How to turn off auto page numbering with special character marker after parent is applied.

[Zac12]

Hey all,

I'm fairly new to InDesign. What I've done is created a book with a parent spread that includes a text field with the Type>Insert Special Character>Markers>Current Page Number on both pages of the spread, and I'm effectively using the page numbers of a dedicated section in the document as a counter for something being listed per page of the book.

The issue I've encountered is that I cannot add pages (image pages for example) throughout the doc without throwing off the number sequence, since it's tied to the page numbers. What i'd like to do is lock in the automated page number text once it's on the page so that I can insert pages throughout the document without throwing off the numbers that were already generated.

I've tried overriding parent page items and locking the text fields on the pages, but every time I insert a new page it still somehow autoupdates.

[Thunder-Lightning · Accepted solution]

Hi, that is what the cuurent page number marker suppose to do. If you don't want auto numbering then:

1. remove the marker from the parent spread and manually put in numbers on your pages, or

2. right-click on a page thumbnail in the Pages panel and choose 'Numbering & Section Options…' to create a section from that page onwards and set a new Start Page Numbering from this page.

[Zac12]

Thanks, I understand that that's the purpose of the current page number marker, and it was doing what I wanted it to do. I was hoping for an option that would lock in the auto numbering in the text field so that I could move pages around once they were numbered without affecting or updating the number itself. Your option two worked fine though. Appreciate the tip.

[Barb Binder]

What i'd like to do is lock in the automated page number text once it's on the page so that I can insert pages throughout the document without throwing off the numbers that were already generated.

Does this mean you don't want page numbers on the pages with the images and you don't want to account for the pages with the images? For example, if your document is numbered one through four, and you add two pages for images in front of page 4, you now want the sixth page to be numbered 4?

from 1, 2, 3, 4

to 1, 2, 3, image, image, 4?

If I'm understanding you correctly, you can right-click the page  icon in 4 the Pages panel and manually change the numbering from 6 back to 4 again. If you don't tell InDesign, it will always increment the page numbers when you add additional pages.

~Barb

[Zac12]

Thanks Barb, I was hoping to avoid manually dealing with page numbers since the quantity is so large, but I appreciate your suggestion!