How to have page numbers progress 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c?

[koinegreek]

I am making a book version of a manuscript. The manuscript has three columns per page, but in the book I am making just one column per page. However, I want the page numbering to correspond to the folio numbering in the original manuscript.

Therefore, I need to have page numbers progress as 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, etc. Because of other things I have in place, trying to do this via master pages will be too complicated and tedious. Is there any way to set this up without doing three separate master pages?

[Scott Falkner · Accepted solution]

Use sections to restart numbering, use letters for your page numbers, and add a prefix as part of the page number. In the attached screen grab I have selected page 2a to show it starts a new section, the prefix is 2, page numbering restarts at 1, and the section prefix is part of the page number.

The numbers on the pages are set on the master page using Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number.

You could also use a section marker then a page number and skip including the section prefix in the page number.

[koinegreek]

Thank you!

Perfect 🙂

[mvanhorn_336]

Is there a way to automate this? I'm working with 400+ pages using this process.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

For long documents, you could create each section in its own document and use chapter numbering in a book file.