How to Add Page Numbers?
Every once in a while, a question comes in from a new user that brings you back to how it was when you were first learning a page layout program. Here’s one from Sean that came in today:
I have been learning InDesign and have started to move along, but have gotten to a point to where I have searched the web and the book trying to figure this out, but have yet to find any solution.
It seems basic to me, but I can’t figure out how it’s done. I just want to add numbers to all of the pages in the document that I have created. The document has a total of 165 pages and I would like to have all of the pages numbered except for the first one. I have tried going to the Layout->numbering & section option link and have tried all of the different options that are there, but have yet to finish with any numbers on the pages. I just want them all numbered with the page number on the bottom centered.
Is there any way that you can help me with this?
No problem, Sean!
Go to your document’s master pages, and on each page (if it’s a facing pages master), add a small text frame where you want the page number to appear.
Still on the master page, click with the Type tool inside of each text frame, and go to Type > Insert Special Character > Auto Page Number (in CS3, it’s called “Current Page Number”). You’ll see the single-letter prefix of your master page appear in the text frame while you’re on the master pages, which is correct.
Now go to the first page of your document and you should see it say “1”. and page two will show “2” etc. in that text frame.
To remove the page number from the first page, use the Selection tool to Command-Shift-click on the text frame (to override the master page item, otherwise it’s locked to you) and delete the frame.
Look in the help file for “master page” and “page number” for more info, or watch David’s InDesign CS3 Essential Training on lynda.com for more info.
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I’m surprised to read that there isn’t a “different first page” option in the pagination menu for InDesign. To have to remove the frame from the first page came as a surprise.
You can assign a different master to the first page. If you think about most documents that have a different look for the first page, it’s more than just the page number that’s affected. Indeed, sometimes a first page still has the page number but in a different place.
Great point, Dave!
I think in a word processor, there’s not much you’re going to be doing differently from page 1 of a document or section (as opposed to the remaining pages) other than changing the header/footer. So it makes sense to have a simple, and very useful, “different first page” option there.
But in a page layout program, there could be a huge number of things that are different in page one than the rest of the pages in that section/document. So you could either just delete the Auto Page Number frame, or more frames, or apply a different master, or use no master at all — it’s extremely flexible and so, not so simple.
Also, if you need the first page or first couple of pages numbered differently all you need to do is change change your “Numbering & Section Options” in the pages pallet. This will allow you to have roman numeral page numbers at the beginning.
I want to thank you for your very polite help. I feel sort of like a child to learn how easy it is, but sometimes the easiest things can be the hardest to figure out from scratch. Thank you again Anne-Marie. I’m glad that I found your site. You are now in my favorites.
Or you could “Hide Master Page Items”, assuming that the only items on the master page would be the page numbers…
Great answer, Anne-Marie. I also vote for this blog to cover the “back-to-basics” every once in a while. This site is recommended from the Adobe forum, where users may have just started learning ID.
I’ve got a related question. Is there a way to automate not only the current page number but the total number of pages in the document? Meaning, if I want my footer to read “page 1 of 10” then “2 of 10”, etc. Is there a way to automate the “10” so that if pages get added or deleted to the document, that total number would change?
Lisa, you can only automate this in CS3, it’s a new feature.
After you add the special character for the Current Page Number in the text frame on the master (preceded by the word “page”), type a space, the word “of”, another space, and then choose Type > Insert Variable > Text Variable > Last Page Number.
Variables can be inserted in any text frame on any page, but for this purpose it’d make sense to add it to the master page text frame with the page number.
Is it possible ti place both numbers of a double page spread on either the left or right page i.e 25|26?
Yes … takes a bit of trickery though.
On the master page spread, create two small text frames, one on each page, and thread them together.
On the page where you don’t want the page numbers to appear, don’t enter anything into the text frame. Actually you could put this frame anywhere you’d like at any size, as long as it’s on that master page.
On the other master page’s text frame (where you do want the numbers to appear), use the Type menu to enter the two Special Characters you’ll need, separated by an en dash or pipe or whatever.
If you want the page numbers on the left-facing page, you’d insert [Current Page Number] – [Next Page Number]; if you want them on the right, [Previous Page Number] – [Current Page Number].
Thanks Anne-Marie – Great solution!
Page numbering in INDD is good example of a very unfriendly user interface – since when did a page number become a “special character?” Users are made to feel stupid because the process is not intuitive. Instead we should demand
better/logical interfaces and fewer hidden menus. There must be over 1,000 places to “click”. That’s why we need “Secrets”
Using the Last Page text variable is great. But what about using that variable in a book? I have a master page that has a text frame which holds the ‘last page’ variable in it. All the documents within the book have this master applied. However the ‘last page’ variable only displays the last page for each document, not the last page number for the entire book. Any thoughts on how to get the variable to get the last page of the book?
One more question. I am paginating the classified section of our newspaper and we have a page number + section letter. Well its pretty easy is your page format is (ie) D1. My question is…how do I get it to show 1D instead?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Chris
Chris, two options. You could just insert the Auto Page Number character, then the letter “D” in the text frame on the master page.
Or, just type the D into the Section Marker field of the Section & Numbering Options dialog box. Then, in the master page text frame, insert an Auto Page Number followed by a Section Marker character.
Hey,
Is there a way to “double number.” a page. Currently I am using Auto Page numbering in InDesign, however I have to “merge” my facing pages, to convert to PDF and the numbers then change from 1 and 2 on the left of each page to 1 and 1. I need the pdfs to match the print for page numbering.
Any ideas?
A twist on the original question — I am working in a document that begins on a right hand page. I would like to begin numbering (starting at 1) on the second page of the document, which is a left hand page. I have overriden the master template option for page 1, but InDesign’ auto number format keeps defaulting my second page number to “2” rather than “1” as I would like. Any ideas? Thank you in advance for any help that could be offered.
Another automated page number question: I am formating a dual character Chinese/English book with mirrored pages (simplified-Chinese/English facing identical layout for traditional-Chinese/English). The page numbers need to be the same on both facing pages (page#1 on left, page#1 on right). Can I automate pagination on left pages and on right pages separately? How can I prevent the left page#1 from automatically moving to the right?
Athena, this is a difficult task. There is no way to handle pagination of left and right pages separately. However, one option in CS3 could be to create two numbered lists — one that goes on the left pages and one on the right pages. It’s not very convenient, but it should work.
I am wondering how to automate page numbers when you want them as 01, 02, 03…etc? Adding the zero. This isn’t a option in the ‘numbering and section’ palette. Does anyone know if this is possible otherwise, I will have to add the zero manually.. Thanks
Inspite of all the good information on this website I cannot find an easy answer to an easy question. After placing a MS Word document of 400 pages in InDesign CS3 all the page numbers are gone. I only want to add page numbers at page 1 up to 400 automatically. Isn’t there an option insert page numbers at footer without placing a frame on the bottom of each page, just like it is possible in MS Word?
Thanks in advance for any answer
Hendrik, no, I’m sorry, but InDesign requires all text to be in a frame. But you can put the frame (and an automatic page number character, which you can find in the Type > Insert Special Characters menu) on one master page and it’ll show up on all your document pages immediately.
I feel silly asking this but it’s driving me nuts. When adding page numbers to a document, how do I get it to skip the cover/first page, and start numbering with the second page as #1? Does even make sense?
Ray, you need to use the Numbering & Section Options feature in the Pages panel flyout menu. But remember that odd number pages (such as 1) are right-hand pages by default, if you have a facing pages document.
Thanks so much for your awesome site! A lifesaver – your instructions are soooo clear and easy to follow.
I have a project in which the two pages making up the spread need to have the same section/page number. For example the left page needs to read 201-01; the right page needs to read the same. The following spread reads: 201-02 & 201-02, etc. etc. until the next section which would read 202-01, 202-01; 202-02, 202-02 and on and on. Is there a way to do this without typing in the page numbers manually?
I can’t think of any way to do that, Nate. Tricky…
Thanks David – as always, i appreciate your response. I’ve proceeded in the mean time and am through 274 pages… o well. Thanks again!
Is there a way to auto-number report pages while skipping my divider pages? For example,the page before the divider would be 13 and the page after the divider would be 14. Right now, my dividers are a separate master than the regular pages and when I auto-number in my regular page master, the page before the divider is 13 but the page after the divider is 15.
I would also like to know if it possible to skip pages when numbering, for instance, only having number on the right hand pages, while the left hand pages are omitted from the numbering sequence. This would be VERY helpful.
Thanks for a great InDesite (InDesign Site)
In CS3, I’ve inserted page numbers in the lower case roman numerals for the first 10 pages, then I tried to change page 11 to page 1 to begin the first section. However, the page jumps to the left or down. Why?
Abby and Darrel, I’m sorry, but no, there’s really no way to tell InDesign to skip-and-keep-numbering. If you’re using dividers, just start each new section with a Section Start (using section & numbering options).
Betty: I’m not sure what the problem could be. What do you mean, the page “jumps”?
Hi David,
It forces the right-had recto Section text, either to the left-hand Verso page, or down to the next verso page.
Placing page 1 on the left, and page 2 on the right.
I am using InDesign CS3 and have a large book file with many documents contained in it. I have master pages to designate which pages will have displayed page numbers and those which don’t. The auto update feature used to work fine, but now the pages are number only with the number of pages in each document, not in the whole book file. It’s has been driving me crazy, creating new books, added all the documents and other things. Sometimes it actually looks like it re-name the page numbers (status bar as it runs through all the documents, but then makes no changes. I must have changed something, but cannot figure it out. I have altered back and forth the auto update page numbers, checked all the document start options etc… Anybody got any ideas? I am running out of time and it looks like i may need to manually place each number (which sucks… its a 220pg book)…. thanks in advance for any help. You can email me or respond here (though I am not a member…yet)!
RE: remove first page number.
Simply create a graphic frame, match it to the page color (white for white, etc.), place it over the first page number, then lock it (optional).
I have the same problem at Scot above, Can anyone help!!!!!!
Meagan, as Michael M. pointed out in another post here, you also need to make sure that auto pagination is enabled in the Book panel flyout menu. That could get in the way.
Also choose Numbering & Section Options in the Pages panel menu for each document and make sure it’s set to Automatic Page Numbering instead of “start page numbering at…”.
I have a problem:
I have an image bleeing off each page.
I want my auto page numbers to be on front.
I send my master page auto numbering to front.
I send my images bleeding off page to back.
Cannot see the page numbers.
Help?
Never mind, all.
I figured it out.
You can put your auto page number on a new layer, on the top.
You should set your auto page numbers to ignore text wrap(command-B).
Calamity Jane
What if I need (in a calendar 366 days divided to 12 Month sections) I need to make the 1-31 change automatically and also the 1-366 (which will be in each page in the same time)… Is there a way to do that? and if you drag a page from July to January it will re adjust everything automatically?
Thanks,
Zarief
As Ben (and I think Scott) above have hinted at; there seems to be a problem with the “last page number” variable in a book spanning multiple documents; the final page number is not the final page number of the complete book.
Instead it updates the final page number as it goes along, increasing it as new documents are added to the book.
Can someone please confirm if this IS working properly for them, so I know there is at least a solution/ I am doing something wrong? Thanks!
Thank you to whoever posted the instructions for numbering pages. As a long-time Quark user, I had to quickly learn InDesign for a project. It was great finding this information, as it was nowhere to be found in the InDesign manual. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing the secrets. Really helpful.
and what if you want your page number in the slug area,
my page number always reads “PB” (for pasteboard).
so Indesign cannot number pages in the slug area?
Also note, group does not want to use Page Information from marks and bleed, because it doesn’t show up in the document while you are working on it.
thanks
David W-
CS3 will display the page number when any part of the text frame is inside the document page.
CS4 will display the page number when any part of the text frame is inside the slug area.
Also with CS4, you could use a cross-reference. Then you could put the text frame anywhere on the pasteboard and it would still display the page number.
Andre-
The only 2 options for the Last Page Number text variable are end of section and end of document, so I don’t think you could get it to work for a book. A cross-reference would do the trick for sure (if you have CS4).
Mike R-
I too was just asked about the last page variable spanning docs in a book. You say a cross-ref could do the trick, is CS4 the only version that could do it? We have CS3 currently – how would you do that (in either if possible for both)?
Thanks-
and fantastic resource site, thanks for the place!
I am creating the first chapter of book. I made a master page which includes the page number. The problem is the page number is olny partially working. I am getting 2 on every left hand page, the right hand page is working so it looks like this: left pg 2 right page 3, left pg 2 right page 5, left pg 2 right page 7 you get the idea. Anyone know how I can fix this??
?
Linda it sounds like you accidentally used a literal number 2 on the left-hand master instead of the Current Page Number tag. Could you check the master upon which the left-hand pages are based? See what it says inside the text frame containing the page number. It should be identical to the one on the right page master.
Y’know, I started as a “desktop publisher” in 1991, using PageMaker (so I’m not a newbie, thank you very much.) Since then, I took a different career path and am just now needing to use InDesign. A lot has improved, but numbering pages and scaling images aren’t two of them. What was Adobe thinking!?! You can tell from the 50 posts here that certain operations in InDesign aren’t exactly intuitive. I hope Adobe has gotten it together in CS4.
You are my hero, thank you so so so so much.
I am new to this program and it’s not friendly.
Umm, I’m not sure if this is pertinent anymore to the people wondering how to start page number at say the second page of their document, but if you want to do that, all you have to do is the following:
1. Select and right-click the second page in your document.
2. Uncheck “Allow Selected Page to Shuffle”.
3. Right click the same panel again and select the “Numbering & Sections Options”
4. In the “Start Page Numbering” box enter “1” (without quotes obviously).
That should let you start the paginating count from the current page i.e. page 2 of the document, without shuffling the consecutive pages from left to right (which was my problem initially).
I hope that helps!
Hi Gurus,
I’m using CS2 on an XP box
I have a 3 part book, syncronized in the book pallet.
I can’t get the page numbers to update, dispite all of my various attempts.
Part ‘a’ ends at page 92 & part ‘b’ starts at 95, etc.
Now, within the ‘Numbering & Section Options’ dialog box, my ‘Start Section’ check box is greyed out, whether I access it via the book pallet or directly from within the individual documents.
thanks in advance
THANK YOU. Very much.
I need to number more than once on a master page – does anyone know how? Would I need to create the same amount of master pages as numbers needed?
I have a 300 page document book layout,however i want the page numbering to start from number 1 on page 11.The first 10 pages include title page, acknowledgements etc and do not need numbering. Try as i might InDesign still insists on beginning the numbering at 11 and not 1 as i want. Any Suggestions?
I have a question for anyone out there who can help me.
I’m trying to number the pages in my document by inserting “special character”/current page in the master. No matter where I place it, it still appears as PB in the document…..any suggestions?
I have a 500 page document but i want to have roman numerals (X, VI) for the first 15 pages as they are the title page, acknowledgements etc. and then have page 16 in the indesign file to be page 1 in the book in arabic numbers (1,2,3). How can i do that? Help!
Could not have done it simpler, thanx
how do i make the page numbering begin with a number that is NOT 1? anyone know if this is possible? thanks in advance everyone!
Pages panel menu -> Numbering and Sections does just that.
Does anyone know if CS4 supports two paginations within a document? Could it be possible by having different master pages? Ultimately, this book will be numbered as follows:
T?1 [on left page]; P-1 [on right page]
P?2 [on left page]; T-2 [on right page]
T?3 [on left page]; P-3 [on right page]
P?4 [on left page]; T-4 [on right page]
The T-pages need to be front to back with each other and so do the P-pages. So, the actual page number may be an odd number on a typically even numbered page of the book. Hoping there exists some auto feature for this!
I want to place both numbers of a single (left) page like this: 002|003
On the left master page (where I want the numbers to appear) I used the Type menu to enter the two Special Characters I need, but in the document appears this 00A|00A and pages are numbered like 004|002; 005|002… HELP!
Finally! I’ve been looking for almost an hour for an answer to this. I have pages at the beginning with no page number, then the Table of Contents with roman numeral numbers, and then finally the content with numbers. How can something so simple be so difficult to figure out? I wish the help was more simplified in their answers like yours.
Thank you SO MUCH!!!!
Brilliantly explained, why can’t the InDesign help be as explicit, Thank you
Aw shucks, thanks … ;-)
Is there a way to auto-duplicate the frame in which the number appears??? I have made a frame for the auto number on my master page but don’t want to have to create a frame for all pages in my document (there are 50 pages in the document). is ther a way to automate making page markers for the numbers?
Thanks
~Rob
Rob when you put the auto number on your master page, all pages in the document will show their true page number in that same location (the autonumber is a placeholder).
That’s the point of putting stuff on the master … they’re repeated (“auto duplicated”) on each doc page that’s based on that master. By default, all doc pages are based on master page A.
If you have a facing pages master make sure to put the frame with the autonumber on both sides of the master.
Thanks for the response,
It’s still not working for me. I double clicked on the master page in the pages pallette, then drew a placeholder with the text tool, then with the cursor blinking added current p[age number. All I get is a page number in the one I drew. If I draw another box on some other page int he document, the number appears. But I have to manually draw the box to get the number to appear. What am I doing wrong?
~Rob
InDesign CS4:
Hi, hoping you can help me with something that I thought was going to be simple. I have a 36 page magazine which I need to apply page numbers to.
I set the document up as “facing pages”:
– page 1 blank (left)
– page 2 is the magazine cover (because it’s on right side).
– page 3 is a full page ad on the inside (left)
I want to start page numbering on what’s considered as page 4 in the pages panel – but I want THAT page to read as page #2 .
(1) I have been unable to figure this out either way – applying page numbering to the master pages OR by applying a page number on the actual document page. Is there an easy step-by-step that I can follow to achieve this? ( I keep getting “!” messages, saying the numbering conflicts)
(2) Do I need to set this doc up as a “book”? Will this alleviate the conflict between pages panel and the way I WANT the pages to be numbered? What is typical protocol for magazine layout page numbering?
Thanks in advance for any guidance,
Joanne :)
Hi all,
as Jonathan Li said:
—————————
“Umm, I?m not sure if this is pertinent anymore to the people wondering how to start page number at say the second page of their document, but if you want to do that, all you have to do is the following:
1. Select and right-click the second page in your document.
2. Uncheck ?Allow Selected Page to Shuffle?.
3. Right click the same panel again and select the ?Numbering & Sections Options?
4. In the ?Start Page Numbering? box enter ?1? (without quotes obviously).
That should let you start the paginating count from the current page i.e. page 2 of the document, without shuffling the consecutive pages from left to right (which was my problem initially).
I hope that helps!”
——————————-
But how can i do this in CS2 ??
Note: By the way guys if you did’nt add this website to your favorite till know… you should because this kind of secrests you can’t easly find it around the web.
Thanks
I think the problem that Rob H is having is that he’s putting a “number” on his master page and not Type>Insert special character>Marker>Current Page number. Or just pressing Shift+Alt+Cmd+N.
(Older versions of InDesign have Type>Insert special character>Automatic Page Number)
If it’s on an “A” master it’ll put an A in. When I’m teaching large groups I find some people just type the letter A and wonder why they have an “A” instead of a page number.
Wow. I think I should start a blog called PageNumberSecrets.com!
Robbie you may be right. Thanks for spelling out the path to the menu command for Rob H.
Joanne: Use the traditional method of getting page numbers to appear (add a placeholder frame to the master with the “current page number” special character inside it).
Then you have page 4 of your document, and it shows “4” in the folio but you want it to show “2.” Double-click page 4’s icon in the Pages panel to make sure it’s the active page. Then right-click on page 4 and choose Numbering & Section Options from the contextual menu. (This command is also available in the Pages panel menu and lots of other places.) In the resulting dialog box, enter “2” in the Start At Page Number field. (It might not be called exactly that but I don’t have ID running at the moment.)
That’s all. What you’re doing is you’re creating a Section Start at that page (so you should see a little downward pointing triangle appear above the page icon in the Pages panel) and specifying custom numbering for that section. To get back to the dialog box in the future you can just double-click the triangle.
Hi
I gave set up mu auto numbering with your help but ideally id like to have my numbers as 001, 002, 003….101, 102 etc etc but I cant find a way to do this, all I can get is the usual 1,2,3, 4, 5 etc etc
Thanks
Lesley
Lesley, 001, 002, etc. is one of the numbering styles available in the Numbering & Section Options dialog box. So right-click on the first page icon in the Page panel, choose Numbering & Section options, and choose that numbering style from the dropdown.
brilliant mate, thanks.
I would like to automatically create the last page number of a book of 10 documents so that each page has the text variable of ‘Last page of book’ i.e. the page numbering reads 1 of 70, 2 of 70, 3 of 70 etc. Unfortunately CS4 does not have this much needed option. Is there another way to create a ‘Last page of book’ variable? (I am using CS4 and it should be possible since the book can calculate the total number of pages.)
I saw a reference earlier in the blog to try ‘cross referencing’. Can anyone explain how to do this?
I am wondering too – how to automate page numbers when you want them as 01, 02, 03?etc? Actually 136pages at all. How to add the zero. This can’t be true – to add the zero manually…
Hey there this is Anasmarz here. I have been looking around to understand this for quite sometime and I’m really happy that now I finally understood how to do it. Thanks for making it easy to understand.
Hi all,
one simple (for you) question… i’m using indesign cs3 for windows :( and i’m trying to add page numbering… How can i begin the numbering from page 9 and not from page 2, which is the default?…
When i’m selecting from A-Master to add page numbers (Type –> Insert Special Char –> Markers –> Current Page Number) it’s starts from page 2 and it’s not giving me the option to start number from the 9th page, and not from the second… please advice!!
Rgrs from Greece,
Panos :)
Panos, you’d use the Numbering and Section Options for page 9 (target the page then choose the command from the Pages panel menu or right-click on the thumbnail) and there you turn on Section Start so you can enter a diff. page number to start at.
hope that helps!
So as i see, nobody knowes the answer to my question?
If you want a zero before every page number, as you seem to ask, you can type it in the text frame before your page number marker.
Thanks Jonathan Li, great instructions!
I am designing a yearbook and every time I insert a whole page I designed from Photoshop, the page numbering somehow disappears. Can anybody please help me fix this problem? Thanks.
Erwin: You are placing the image on top of the page number in InDesign…
See Calamity’s July 23rd, 2008 answer: (1) create another layer, (2) put the page number on the top one, (3) put your images on the bottom one.
Thanks Jongware. It works!
Honestly, I find Adobe manuals and their online Help to be of very little help. The first three paragraphs on this page say more than pages and pages of Adobe so-called help. Thanks.
Wow! That’s a great compliment, Thomas. Thank you.
I want my document page 3 to be numbered as page 1. When I use the page layout menu, I set it to start numbering at page 3, but I get the page number 3 on page 3 whereas I want the page numbering to begin from 1 on page 3.
Apologies if I’ve missed these instructions elsewhere.
Jess: the page number you fill in there is the starting page number for the document — the one that should appear on the first page of your document.
Post #4, above, describes how to change the page number on any page at all.
Hi all.
I want to ask you how can i put two different, separeted one from another page numbers. I have book, which contains of text and pictures. The text part goes before the pictures, so the numbering starts from 1 there. But the pictures’ part has to have 1) the numbering, which comes from the text part; and 2) a new numbering, starting from 01.
Thanks in advance:)
Oh, forgot to tell you that i use CS4…
Can anyone answer me plsease? I really need this, and as it seems here is the right place to ask difficult questionsm as you guys seem to know ID very well…
@Boris: In general, when starting a new thread or question, it may be better to ask it in the forums (click Forums above). I’m not sure what exactly you’re trying to create, but I wonder if it is better handled by a numbered list instead of auto numbering:
https://creativepro.com/setting-up-numbered-lists-that-jump-frames-in-cs3.php
Oh I’m sorry. Didn’t notice *blush*:D
10x Dave, but that’s not the thing i’m looking for. I’ll write in the forums now:)
Can someone tell me if it is possible to have two sets of page numbers on pages in a document?
I have a document that is 293 pages long. I would like each page to have a page number, and each chapter to have a chapter number followed by a chapter page number. For example page 148 would look like this in the lower corner:
3-1
148
Page 149 would read:
3-2
149
and so on until I reached a new chapter. Then the chapter and its number would start again, but the page number would continue its succession. Not sure if this is possible, just need to make sure it’s not before I tell my boss.
My… oh my~! Indesign is a software for layouter, there should be easier way of insert numbering in the pages. why makes it so complicated? coz “insert page number” is the basic tools for layouter.
now my problem now is…
I can’t get my text box back normally, when i start typing it also appear the numbering. that really makes me over, over and over Frustrated.
anyone could help me?
I’ve been at this ALL morning. Grrrrrrr.
I have a 48page ID4 document, with facing pages & multiple Master pages applied with special character inserted properly for auto page numbering.
As I read above other have similar problem, but the “Numbering & Section Options” solutions offered doesn’t work.
All I want to do is: start auto page numbering on page 3 of my document, so page 1,2 of the document is the plus cover. I have gone to the “Numbering & Section Options” window and selected “Start Section > Start Page Numbering At: 3”
What happens next is the first page of my document STARTS with page 3, and page 1,2 disappear. I cannot get it to work. I could just move on and manually number my book, but I’ve invested so much time, that I must find the answer :-)
Paul: The new numbering starts at the page that is selected in the Pages panel (which might be another one than the one on your screen).
Simply first click on the page you want to start new numbering on (in your case, the 3rd in the panel), then go to the Pages panel menu and set the starting page number.
Traditionally, you shouldn’t have two pages ‘1’, so ID will give you a stern Are-You-Sure warning. So (also traditionally) you ought to change the numbering for the cover pages to ‘a’, ‘b’ for the first two pages and ‘c’, ‘d’ for the last two pages.
[…] InDesign has an automatic page number feature — just use the Current Page Number special character and it shows up properly on every […]
I tried this and it worked except the proceeding page numbers didn’t change to reflect the deleted ones. Therefore, the page that I want to be #1 is now #4…is there any way to get it to automatically number after this? I’ve heard of the ability to make a new section…I’m not exactly sure how to make that work (I’ve failed when I’ve tried because it inserts an extra page and screws everything up) or if that’s what I need to do here.
Thanks!
I’m sure it’s quite simple, but I have a problem with the page numbering (indesign cs4) (using mac) that’s driving me crazy:
The problem is that the number ‘1.’ appears before each page number on each side: 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 3 and so forth. – How to get rid of the ‘1.’??
Anyone?
Maia: Check the very first New Section settings using Numbering & Section Options in the Pages panel — if you haven’t defined any sections of your own, there’s always one at the first page of your document.
Perhaps you have enabled “Include Prefix when numbering pages”.
Another possibility is that you accidentally enabled Paragraph Numbering on your page numbers …
Thanks a lot Jongware, for the fast reply. I haven’t enabled “include prefix” and I haven’t enabled ‘paragraf numbering’. The ‘define sections’ is empty… but how do I ‘define sections’ – which values do I use to ‘define sections’ if I only want to see the pagenumber and no ‘1.’ in front of every pagenumber??
@Maia: I don’t mean to ask the obvious, but… did you check your master page? Perhaps there is actually a “1.” typed in the text frame, before the automatic number.
The second, less obvious, thing would be: Perhaps the paragraph has automatic numbering turned on (like a list)? It may be in the paragraph style definition and not obvious on the page?
I am trying to make layout for newspaper with 33 pages.Is it possible to put auto page numbering on to the spread so that be ready for printing? That means that on my first spread (both side printed) should be page 1 on right side, page 33 on the left side. And second spread (the other side) should be page 2 left and page 32 on the right side.
@Tiho: What you want is called imposition. In general, it’s best to lay your document out as it reads (1 to 32) and then use file > print booklet, or export as PDF and then use an acrobat plug-in to impose the document to make it the way you want.
I tried to check an answer to this point but could not find a thread.
How to number, consecutively, in an even page? And the odd page must remains without numbering?
In this case the numbering will show a double of real pages…
Thank you
Thanks for really quick response.. Regards
I could use the paragraph/numbering/list and make copy-paste in every even page but the method is just a little primitive.
Camilo: it is, but InDesign simply cannot do this with regular page numbers.
One harkens back to the wonderful days of WordPerfect 6.0 — it introduced User Defined Variables! Increment and Decrement at will! Totally customizable page numbering, numbered lists, part and chapter numbers, headings, notes, references … the world was my spineless sea-dwelling calcified bivalve.
Camilo: 2nd thought. Have you read A-M’s https://creativepro.com/create-spread-numbers.php?
Is there a way to do auto page numbering in this example 001/500.
The way i’ve done it once you get to 10 it goes 0010/500 when it needs to be 010/500
Any ideas?
I’m creating a diary and wondered if there is a way to auto number the dates using a special character, so for instance at the top of the page…
Monday 1st January 2011
Is it possible to get the “1st” auto numbered within the same text box by replacing the 1 with #
So the next page will have 2 and so on!
(I’m using indesign cs3)
I know you can have a separate text box but that kind of plays with the alignment of things, thought there might be a faster way if possible!
@Sav: That’s a tricky one; one idea is to use the footnote feature, as discussed in this post.
Thanks endlessly for this site and thorough explanation. I was going crazy over a basic oversight and had been reading all the tips I came across, it was not until I read your explanation that my mind lit up. Thank you again!
Hi, I hope someone might help me. I need to number three coupons on the same page starting with different numbers and make automatic numbering througout 167 pages. Is this possible?
Hi: Using Trial Indesign CS5. Read tutorials on basic Section/Page numbering.
No matter what I do, Section/Page numbers don’t show when Book/Document viewed with Adobe Digital Editions. Any thoughts?
Thank you kindly in advance.
@Ana: You might consider using these tricks for making numbered coupons: https://creativepro.com/making-numbered-tickets.php
@tpias: page numbering does not show up in Digital Editions because there really is no such thing as page numbering in EPUB. It is a “reflowable” format, so page numbers change all the time.
David, thank you kindly for the reply.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is included as a Sample in the DE ebook Library. Page numbers are displayed–perhaps just embedded text.
Also, why would Indesign CS5 provide for page numbering (Insert Special Character>Marker>Current Page Number etc)?
@tpias: If I’m not mistaken, the epub reader (digital editions, or iBook, or stanza, etc.) can insert its own page numbers in. But think about it: If the person using the reader software makes the text bigger or smaller, then all the text would reflow and all the page numbers would be wrong! So it is not for InDesign to put page numbers in.
Of course, it has an automatic page number feature for people who are using InDesign for print or PDF or SWF.
Yes David, your comment makes sense w/r to page nums. Same should be true then for Links, yet Alice’s Adventures… has active links in DE. Mine just render as text. Perhaps it is not an eBook but rather a PDF.
My goal is to publish iBook/eBook for iPad and Kindle etc.
Thought I could use IDesign to publish and DE to test appearance–perhaps I’m on wrong track.
I don’t know if this helps anyone else or not, but I work for a printing company and we number stuff all the time. What I did is set up a spreadsheet where I type in the starting number, how many numbers per page, and the ending number, and it automatically generates the list of numbers I want. Then I use the merge feature of InDesign to merge that text into the desired numbering fields, and then can easily create a multi-page, numbered document.
I’m with Sean – I just need to number the pages in my 92 page document.
OK – you lost me right off with my “documents master pages”! What’s that? Where do I find it?
Thanks!
@jude: Master pages are like “templates” for pages. Anything you put on a master page will show up on a document page based on that master. Look in the Pages panel.
I’d strongly suggest getting some basic training, such as a copy of the book Real World InDesign, or training at lynda.com/trial/indesignsecrets
Here’s an interesting problem I have —
I am using a master page for layout of background graphics for a set of 5 white-papers.
Then, I am using separate layers for each different white-paper, so I can turn the individual layers on and off for each paper.
That works fine — but here’s the problem. The number of pages for the first white-paper is 5; the number for the second is 4; the number for the third is 7, etc.
If I set up a text box on the master page to handle the typical ” of ” format, I can’t figure out a way to easily change it so that the “total page” variable reflects the actual number of pages used in that white-paper. Instead I get things like “Page 2 of 7” when there are only 5 pages in that particular document.
Short of having to create separate documents for each white-paper (something I wanted to avoid) is there any way to calculate the total number of pages on the fly..?
@TimK: No, I don’t think so. You could perhaps use Conditional Text and Smart Text Reflow to “turn on and off” each white paper, so that the length of the document would change on the fly, based on which condition was visible.
Wow… 129 comments on this thread! But questions here seem to be shifting off topic, so I’m going to close the comments now. If you have more questions or ideas, please post them on our forums at https://creativepro.com/forum
Hi, I was wondering if you can help me. I’m trying to put both page numbers on the left hand page of a DS so it reads ‘1/2’ in the bottom left corner (asymetriclly). But stumped as to how to get it work in Master Pages. Is there a way to create this?
Here are a couple of blog posts that might help:
https://creativepro.com/previousnext-page-number-on-same-page.php
and
https://creativepro.com/create-spread-numbers.php