Select pages for export

[Gaël Illustrations]

Hello,
I've created a multi-page document in Indesign.
I'd like to create several variations of the same document (with some pages changing from the original).

I'd like to do all the work on the same document and not create several separate documents.

I'd like to know if there's a way of selecting certain pages of the document for export while keeping the page numbering consistent in the end.

Do you have a tip please 🙂

Thank you.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Export to... what? PDF?

InDesign has a new feature for hiding select spreads, but it's not well developed (yet) and does not (for example) update page numbering.

The only approach I'd use for what you describe is conditional text, and to work, that would need a highly liquid layout so that visible material would flow into a continuous sequence when other material was hidden. That means one and only one Parent page layout, for example, and all images, tables and text boxes carefully linked to the preceding text (much as must be done for EPUB export).

If all the material will fit into individual chapter files, you could use a Book to select the desired components, update them all for consistent page numbering and a focused TOC, and export that. Need a different configuration? Use (and update) another Book.

Not many other ways to pick and choose material and have a consistent result emerge.

[Luke Jennings3]

You could use separate layers for the various versions, use copy/paste as a link (content collector tool) to copy the common content from the base layer into the other layers, so changes to the common base layer will be updated to the other layers when changes are made. Page numbers would need to be added manually for the various versions (layers). Or, add page numbers as footers in Acrobat, to the individual pdf versions. Export the needed page and layer combinations for each version.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

If you're going to add a manual-assembly step, there are probably a dozen ways to do it. I know I'd prefer things to be as automated as possible once the page selections were made, at least to the extent of page numbering. 🙂