Running Header Glitch

[kyriosity]

Here's a problem I've never seen before. I've got running headers set up in a book -- book title on the left, chapter title on the right. All runs smoothly until chapter 7, when the chapter 6 header starts randomly appearing on the right. Not on every spread, but sporadically. So, for instance, pages 83, 85, and 87 say "CHAPTER 7" just as they ought. Then pages 89, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, and 103 say "CHAPTER 6." Then pages 105 and 107 are back to "CHAPTER 7."  This recurs throughout the rest of the book -- "CHAPTER 6" shows up seemingly randomly. 'Tis a puzzlement. Any ideas on a fix?

Here's what I've tried so far:

• Reapplied the master -- no effect.
• Deleted "CHAPTER 6" at the beginning of chapter 6 -- "CHAPTER 5" showed up in the random spots, instead.
• Deleted and replaced the Chapter Title paragraph style -- no effect.

I'm running InDesign CC 13.1 x 64 on Windows 10.

Thanks!

~Valerie

[Barb Binder]

Hi Valerie:

Let's start by looking at your setup:

• How did you add the chapter number to the right running head? Did you use the Chapter Number text variable?
• How is your book set up? Is each chapter its own file, listed sequentially in the book window?
• How are your master pages set up? Are you just using A or are you using custom masters?

I know you are an experienced user, but screen shots would be helpful as you answer those questions.

~Barb

[Derek Cross]

Have I not ordered these?

Please advise.

Regards

Derek Cross

Sent from my iPad

[kyriosity]

Is this where you meant to post this, Derek?

[Derek Cross]

No, sorry!

Derek

[Barb Binder]

LOL. I could not figure out what you were asking, Derek.

~Barb

[Barb Binder]

OK, Valerie, can you do an Edit > Find and look for each and every occurrence of the paragraph style called Chapter Title? Is there a hidden chapter 6 reference that InDesign is finding that you don't see? If not, are you willing to share your file on dropbox and post a link here (public) or message me (private)? I don't see anything obvious from your response.

~Barb

[kyriosity]

Thanks, Barb.

• I have the headers set up as text variables on the master page.
• Just one story in one file for the book. (As I've done a hundred or so other books unless I need to restart note numbering.)
• I do one master spread for basic pages and one for chapter starts -- super simple.

[kyriosity]

No hidden instances of the style. Will message you. Thanks!

~Valerie

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Good morning, Valerie:

It comes down to some odd text threading—nothing you can't fix with copy/paste.

The page where things become weird is page 89—that's the first time the running head decides to switch to chapter 6 in the middle of chapter 7. When I zoomed way out and enabled show text threads, you can see that the final frame of chapter 6 links to page 89 (left screen shot). Now oddly, when I show text threads for chapter 7, they all link correctly (right screen shot). It seems as if there should be a second frame on page 89, but I don't see it—which seems buggy to me—two threads link to the same frame.

    

I also see that some of the chapters are stand-alone (chapter 1) and others are threaded (chapters 2-6). I would make a decision here—run them all as separate stories, or all as one long threaded story—using cut/paste on a copy.

I think the quickest fix is to paste chapter 7 into a new document as a temporary holding place, then repeat for chapter 8–end. Delete the now-blank pages in InDesign. Check the threading to make sure there is nothing odd going on—if so repeat for those final back matter sections. Then add new body pages in InDesign and paste chapter 7 back in. Check the threading, and continue for the remainder of the book.

~Barb

[happie_97]

I agree with Barb.

I haven't experienced this issue, I think because I create separate documents for each chapter and then use the book panel to stitch it all together.

Have you tried separating the chapters into separate documents and then using the book panel to put it all together?

[kyriosity]

Aha! There were two frames on that page -- and on many others. One set of these had chapter 6 continuing on sporadically, and one had the subsequent chapters. This is what comes of two people working on the same file (the publisher had someone do this book based on my layout of the first volume in the series, and then I was asked to fix something, and between the two of us, we managed to break things). I'm a big fan of keeping things as simple as possible for a simple book like this -- just one story in one thread unless there are note numbers that need to restart each chapter. I feel more secure when everything's in one place!

Thanks so much for your help, Barb!!!

[Barb Binder]

Happy to help, Valerie!

~Barb