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InDeisign 17 page deletion issue

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 12, 2022
5 replies
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I’ve been using InDesign for a few years, so I’m not a newby but not an expert. I’m having a strange problem with version 17 on a Mac (Big Sur), which I never had with earlier versions. I’m working on a book that is around 210 pages long. I flowed the text (from a Word doc) into InDesign without any problems, and applied styles, did copyediting, etc. All good. Then I added a few blank pages at the beginning of the document for the front matter–title page, table of contents, dedication, etc. After adding content to these pages, I noticed there were still a few extra blank pages between the front matter and the body of the text. When I tried to delete these pages, the problems started. For example, if I delete the spread on pages 6-7, duplicate pages are added to the beginning and a spread at the very end of the document is deleted. I’ve tried unchecking the “Allow Selected Spread to Reshuffle” option, but it doesn’t fix the problem. Any ideas out there about what’s going on?

Thanks

Bug

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Correct answer Barb Binder

Hi @TL99:

Thank you for sharing the file. I just had the chance to take a look.

Are you trying to remove the content on 6 & 7 from the document? In that situation, highlight the content on both pages with the Type tool and press Backspace or Delete. This will remove the existing content and everything in the document will move up two pages to close the gap.

If I'm misunderstanding the question of course, please clarify. I have your file so it won't take me long to give you an answer.

~Barb

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Excellent, @TL99. We are always happy to help.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Correct answer

Community Expert

Hi @TL99:

Thank you for sharing the file. I just had the chance to take a look.

Are you trying to remove the content on 6 & 7 from the document? In that situation, highlight the content on both pages with the Type tool and press Backspace or Delete. This will remove the existing content and everything in the document will move up two pages to close the gap.

If I'm misunderstanding the question of course, please clarify. I have your file so it won't take me long to give you an answer.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

TL99Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Barb,

Using the TYPE tool to delete the content worked! It was as simple as that, thanks. I had been using the SELECT tool which didn't work. Thanks again.

TL99

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @TL99:

I am happy to look at the file, if you feel comfortable sharing it. You can put it on dropbox and post a link here (public) or click my name above this post and message it to me (private). Be sure to include the exact steps that you are following to produce this behavior.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

TL99Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Barb,

Here's the link to the file in Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwfzeuxqtt104ru/Bachman%20Adobe%20REV.indd?dl=0

Here's what's going on: Note that the last page is 209. The spread I want to delete is pages 6-7. When I select the spread and hit delete pages 208-209 are deleted, not 6-7.

Thank you very much for taking a look at this!

TL99

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @TL99:

Are you using primary frames with Smart text reflow enabled in Preferences > Type? If so, adding and deleting pages gets very confusing because InDesign needs manipulate the number of pages to keep the text from becoming overset. It feels like it has a mind of its own sometimes. I think enabling View > Extras > Show Text Threads makes it easier to see what is going on.

If that doesn't help, come back and let us know and we can offer additional information.

~Barb

Edit: Sorry @Diane Burns . I was trying to recreate the problem—and couldn't—so my answer came in a little late. Wasn't trying to duplicate your answer.

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

TL99Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for getting back to me. I turned off Preferences > Smart Text Reflow and deleted all the extra characters at the end of the document, but the behavior is exactly the same. When I delete a spread on pages 6-7, the content I was trying to delete is duplicated on new pages and a spread at the very end of the document is deleted. I also turned on View > Extras > Show Text Threads, which appears to show a sequential set of links from the beginning to the end of the document. Anything else I can try?

TL99Author

Participating Frequently

Just a thought from reading your exact description: you do know that content and page frames are not (necessarily) linked? That is, deleting a spread or its text frames from the middle of a flowing story will not delete the content of those frames — ID will do its magic to make room for that content on other pages.

The only time deleting a frame and deleting content is synchronous is when you delete a single, unlinked frame or all linked frames in a series (usually just a few).

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. Is there a way to delete both pages and the content on those pages?

Diane Burns

Inspiring

You might check Preferences > Smart Text Reflow and turn it off. Also, make sure you don't have non-printing characters lurking after the story, such as paragraph returns, etc. Last character in the text flow should be #, the end of story character.

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