Problem with facing pages and participant guide design

[Traveler1966]

I am creating a participant workbook. Each page includes a column that is 70% of the page AND a second column that is the remaining 30%. This 30% "galley" column is dedicated to summary information, notes, lines, and other "quick" items. This 30% column should always be on the OUTSIDE of Left and Right pages. 

Issue: When I need to INSERT a new page somewhere in the middle of the document, that galley column switches from LEFT to RIGHT and all my quick items are in the wrong place. 

Is there ANY way to avoid having to move all of the information back and forth every time I adjust the number of pages?

Thanks for any advice.

"Lost New User"

[Willi Adelberger]

• Are your parent pages double sided?
• Do you use primary text frames?
• Is the text a single story, breaks organized via paragraph styles and their keep options?

all 3 should be so. 

[Traveler1966]

Gute Frage! I don't know how to make parent pages double-sided. Is there a setting for it? Yes, mostly text - in fact, ALL text in my "galley" column, but there is a vertical line on the page to separate content from the main column.

Not sure what you mean by "breaks".  I know how to make paragraph styles, but that's as far as it goes.

Attached is an R page example:

[Willi Adelberger]

Double side settings are set up in document settings. 
Break settings are part of the paragraph style. 

[Traveler1966]

Thanks, Willi. I'm still not tracking. Are you saying that setting up facing pages and double-sided should address the R/L galley column switch issue? How do these settings help avoid the column content not appearing correctly? Sorry to be so ignorant about it.

[Jeffrey_Smith · Accepted solution]

With an existing document this might be tedious to accomplish, perhaps someone may have a suggestion.

However, I have attached a document that allows for content to flow and adjust accordingly to the left and right pages. The key to this is the small column content is anchored to main column relative to the spine.

[Willi Adelberger]

When I have tochange an existing document, I delete most pages and let build up new pages automatically. Text will reflow correctly. I have done it with documents with 400 and more pages.

[Traveler1966]

Dude! I think that's it! Anchoring... I guess I haven't reached that section in the "How to use InDesign 2025 in 3 easy lessons" YouTube video!😂😂

Can anchoring work with other object types as well? Like, for example, a vertical line to visually separate the main and small column? Or is that a bridge too far? I will read up on anchoring, but I thought I would ask anyway. Jeff, THANK YOU for taking the time to answer. I appreciate it.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Anchored objects can be text or graphic.

Although you could have a vertical rule anchored to a text frame, there are other methods to use. 

One method for vertical lines is paragraph borders, but keep in mind the height of vertical line (stroke) is determined by the content within frame.

Another method with a multiple column text frame is to apply column rules in the text frame options. But the example I provided has a single text frame with one column and would not work in this situation.

From your screenshot of document, I would just draw a vertical line (independent of text frame) between the 2 columns placed on the parent pages.