Is there a dialog that controls starting a book file on Recto page?

[Nedlaw]

Hi, using Win11 with ID 18.4.

I appear to have lost a dialog box that I recall seeing, and I just can't find any more. I'm stumped! Would appreciate guidance. (Or just simple menu directions to it....)

I'm working on a book, and I want all chapters to start on a recto page. This is perfectly normal. Really, I've got this working. I can manage this with a combination of

• Numbering & Section Options (Pages window, Layout menu)
• The Pages window (and parent pages/single page vs spread) and manually adding extra even-numbered pages to each file end.
• The book window
• Document Setup

However.... I vaguely remember seeing a dialog where I could specify "Begin file on right-hand page" (or left, for that matter, but I want the traditional recto), and "automatically add extra page at end of file."

My problem is that I can't seem to find this dialog anywhere anymore, and when I search on line (and even in the forum) I get results that explain how to number pages or how to make a chapter start on the left-hand page or other responses that do not involve such a dialog box. I have not been able to find my way back to this remembered dialog. (Much like Shangri-La.)

I'm not referring to Smart Text Reflow at the bottom of Preferences | Type. This was a different dialog that expressly determined recto/verso starting page and adding new pages at file end to ensure that the file ended on an even page. I could be remembering this from Frame, but, frankly, I haven't used Frame in a long while, and I recall this phantom dialog from very recent use (I recall stumbling upon it, and saying "Aha!")

Am I falsely "remembering" something that is not in InDesign, or have I forgotten the magic hidden key combination, like holding CTRL while I click a menu item, or am I just missing something that's right in front of me?

Thanks as always to the community.

-j

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

This?

Book menu, hamburger menu, Book Page Numbering Options.

[Nedlaw]

Thanks. Maybe... At first glance I didn't think that's what I was recalling (but what I'm recalling may not be from ID). What I DO see on this dialog (which I've used for ages and not thought about at all) is Continue on next Odd page and Insert Blank Page. This may indeed be what I was recalling.... It will certainly serve until something else pops up! THANKS! Every now and then, one just needs an elbow in the ribs.

-j

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Book files are always a bit wonky to work with. You have to get each chapter file just so, then configure the Book settings just so, and often re-synchronize all the chapters... and that's before standing on your head during a full moon while you do an export.

It works. But it could be greatly improved. (And at that, it's better than Word's book/master document feature, which simply did not work for about a decade.)