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Known Participant
December 6, 2023
Question

Master page items missing from left page when overriden in right master page (InDesign 19.0.1)

  • December 6, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 815 views

OK, this bug is INCREDIBLY specific, but unfortunately is completely breaking my project. Example INDD file attached.

 

I'm trying to make a multilingual instructions manual (A4, facing pages, 3mm bleed on all sides) with tabs on the page edges for each language. I have one master page "A-Gabarit" which has all the general layout elements and all the language tabs grayed out, and for each language, I have a master page based on A where I override the one tab for that language to color it black (so the EN master page is based on A and has the EN tab overridden, the FR master page is also based on A and has the FR tab overridden and so on)

 

What's happening is that depending on how the spread's pages have their master page assigned, some objects dissapear when the shouldn't:

- If both the left and right pages have A master, everything displays fine

- If the left page has A master, and the right has EN master, then anything from A that was overridden in the EN master dissappears from the left page, the rest remains.

- If the left page has EN master, and the right has A master, then everything works fine.

- If both pages sart with A master, and any other master page is applied to the right page, objects overridden in the right page's template will dissappear from the left, even though they were there right before. They reappear if the right page's template is made A again.

- Finally, and worst part: if the left page has EN master, and the right page has FR master, objects from A master that were not overridden in EN, but were overridden in FR, will dissappear from the left page, so it doesn't actually matter that the left page has the parent master page or another child master based on the same parent, just that it shares elements from the same parent master page as the right page

 

The issue only ever appears on the left page

 

PDF output is affected, it's not just a display issue.

 

My workaround, so far, is to duplicate the colored tabs in each child variant on top of the existing one instead of trying to override them, so that the original is preserved and doesn't dissappear on the left page, or alternately, rebuild all master pages with no "based on X" relation and no overrides (ouch)

 

I'm guessing that when applying master pages on the right page, InDesign is handling overrides on a spread-level instead of a page level, which is problematic when both pages of a spread are using different master pages (this has never been an issue for me up until now). expected behaviour would be for each page to show their own master page content in any context without interference from the facing page.

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2 replies

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2023

Reporting bugs to fellow users on this forum is fine, but all we can offer is work-arounds. We are not Adobe employees nor software engineers. I understand you want a hierarchical parent page system. As Bob notes, there is a place to post bug reports and requests.

My philosophy has always been to work within the constraints of InDesign as it currently is, bugs and all. That doesn't signify complacence, of course. But it makes me approach things with a work-around-simplify-it point of view.

Mike Witherell
Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2023

By rebuilding the En-English parent page to be NOT based on inheriting from A parent, I was able to make the problem go away. Another suggestion might be to make better use of layers.

Mike Witherell
Known Participant
December 6, 2023

No layers needed for this. Layers have entirely no bearing on the situation.

I have stated that rebuilding each language master independently, instead of based on the A master circumvents the issue. I'm not looking for a workaround, there are several I can use, I'm pointing out a bug that needs to be fixed.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2023

Then you need to post it here: Adobe InDesign (uservoice.com)