InDesign spread numbers.

[aaronm40377259]

Is there a way to tell what spread number you're on? Have a very large document, and page numbers are irrelevant, and am getting lost.

[Barb Binder]

Spread numbering isn't a feature of InDesign. I'm trying to think of a creative solution for you, but this is a new one. Can you share a bit of your pages panel so that we can see how you have it set up?

~Barb

[aaronm40377259]

Here’s a view of the pages panel.

[Text Description automatically generated with medium confidence]

Aaron

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[aaronm40377259]

 

[Barb Binder]

How about using a Section Prefix? It's manual and won't update if you rearrange the spreads, but it's the best I can think of. 

~Barb

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi @aaronm40377259 ,

one could script this with an alert message.

Select an item on a spread and run the following ExtendScript (JavaScript) to get the alert message:

var mySpread = app.selection[0].parent;
alert("You are on spread: " + (mySpread.index + 1) );

Without selecting anything, one could also work with the activeSpread and its index of the activeWindow:

alert("You are on spread: " + (app.activeWindow.activeSpread.index + 1) );

Well, the first code is more reliable.

Note: do not select an item inside a nested structure like a group when you run the first code.

Sample from my German InDesign 2023:

The script file is an unformatted text file with suffix *.jsx.

I put it in a subfolder of the ScriptsPanel folder of my InDesign preferences folder.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[aaronm40377259]

This is working great for us, thanks!

[rob day]

Hi @aaronm40377259 , Uwe’s code could also work in a floating palette that listens for the active spread—something like this where if you double click a page in the Pages panel the spread number will show in the floating palette:

#target indesign
#targetengine "SpreadPalette"

var spanel = new Window("palette", undefined, undefined, {minimizeButton: true, closeButton: true}); 
spanel.text = "Current Spread"; 
spanel.preferredSize.width = 250; 
spanel.preferredSize.height = 50; 
spanel.alignChildren = ["center","top"]; 
spanel.spacing = 10; 
spanel.margins = 16; 
var stext = spanel.add("statictext", undefined, undefined, {name: "stext"}); 
stext.text = "1"; 
stext.alignment = ["center","top"]; 
spanel.show();


var sn;
var el = app.addEventListener("afterAttributeChanged", getSpread);
el.name = "slisten";

if (app.documents.length > 0) {
	sn = app.activeDocument.layoutWindows[0].activeSpread.index;
    stext.text = sn+1;
    spanel.show();
} 


function getSpread(e) {
    spanel.show();
    if (e.attributeValue.constructor.name === 'Spread') {    
        
        sn = app.activeDocument.layoutWindows[0].activeSpread.index;
        stext.text = sn+1
    }
} 

spanel.onClose = function () {
    app.eventListeners.itemByName("slisten").remove();
    spanel.remove();
}

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Do you have different number of pages per spread? Otherwise it should be pretty easy math...

The simplest solution - place extra thread on the side, define new ParaStyle with StartInNextFrame, Bullets&Numbering set to Numbers, large PointSize, hit Enter as many times as you need 😉

Of course, you can place this thread as overlay on the pages with 10 or 20% opacity on a new layer and show when needed.