]

Drag and drop to reorder Parent Pages only works when I uncheck "Allow Documents Pages to Shuffle." With it on, I had the same problem.

[Laubender]

Hi @TylerDraws ,

that's it! Yes. Thanks a lot!

[1] Uncheck option "Allow Document Pages to Shuffle"

[2] And as I tested this you also have to drag the area where the prefix of the parent page name is visible.

If I try to move the parent page when having the cursor sit on "parent page" instead of e.g. "A" of the parent page's complete name it does not work.

Tested with InDesign 2024 version 19.5.0.84 on macOS 12.7.1

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )