Section numbering changed by insertion of table

[elisar5976928]

Hello. In my document, my numbered chapter headings were originally in their own vertically-centered text box so that they could be vertically centered in front of a colored background. Later I decided to make them part of the primary text frame by converting the chapter headings into one-cell tables with vertical centering. As soon as I did that, the section heading numbering (which is styled correctly) was thrown off. See my before and after images. So is it possible for text in a table to be a numbered section heading?

[elisar5976928]

I have solved my own problem by starting over, cutting the chapter heading text, inserting a new table, then pasting the text in the cell. There must have been an extra paragraph return that was picking up the style.

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Tables sit in an otherwise empty paragraph, and have an empty paragraph above and below. This is hard to see (impossible?) on the layout page, so I have Story Editor open to show you. Be sure all three ¶s are not set to a style that will increment the number. 

~Barb

[elisar5976928]

Thank you, Barb!

A follow-up question regarding layout: This same document has only 7 chapters, so after placing the Word doc, I broke the text threads between chapters so that text changes do not push text from the regular text frames to the top-of-chapter vertically-centered ones (in the next section). But if it had been say, 30 chapters, what is the best way to keep the sections distinct? I think I could insert section markers, but I am nervous about doing that where there is automatic chapter numbering at the same spot. And is there a way to make the Master Page for the first page of each chapter move forward with the chapter heading if it is pushed to the next page (besides disconnecting the objects from the Master and anchoring them to the text)? 

[Barb Binder]

Hi Elisa:

is there a way to make the Master Page for the first page of each chapter move forward with the chapter heading if it is pushed to the next page

No, not in InDesign, yet. I would have divided the document into chapters (individual InDesign .indd files) and then pulled them back together in an InDesign book (.indb file). See https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-book-files.html.

~Barb 

[elisar5976928]

Thank you again!

[elisar5976928]

Wait a minute--so if you had 30 chapters, you'd make 30 files?!

[Barb Binder]

Yes. But besides being at InDesign trainer, I lay out long documents for a living. So working with books is very comfortable for me.

~Barb