{"course":{"slug":"vector-and-print","title":"Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print","level":"beginner","track":"create"},"lesson":{"slug":"master-pages-and-sections","title":"Masters, running heads and why folios drift","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/master-pages-and-sections","position":48,"of":73,"minutes":8,"answer":"Put all repeating furniture on masters, number pages with a marker rather than by typing, use sections for front matter.","keyIdea":"Put all repeating furniture on masters, number pages with a marker rather than by typing, use sections for front matter, and when a folio drifts the cause is almost always a local override on that page rather than a problem with the master."},"body":{"format":"markdown","text":"## What a master is\n\nA master page is a template applied to real pages. Anything on it (margin guides, the running head, the folio, a rule, a background panel) appears on every page using that master, and changing it changes all of them.\n\nYou will normally need three or four:\n\n- **A-Master**: the standard text page, with running head and folio.\n- **B-Master**: the chapter opener, usually with no running head and a folio in a different position, or none.\n- **C-Master**: full-bleed image pages, with no furniture at all.\n- **Front matter**: title page, contents, imprint. Often no folio.\n\nMasters can be based on other masters, exactly like paragraph styles. Build B based on A, delete the running head, and a later change to A's folio position still reaches B.\n\n## Automatic page numbers\n\nNever type a page number. Insert a **current page number marker**, which renders as the master's prefix on the master and as the real number on the page.\n\n- **InDesign**: Type ▸ Insert Special Character ▸ Markers ▸ Current Page Number (**Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N**).\n- **Scribus**: Insert ▸ Character ▸ Page Number (**Ctrl+Alt+Shift+P**).\n- **Affinity Publisher**: Text ▸ Insert ▸ Fields ▸ Page Number.\n- **LibreOffice Writer**: Insert ▸ Field ▸ Page Number, inside a header.\n\nInsert one page and add a **next/previous page number** marker too if the document has continued articles.\n\n## Sections, which is what people miss\n\nA book's front matter is numbered i, ii, iii and the body restarts at 1. That is two **sections**, and every layout application supports them.\n\n- **InDesign**: Pages panel ▸ select the first page of the section ▸ panel menu ▸ Numbering & Section Options. Set the style (Roman, Arabic) and the starting number.\n- **Scribus**: File ▸ Document Setup ▸ Sections. Add a section, set its page range, style and start.\n\nWithout sections, people fake it by typing numbers, and every insertion afterwards breaks them silently.\n\n## Why folios drift\n\nThe commonest bug in long documents: page numbers or running heads that are 3 mm out on some pages and not others.\n\nThree causes, in order of frequency:\n\n1. **The master item was overridden.** Somebody clicked the folio on a page and nudged it. Most applications require a modifier (**Ctrl+Shift+click** in InDesign) to select a master item on a page, precisely so this is hard to do by accident. When it happens, the item is now local and no longer follows the master. InDesign's Pages panel menu has *Remove All Local Overrides*; use it and the folios snap back.\n2. **The wrong master is applied.** A page using B-Master where A was intended. The Pages panel shows the master letter on each page thumbnail; scan down the column.\n3. **Two masters with the folio in slightly different places.** Fix it by basing one on the other rather than building them separately.\n\n## Running heads that know their chapter\n\nA running head saying \"Chapter 4: Materials\" on every page of chapter 4, changing by itself at chapter 5, is a **text variable** driven by a paragraph style.\n\n- **InDesign**: Type ▸ Text Variables ▸ Define ▸ New ▸ Running Header, set to the chapter-title paragraph style. Insert the variable on the master.\n- **LibreOffice Writer**: Insert ▸ Field ▸ More Fields ▸ Document ▸ Chapter.\n- **Scribus** has no equivalent; running heads are set per section by hand or by a script.\n\nThis is one of the strongest arguments for InDesign on a long structured document, and it is worth knowing it exists even if you are working in something else, because it tells you what to budget time for.\n\n## Left and right are not the same page\n\nA facing-pages document has recto (right-hand, odd) and verso (left-hand, even) pages, and they are mirror images: the folio sits on the outer edge on both, which means right on a recto and left on a verso. Set the master as a spread, not as a single page, and set the margins as *inside* and *outside* rather than left and right. Every application offers this and it is a checkbox at document creation that people miss.\n\nPage 1 is always a recto. If your document opens on a left-hand page, the page count or the start position is wrong."},"check":{"question":"In a 90-page catalogue, the folio sits 4 mm higher on eleven scattered pages. The master page is correct and all eleven pages use it. What is the most likely cause, and the fastest fix?","options":[{"text":"The folio is a text variable that resolves to a different string length on those particular pages, shifting the baseline.","correct":false,"tempting":"A longer string changes width, not vertical position, and a variable does not alter the frame's placement on the page."},{"text":"Those pages sit in a second section with a different numbering style, which repositions the marker.","correct":false,"tempting":"A section changes the number's style and starting value, not the geometry of the frame the marker sits in."},{"text":"Master items on those pages were overridden locally; removing local overrides restores them.","correct":true},{"text":"The pages use a master based on the correct one, and the derived master has its own folio position.","correct":false,"tempting":"Plausible, but the question states all eleven pages use the same master; a derived master would show as a different letter in the pages panel."}]},"prev":{"slug":"page-geometry-and-the-grid","title":"Deriving a grid from the type, not from a template","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/page-geometry-and-the-grid"},"next":{"slug":"threaded-text-and-overset","title":"Threaded text, overset, and copy that does not fit","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/threaded-text-and-overset"},"authorship":"Founder and series editor: Dr Mustafa Mun. Written by AI models to a written standard. Exam keys checked blind by a second model: 3,665 of 3,666 agreed. Academic review invited.","review":{"status":"Draft, open for academic review"},"cite":"Addaly (2026) 'Masters, running heads and why folios drift', in Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/master-pages-and-sections (Accessed: 13 October 2026).","licence":{"name":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"},"reader":{"schema":1,"title":"Masters, running heads and why folios drift","courseTitle":"Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed","module":{"index":6,"slug":"layout-that-scales","title":"Documents that survive a late change"},"answer":null,"keyIdea":"Put all repeating furniture on masters, number pages with a marker rather than by typing, use sections for front matter, and when a folio drifts the cause is almost always a local override on that page rather than a problem with the master.","hero":{"kind":"plate","image":null,"alt":null,"caption":null},"blocks":[{"t":"h2","id":"what-a-master-is","runs":[{"text":"What a master is"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A master page is a template applied to real pages. Anything on it (margin guides, the running head, the folio, a rule, a background panel) appears on every page using that master, and changing it changes all of them."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"You will normally need three or four:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"A-Master","b":true},{"text":": the standard text page, with running head and folio."}],[{"text":"B-Master","b":true},{"text":": the chapter opener, usually with no running head and a folio in a different position, or none."}],[{"text":"C-Master","b":true},{"text":": full-bleed image pages, with no furniture at all."}],[{"text":"Front matter","b":true},{"text":": title page, contents, imprint. Often no folio."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Masters can be based on other masters, exactly like paragraph styles. Build B based on A, delete the running head, and a later change to A’s folio position still reaches B."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"automatic-page-numbers","runs":[{"text":"Automatic page numbers"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Never type a page number. Insert a "},{"text":"current page number marker","b":true},{"text":", which renders as the master’s prefix on the master and as the real number on the page."}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"InDesign","b":true},{"text":": Type ▸ Insert Special Character ▸ Markers ▸ Current Page Number ("},{"text":"Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N","b":true},{"text":")."}],[{"text":"Scribus","b":true},{"text":": Insert ▸ Character ▸ Page Number ("},{"text":"Ctrl+Alt+Shift+P","b":true},{"text":")."}],[{"text":"Affinity Publisher","b":true},{"text":": Text ▸ Insert ▸ Fields ▸ Page Number."}],[{"text":"LibreOffice Writer","b":true},{"text":": Insert ▸ Field ▸ Page Number, inside a header."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Insert one page and add a "},{"text":"next/previous page number","b":true},{"text":" marker too if the document has continued articles."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"sections-which-is-what-people-miss","runs":[{"text":"Sections, which is what people miss"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A book’s front matter is numbered i, ii, iii and the body restarts at 1. That is two "},{"text":"sections","b":true},{"text":", and every layout application supports them."}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"InDesign","b":true},{"text":": Pages panel ▸ select the first page of the section ▸ panel menu ▸ Numbering & Section Options. Set the style (Roman, Arabic) and the starting number."}],[{"text":"Scribus","b":true},{"text":": File ▸ Document Setup ▸ Sections. Add a section, set its page range, style and start."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Without sections, people fake it by typing numbers, and every insertion afterwards breaks them silently."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"why-folios-drift","runs":[{"text":"Why folios drift"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The commonest bug in long documents: page numbers or running heads that are 3 mm out on some pages and not others."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Three causes, in order of frequency:"}]},{"t":"ol","start":1,"items":[[{"text":"The master item was overridden.","b":true},{"text":" Somebody clicked the folio on a page and nudged it. Most applications require a modifier ("},{"text":"Ctrl+Shift+click","b":true},{"text":" in InDesign) to select a master item on a page, precisely so this is hard to do by accident. When it happens, the item is now local and no longer follows the master. InDesign’s Pages panel menu has "},{"text":"Remove All Local Overrides","i":true},{"text":"; use it and the folios snap back."}],[{"text":"The wrong master is applied.","b":true},{"text":" A page using B-Master where A was intended. The Pages panel shows the master letter on each page thumbnail; scan down the column."}],[{"text":"Two masters with the folio in slightly different places.","b":true},{"text":" Fix it by basing one on the other rather than building them separately."}]]},{"t":"h2","id":"running-heads-that-know-their-chapter","runs":[{"text":"Running heads that know their chapter"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A running head saying “Chapter 4: Materials” on every page of chapter 4, changing by itself at chapter 5, is a "},{"text":"text variable","b":true},{"text":" driven by a paragraph style."}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"InDesign","b":true},{"text":": Type ▸ Text Variables ▸ Define ▸ New ▸ Running Header, set to the chapter-title paragraph style. Insert the variable on the master."}],[{"text":"LibreOffice Writer","b":true},{"text":": Insert ▸ Field ▸ More Fields ▸ Document ▸ Chapter."}],[{"text":"Scribus","b":true},{"text":" has no equivalent; running heads are set per section by hand or by a script."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This is one of the strongest arguments for InDesign on a long structured document, and it is worth knowing it exists even if you are working in something else, because it tells you what to budget time for."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"left-and-right-are-not-the-same-page","runs":[{"text":"Left and right are not the same page"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A facing-pages document has recto (right-hand, odd) and verso (left-hand, even) pages, and they are mirror images: the folio sits on the outer edge on both, which means right on a recto and left on a verso. Set the master as a spread, not as a single page, and set the margins as "},{"text":"inside","i":true},{"text":" and "},{"text":"outside","i":true},{"text":" rather than left and right. Every application offers this and it is a checkbox at document creation that people miss."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Page 1 is always a recto. If your document opens on a left-hand page, the page count or the start position is wrong."}]}],"check":{"question":[{"text":"In a 90-page catalogue, the folio sits 4 mm higher on eleven scattered pages. The master page is correct and all eleven pages use it. What is the most likely cause, and the fastest fix?"}],"options":[{"text":[{"text":"The folio is a text variable that resolves to a different string length on those particular pages, shifting the baseline."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"A longer string changes width, not vertical position, and a variable does not alter the frame’s placement on the page."}]},{"text":[{"text":"Those pages sit in a second section with a different numbering style, which repositions the marker."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"A section changes the number’s style and starting value, not the geometry of the frame the marker sits in."}]},{"text":[{"text":"Master items on those pages were overridden locally; removing local overrides restores them."}],"correct":true,"tempting":null},{"text":[{"text":"The pages use a master based on the correct one, and the derived master has its own folio position."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Plausible, but the question states all eleven pages use the same master; a derived master would show as a different letter in the pages panel."}]}],"order":[0,3,2,1],"why":null},"prev":{"slug":"page-geometry-and-the-grid","title":"Deriving a grid from the type, not from a template","minutes":8},"next":{"slug":"threaded-text-and-overset","title":"Threaded text, overset, and copy that does not fit","minutes":8}}}