Fixing Overset Auto Page Numbers
One of the nice, take-it-for-granted feature of InDesign is automatic page numbering. Draw a text frame on the master page, use the Type > Insert Special Characters > Markers > Current Page Number command and for the most part you’re good to go. You’ll see a letter in the text frame which will correspond to the master page designation.
But occasionally, you’ll be greeted with an overset text frame, instead. As with all other instances of an overset indicator, the reason is that InDesign thinks it can’t display all of the text. But in this case, InDesign just may be mistaken. When you insert an auto page number character the frame needs enough room to display a 3- or 4-digit page count, even if you only have a four page document. The easy fix is to stretch the frame until the overset indicator goes away but this blog is all about secrets so here’s one I saw posted today on the User to User forum.
Just click the in-port of the text frame with the selection tool. The screen shot below shows identical placeholders on the right and left master pages. Both are overset until the in-port is clicked on the frame on the right page.
clicking the inport and then the selection tool eliminates the overset
Switching to a live spread shows the result is the same there. Overset on the left, fine on the right.
A live spread shows the results.
From what I can see this trick works quite nicely for shorter documents but for longer documents it’s important to make sure that you give the frame enough room to display all of your page numbers or the result will be rather messy.
This is the result of overriding the overset and leaving the frame too small.
Wow! That’s amazing. I’ve been fighting that overset marker for years. This is a bizarre but very clever trick.
Finally a way to fix that annoying behavior. Thank you!
Apparently a new feature of CS3. Doesn’t seem to apply to CS2 and earlier…. >_<
(Or, I am doing it all wrong….)
I just tried it on CS2 and I think you’re right…it’s doesn’t seem to work.
Hmm, while I can make the VERY annoying overset marker disappear with this trick, I hoped this would also hide it when in Preview mode — but it doesn’t, it pops right back! Arrrgh!!!
Nice trick, but dangerous. If the space is to small the page number gets compressed, as Bob mentioned.
The overset dissappears always as soon there is enough space for 4 digits. So that the page number is only in danger to get compressed after page 9999.
One should always keep it big enough, also for situations when the font size has to get enlarged.
I’ll just stick to making the frames big enough to easily fit the number of digits I expect to need.
Two ways I’ve combatted this in the past:
1. Draw an line, set it to zero pt and type on it, it can be any lenght, so make it long enough to fit all the numbers you’re ever going to need.
This way it won’t affect the size and of course it will fit many numbers
2. Insert the text into a table, great for variables too.
When the font increases in size, so does the cell. Tables are not confined to text boxes and they give you overset text too.
For variables, the table option is much better because the variable doesn’t get squished when the cell fills with text, picked up by the variable. Instead it gives and overflow, which is better than having squished text, at least you get a warning.
All in all, it’s a great tip for text boxes, because I have to admit, I only resort to the two options above when things in text boxes go wrong, now I have another option to add to that.
Thanks
Well, I happened to see similiar behaviour some time ago, when I set a book with zillions of footnotes. Sometimes, InDesign could not set a page until I clicked on out-port of last good looking frame in the chain; it was ok just to click on the port, I didn’t have to draw frame. Strange, but probably this forces ID to recalculate text flow. Bug?
Thanks, it’s best.
I’m feel good with this tutorial, thanks again
It is not necessary to create a thread of text frame.
1. Click the In port
2. Create a very thin text frame to the left of the text frame containing the number
3. Delete the frame you just created, it works.
I just did as Bob (originally Gerald) said: clicked the in port and then clicked the pointer tool in the tool bar. That worked for me.
Dave
Yes indeed.