How to edit the page numbers in indesign by Find/Change?

[Eyoung 16]

In fact, I would like to be able to use Find/Change to replace some of the numbers in my automatically generated page numbers. For example, I would like to replace "1" with "/", but I find that Find/Change does not work for this idea. Is there a way to do this?

If you can help me find a solution to this problem, I would be very, very grateful!

[Manan Joshi · Accepted solution]

Does using the the following not find the page number

Find What(Text) :- ^#

See the screenshot of what seems to work for me

-Manan 

[Eyoung 16]

Thank you very much. Your suggestion helped a bit, I needed to separate the text frame from the home page before I could run it. But when I encounter a number like 106, it turns the whole "106" into a "/"

Regards

[Laubender]

@Eyoung 16 said: "… when I encounter a number like 106, it turns the whole "106" into a "/" "

Yes, that's the way it works. With a Text Find pattern like ^# you will find the special character that constitutes the auto page number. This auto page number is one single entity. If you change the special character you always change the whole result, all of a given auto page number.

There is no way to change the 1 of the rendered auto page number 106 to /06 with Text Find/Change or GREP Find/Change.

For this you need a different approach. You have to use a new page section entry in the Pages panel where the numbering starts anew and is defined with perhaps 01, 02, 03 and so on. And a simple slash, no special character, before it. You'd also need a new parent spread with new parent pages that will be applied to the pages of that page section.

Ok. All in all I think it's easier to do the edits manually. Document pge by page.

I'm not sure of course, because I do not know your document and now I'm not so clear what you like to accomplish. Show some screenshot perhaps. And more explanations.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

[Eyoung 16]

Yes. I am designing a book of about 300 pages and I would like to be able to do something special with page numbers. As I said above, I would like to replace all 1-0 using letters or symbols. Thank you for your help, so it does seem more appropriate to make the changes manually.

Regards,

Eyoung

[Peter Spier]

Actually, there might be a solution to automate this. You need a font with the glyphs you want to use in the various number positions. I think you mightbe able tomake this using InDyFont: https://www.indiscripts.com/category/projects/IndyFont

As I recall, the demo only does single character fonts so you'd need to buy the pro version, but it would allow you to automate your page numbering.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Automatic page numbering uses fields. I am not sure the numbers can be edited while the auto-numbering is active, especially if (as is usual) the field is on a parent page.

Or maybe it's just something I've never tried. 🙂

—

[Eyoung 16]

Yes. There doesn't seem to be a better way to do it than to change it manually, thanks for the answer.

[Laubender]

Hi @Eyoung 16 ,

if the automatic page number is on a parent page and you want to substitute it on a given document page you have to detach the text frame holding the auto page number from the parent page. On a document page Ctrl + Shift (Windows) or Cmd + Shift (Mac) click the frame and then run Manan's Text Find pattern on the selected text frame.

Note:
You cannot find the auto page number that is showing up as "1" in your document with GREP Find or TEXT Find. What you can find is the special character, the "generic" one for an auto page number. Like Manan is showing this. InDesign cannot tell an auto page number "1" from an auto page number "2" or a "001".

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

[Peter Spier]

Seems to me that once you've overridden the page number and selected it it makes more sense to just change it manually instead of running find/change.

[Laubender]

Hi Peter,

of course. The more when I read this by our OP @Eyoung 16 :

"…But when I encounter a number like 106, it turns the whole "106" into a "/" "

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )