InDesign is selecting the wrong page in page display

Bug? No bug, the difference between a single click (selection, for an action for example) and double clicking (navigating to, depending on where you double click, left, right, or under on the numers). Or simply use the pop up menu for pages in the left lower corner where the page number is also listed.

or use Cmnd (Ctrl on PC) J

Maybe follow some more classes or look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0D5ePoHx9c

Great reference, @Mike Witherell and worth the re-read. 

@Thomas_Calvin Have you figured out yet that Sync Options is a better practice than Sync Book (because it forces you to consider what you are—and are not—syncing)?

~Barb

Here is the too-subtle language from the helpx files:

Ha. Here you are! 

Your final image is what is was referring to by  "And Leo has an excellent example of the perils of the Pages panel in his second screen shot—the page numbers 4–5 are selected but the page icons on some other spread are selected. They need to all be blue." I call that view "Never Never Land"—not sure what Mike calls it—but it's a place you don't ever want to be. It happens when you single click and don't double click when navigating with the Pages panel. 

As for training classes, how effective they are depends on the instructor. A lot of people teach InDesign, but don't know it well. In my opinion, they need to know InDesign, they need to use it for layout outside of class, they need to be effective communicators and in your specific case, they need to understand long document layout, which is very different from designing brochures and flyers, etc. You would likely benefit from a custom class tailored to your specific needs, rather than most of the public classes out there.

Or maybe this course would be both beneficial and cost-effective: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/indesign-creating-long-documents-13887227/creating-indesign-book-files though you might want to skim David Blatner's Essentials Training first. Mastering the interface is surprisingly important, as you are learning.

~Barb

Hello again, @Thomas_Calvin:

I'm going to visually support the other helpful answers already here...

I head off this confusion by having all my students undock the Pages panel, keep it visible and focus on using it for page navigation. As you are belatedly figuring out, the blue highlighting is critical.

Below, I am showing with Mike is saying. (BTW, we are both InDesign instructors. As a matter of fact, Mike taught InDesign a million years ago because he saw the writing on the wall noting PageMaker's demise so much more quickly than I did.)

• When I double click the page 2 icon, page 2 is selected and is centered. The page 2 thumbnail and the page numbers underneaath are both blue. 
• When I double click the page 3 icon, page 3 is selected and is centered. The page 3 thumbnail and the page numbers underneaath are both blue. 
• When I double click the dash between pages 2 and 3, the spread is selected and centered. The thumbnail for the spread and the page numbers are both blue. 

To get to the A-Parent, double click the words A-Parent. Both the page icons and the words A-Parent will be blue.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Mike and say you can also change the selected spread by scrolling and clicking/selecting—but you always have one eye on the Pages panel to be sure you are where you think you are. And Leo has an excellent example of the perils of the Pages panel in his second screen shot—the page numbers 4–5 are selected but the page icons on some other spread are selected. They need to all be blue.

It's tough to teach yourself a mature application like InDesign without buying a book or taking a class. There are so many little things to trip us up that just aren't obvious or discoverable.

~Barb

Hi Thomas,

Why would you have 4 triangles indicating Start Sections in the first 5 pages? What really are you trying to do?

If I was going to add or remove or move pages around, the first thing I would do is get out of the Type tool and into the black Selection tool. Page icons in the Pages panel can be targeted by clicking the individual page icon for an individual page, or selected by double-clicking the individual page icon or double-clicking the number label beneath the Page Spread icons to target a spread and also to be selected to and viewing that page or spread. A technique I would not practice is sliding up and down the OS vertical scrolling slider to go from page spread to page spread. Cmd/Ctrl+J is the go-to-page command. I like to be targeted to the page icon and viewing the page before I operate the Type tool in that page.

To illustrate the point made by @Robert at ID-Tasker, in the Pages panel you can select multiple pages or deselect all pages. Basically, in the Pages panel you can only reliably identify the active spread by its highlighted page numbers, but not the active page.

I do agree that it can be confusing in situations where the highlighted page is not the actual active page.

The best thing to do, when adding Sections - is to first double-click in the Pages panel, on the page you want to make active.

Page that is highlighted in the Pages panel - doesn't have to be the one that you've displayed.