import a master page on multiple documents

Salut Barbara, from Rocky Mountain country !

I admit it : I love InDesign drop cap !

And thank you for the very interesting comparison between FrameMaker and InDesign.

Both softwares seem to be very close.

Salut, Pierre!

Did FrameMaker's lack of automatic drop caps send you running to InDesign? LOL

FrameMaker has File > Import > Formats, which allows you to import specific formatting categories from one file to another, or from one file to the selected files in a book. InDesign handles this with the Sync command in the book file. The idea behind it is the same — you can standardize the formatting across all of the documents in a book. It has the same hazards that FrameMaker has, in that you can inadvertently overwrite formatting that was intentionally different. When you are ready to sync, my best tip is use Sync Options and not Sync Book so that you can choose exactly what you want to sync (equivalent to Fm's check marks.)

I would take a similar approach in InDesign to the layout that you were doing FrameMaker. Create a new document and set it up as completely as possible. Set up the parent pages (master pages in Fm) with the running heads, page numbers, and page structure. On the body pages, add sample text so that you can define your paragraph and character styles, and decide how you want to handle tables and graphics. Focus on one chapter until you get it perfect.

InDesign is different in that it has an actual template format. So once you get the file set up you can delete the content and then save the shell as an InDesign template (.indt file). In both applications, it's ideal to get the formatting right while you're still working on the template so that you can use that template as a basis for each of your new documents and not think about it again. However, we are humans who make mistakes/change our minds, so in both applications, you can correct mistakes after the files are set up using Import Formats or Sync Options to copy the updates to the other files in the book.

As for the actual page numbering, ignore it in the chapter files (as I recommend in FrameMaker). Once you add your chapters to the Book window, you define the numbering with Book Page Numbering Options. All of the book commands are in the Book panel menu.

~Barb

Ok. You advise me to use synchronization between the chapters of my book.

In that case, I would like to set page numbering on chapter 1 (at the top of each page), and synchronize in order to have automatically the page numbering applied inside chapter 2 and 3 (at the top of each page). How to do it ?

In fact, I would like to create an empty Indesign document (template) where I set the page number.

Then I would like to import the format (page numbering only) of my template inside the 3 chapters of my book in one go. Is it possible ?

One way would be to add all the documents to an InDesign Book (.indb file) and use the synchronize feature to add the Parent page to all docs in which it is missing or defined differently.

I would be very careful about syncronizing anything else, however, if the docuemtns are not intended to always be used together. You can accidentally wind up with new style definitions and incorrect page numbering very easily.