We recently did a usability study on page numbering in InDesign. Participants worked through a series of page numbering tasks that I asked them to perform. Although I made a few changes to a couple of Help topics, I kept thinking that what people really needed was pictures of page numbering effects and brief descriptions of how to create those effects. So that's what I'm doing here. Perhaps later, I'll clean up the pictures and add this to Help.
Simple page number
Adding page numbering isn't the most intuitive task in InDesign. You basically create a text frame on a master page and insert the Current Page Number marker (choose Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number). If your document has facing pages, remember to add page number markers to both master pages. See Add basic page numbering in Help.
Simple footer
Besides page numbers, you may want to include other information such as the date or title. A common method is to create a text frame the width of the page and add information to the left and right side of the text frame. After you type the information on the left side of the frame, insert a Right Indent Tab (choose Type > Insert Special Character > Other > Right Indent Tab) and type on the right side of the page. If you need information to be left-aligned, centered, and right-aligned, use the Tabs panel. See the Set tabs topic in Help.
Change page numbering style
When you change the page numbering style in a document, you create a new section. For example, one section can include Roman numerals (i, ii, iii) for a preface, and the next section can include Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).
To change the page numbering style, select the page where you want the new numbering style to begin and choose Layout > Numbering and Section Options. See Define section numbering in Help.
Page 01, 02, 03 . . .
I added this one based on a couple of comments that I just discovered. How do you create an 01, 02, 03 effect? Simple. Go to the page where you want numbering to begin and choose Layout > Numbering and Section Options. Then Just choose 01, 02, 03 from the Style pop-up menu. You can choose these numbering formats:
1, 2, 3, 4..
01, 02, 03...
001, 002, 003...
0001, 0002, 0003...
A, B, C, D...
I, II, III, IV...
a, b, c, d...
i, ii, iii, iv...
Suppress page numbers on first page
Want to remove the page numbering from a page in the document? There are two ways. (1) apply a different master page or the None master. (2) Override and delete the master text frame on the document page. Ctrl/Cmd+Shift-click a master text frame to override it.
Page numbering in books
Need to make sure chapter numbers and page numbers are updated automatically in books? See Number pages, chapters, and paragraphs in a book in Help.
Page jumps ("continued on page...")
If an article starts on page one and is continued on page 9, create a text frame that touches the bottom of the article on the first page and insert the Next Page Number marker (choose Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Next Page Number). See Add automatic page numbers for story jumps in Help.
Page X of Y
This effect requires a combination of two features -- page numbering and text variables. You insert the Current Page Number marker for the page number and the Last Page Number text variable for the "total pages" number. Choose Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable > Last Page Number. See Text variables in Help.
Running headers and footers
Do you want the current heading to appear in a header or footer? Define a text variable. See Create headers and footers and Create variables for running headers and footers in Help.
Both page numbers on one side of the spread
I covered this issue in a different entry: Page Numbering on a Single Spread
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That's it for page numbering. Let me know if you think I should include other page numbering effects or if you think I should create galleries for other features. Leave a comment. By default, my blogging tool treats comments as spam, but I'll monitor comments regularly..
Very useful gallery, thank you!
Here's another trendy page number format I like to use sometimes: 01, 02, 03, ..., 10, 11, 12. As long as you have no more than nine pages you could manually type in the leading “0”. Not sure how to prevent the “010” problem, though. Probably need to use sections, I guess.
"Adding page numbering isn't the most intuitive task in InDesign." - you seem to be a mild person ;) :)
Thanks for summing this up. As a Indesign beginner I remember to have searched a lot to accomplish the 'Page x of y' variant because of the 'y' being a 'variable'.. lol
Cheers
Hi Bob
The links to "Create variables ..." and "Page Numberig on a Single Spread" are broken ?!?
regards Frank
The page numbering challenge I always have is a fellow designer who likes to use 2 digit page numbers, so she like 01,02,03 etc. for her single digit page numbers. Is there a way to do this with creating sections?
Yes, there is an 01,02,03 style that you can choose from the Style pop-up menu that appears when you're defining section numbering. I'll add that to the gallery.
Thanks. I fixed the broken links.
Thanks for your clear explanation which is great for single files.
Just wondering how you can use total page numbering in a book when you have to use the page x of y format.
I am putting together a group of Indesign files each numbered 1 of y but when combined I want it to be page 1 of 24 etc.
Is there a way that Indesign can calculate the total number of pages in the book automatically or do I have to insert it manually?
I'm designing a catalog and want the pg numbering to start on the inside cover (which Indesign thinks is pg 2) How do I get it so that the inside cover becomes pg 1 as opposed to pg. 2?
Thx!
Bobby
Bobby - You'll want to start the document with a two-page spread. It's a clumsy procedure, but it works. The steps are documented here:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/6.0/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7112a.html#WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-711ca
As a CS3 user, I don't have all of those styles in the Numbering and Section options. I suppose I can create a new section that begins on page 10 (and a different set of masters to use that don't have the leading 0 before the page #). Still, I'd love to be able to do this using the same master page.
Is there any way to add new styles to the menu? It won't let me type in new styles.
How do I create a PDF of my Indesign Doc page 8, but have it as page 1 in the PDF? Right now when I print pages 5,6 and 8 they show up as 5,6 and 8 in the PDF, I just want them as 1,2 and 3, with the ability to add a page on the front (my copyright page) which would push the page numbers down (1,2(was 1),3(was 2),4(was 3)). I'm not talking about the printed page numbers on the document, I'm talking about the pages in the overall document.
You'll get better results if you ask these questions in the user forum:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/indesign/indesign_general