Comments on: Making the First Page a Left Page

By: colleen

colleen — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:37:47 +0000

Amazing! I have been trying to figure this out, you just saved me. Thanks a million!!

By: Pat4141

Pat4141 — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:32:00 +0000

How to Make an Odd-right Page Be an Odd-left page
(and have all the succeeding pages in nice properly-numbered spreads).
I have revised this slightly in view of more experience.

First, if it’s one document in a book, you have to have automatic page numbering on. And facing pages. There’s no need to mess with setup or preferences otherwise. Actually, it is SO simple, I can’t believe it took me so many tries to figure it out.
1. For each spread in the document. In Pages palette menu, be sure both of these are ON (checked). On is the default, but perhaps you changed it?
a. Allow Document Pages to Shuffle
b. Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle
2. Click to select page that’s odd-right and you want it odd-left (first page of document).
3. In Pages palette menu, click Insert pages. The Insert Pages window appears.
a. Set for 1 page
b. Select BEFORE page ___ (the number will be whatever number your selected page was)
c. OK
4. A blank page bearing whatever number your selected page had shows up. Your actual precious pages are grouped exactly as you want them.
5. Now get rid of the blank page
a. Be sure it is selected
b. In the Pages palette menu
i. Turn OFF (uncheck) Allow Document Pages to Shuffle
ii. Leave ON (checked) Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle
iii. Click Delete Spread
6. Your original odd-right page should now be an odd-left page.

But, hey, you guys who are changing InDesign for the better, why not just do this:
To the Document Setup Panel, add, next to the Start Page Box,(which automatically adjusts itself if you are doing a book and automatic numbering is on) a choice for Left or Right. Would that be so hard????

By: Pat4141

Pat4141 — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:32:13 +0000

How to Make an Odd-right Page Be an Odd-left page
(and have all the succeeding pages in nice properly-numbered spreads).

First, if it’s one document in a book, you have to have automatic page numbering on. And facing pages. There’s no need to mess with setup or preferences otherwise.
1. Click to select page that’s odd-right and you want it odd-left.
2. In Pages palette menu, be sure both of these are ON (checked)
a. A. Allow Document Pages to Shuffle
b. Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle
3. In Pages palette menu, click Insert pages. The Insert Pages window appears.
a. Select 1 page
b. Select BEFORE page ___ (the number will be whatever number your selected page was)
c. OK
4. A blank page bearing whatever number your selected page had shows up. Your actual precious pages are grouped exactly as you want them.
5. Now get rid of the blank page
a. Be sure it is selected
b. In the Pages palette menu
i. Turn OFF (uncheck) Allow Document Pages to Shuffle
ii. Leave ON (checked) Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle
iii. Click Delete Spread
6. Your original odd-right page should now be an odd-left page.

By: hung thai

hung thai — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:26:53 +0000

Awesome! it worked! this tut has saved me from being over frustrated. Thank you David!

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:50:14 +0000

@liz: Instead of using automatic page numbering, create your page numbers with paragraph numbering: http://indesignsecrets.com/use-numbered-lists-instead-of-auto-page-numbering.php

By: liz banbury

liz banbury — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:51:45 +0000

The tips have been great. I have a 41 page document, which really needs to be facing pages, as I have differing margins etc.
However I need the first page to start on the left. I tried going to Document Numbering Options and then starting the page with a 2 and then changing the option under Preferences-General to Absolute Numbering. In my book the numbers then show from Number 1.

However in my footers the first page still shows from Number 2.

How can I force the page to the left, and keep the footer numbers from number 1?

I can’t seem to find the ‘keep spread toegether’ option either.

Many thanks for any help liz

By: washingtonpinot

washingtonpinot — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:21:00 +0000

Thanks for the help! You saved from extended frustration.

By: Maryann

Maryann — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:43:21 +0000

This solved my problem! I needed to force “page 1″ to be on the left and it worked like a charm. Thank you!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:53:49 +0000

BRILLIANT! I have been struggling with this for about an hour, and never would have thought to do this work-around. VERY HELPFUL!

Thank you! =)

By: Sassy

Sassy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:55:47 +0000

Mike’s post from June 9, 2007 is the easiest/best way to do this that I’ve found.