How to add multiple Page numbers in single page in InDesign?

[shahidr100]

Hello

I am into a situation where I need to give one single page 2 page numbers. One in English starting from 1 and other in Arabic starting from any number I wish. It may start with 1 and after 5 pages it can be renewed.

I came up with a solution but its bit difficult to implement. First of all there are 6 Volumes of Book, each book contains approx 1500 pages.

For English I have created a PageNo Paragraph style and in Master Page I have created a text frame and applied this style. This works great and gets renewed on every page. 

For Arabic Page number I have created Paragraph Style named ArabicPageNo with bullet and Numbering enabled with Number Format set to #. I have created another text frame on the Master page for this style.

The problem is that on each page I have to unlock text box for Arabic Page Number and give a space to make this work. Considerign the fact that each volume has approx 1500 pages, it will be very difficult.

Any better solution will be helpful.

Screenshot attached of a sample page from the original book.

Thanks.

<Title renamed by moderator>

[Bill Silbert]

Could you explain why it is necessary to unlock the Arabic text frames? You said that you need to add a space within each Arabic frame. Why can't that space be added on the Parent (Master) page?

[shahidr100]

Hi thanks for the reply.
If I dont give space after unlocking, it wont show the number as a style of
bullet and numbering is applied to it.

The moment i give space, it shows 1 and again for next page i have to
unlock and give space to show 2.

[Bill Silbert]

I ask again, why can't you just make a larger frame on the Parent Page?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

. 

[shahidr100]

Hello
Thanks for the reply.my concern is how will I populate it with a page
number automatically?
By default page number marker increments automatically. I am using this
marker for English numbers.
BUT for numbers in arabic language, i cannot use the same marker because it
does not always start with 1. It can start with say 340 or 500 or some
other number. I dont want to type arabic number because there are 7 volumes
in a book and each volume contains approx 1500 pages.

Thanks.

[Robert at ID-Tasker · Accepted solution]

If you have to restart Arabic counter many times in the same INDD file - and it can restart from any number - then I don't think you can do it automatically - there is only one "page counter" per file. 

You could maybe make it a bit easier by creating already pre-populated story - with one TextFrame per page - insted of overriding from Master Page - but you'll still need to manually restart the numbering.