InDesign Book Import Causing Layout Shifts

[lannand]

Why do my document layouts change when I import them into a book document in InDesign?  All of my chapter images and text shift and don't retain the format of the original saved document.

Eek!

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[Abhishek Rao · Accepted solution]

Hi @lannand,

I’m sorry to hear about the issues with your document layouts shifting when importing into a book document.

To better assist you, could you please provide the following details:
1. Which version of InDesign are you using?
2. What OS are you running?
3. Is this happening with a single file or multiple documents?
4. If possible, could you share a screen recording showing the workflow where the issue occurs? This will help us better understand the problem.

Here are a few things to check that might resolve the issue:
1. Ensure that all your chapter documents have the same page size, margins, and bleed settings as your book document.
2. Verify that the styles and master pages used in the chapter documents are consistent with those in the book file.
3. Check for any missing or updated links in the "Links Panel".

Looking forward to your response so we can help you resolve this!

Thank you, 
Abhishek Rao

[lannand]

Thank you for replying so fast!  I'm in the latest InDesign I'm on Mac Sonoma 14.6.1 ...I'm just very new at this and have to have the files completed very soon.  It's seems to only be happening with a large text file.  I can't screen shot the file (private document) but, I will follow your suggestions! These are things I never even considered, and didn't see anything resembling it when I googled it.   Being new at InDesign I'm sure it's something I did.    I will let you know how it goes.  Thank you so much!

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Are you synchronizing the Book after assembling it? That will map the formatting from a selected chapter to all the others.

Otherwise, an INDD file shouldn't care/change/break just because it's in a Book. It's still the same standalone file as well.

Update Numbering can cause files to shift their starting page to maintain odd-even flow as well, which might mess up a non-flexible layout.

[lannand]

I'll try that.  I'm very new to InDesign so my apologies.  Just I have a deadline and this is causing panic!  LOL.  Thank you

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

No worries, we've all been there. I meant, though, that if you had done either operation, it might mess up your pages... but if you didn't, not knowingly at least, it's hard to say how a Book could be having this effect.

But yes, as above, it's essential that all component files have exactly the same page layout, and ideally identical styles. Mixing and matching either can cause all kinds of problems when you try to export.

MAKE A FULL BACKUP before you start messing with this!

[lannand]

Thank you!