Page numbers don't change with a file merge

[adieu]

Let's say I am merging two indd documents, one 15 pages, the other 13. Both have auto-numbered pages.

I open both, then select all pages in the 13-page file, select move pages, then select after page 15 in the 15-page document.

Presto, I have a 28-page document, the pages sorted as I want. But inside the document the pages are numbered 1-15 and 1-13. Is there a way to transfer the auto-numbering so the pages are numbered 1-28 in the new document?

I could do it manually, but I am building 20 programs for 20 musical disciplines for a performing arts festival and automatic would be nice

[adieu · Accepted solution]

Figured it out. Thanks anyway.

[Migintosh]

Was it that you had two Section Starts, and you removed one? It helps people searching the forum for help to know how something was accomplished.

[adieu]

No sure I understand your question. In the Pages panel of the new document, the pages are numbered 1-15 and 1-13. There is a tiny button above the first page of the added 1-13 pages. Click on it, and there is a dropdown asking how you want the document to be numbered.

[Migintosh]

I'm using an older version of InDesign, so what you see might be different from what I see, but do you mean the bit I have circled in red in this screenshot?

…and if so, does it bring up a window that looks something like this:

…and you are changing the 1 to a 16?

[adieu]

Yes to your first question.

Second question...

Not at my workstation now, but If I remember correctly I clicked Automatic Page Numbering under Start Section.

[Migintosh]

That will change the page numbers, but if you still have that little triangle icon above the page, it means you have a section start in the middle of your document. Section starts are what you use to define page-number regions in a document, and you now have two. The way you might use one is if you were making a book that had a preface, and you wanted the preface to be numbered i-vii, and the next section to start numbering at 1. If you want one continuous string of page numbers, then the extra section start is unnecessary.

The way most people would fix this problem is to uncheck the Section Start box at the top of the window. That would allow you to make changes to the way numbers are displayed only one time for the whole document. For example, you might want to add a prefix to your page numbers, like A-, and they would be displayed as A-1, A-2, etc. With a section start, it would only apply to the pages in one section.

You probably don't care about this because you aren't going to do any of that, but sometimes little things can come back to bite you when you least suspect, and at the most inconvenient time. If you make a choice, it's best to do it for a reason, and there's really nothing you gain from doing it the way you did, and maybe you'll never see a downside, but I recommend you just remove the section start and take out the variable. Or not…it's up to you.

My 2¢