Masters, running heads and why folios drift

What a master is

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.

You will normally need three or four:

• A-Master: the standard text page, with running head and folio.
• B-Master: the chapter opener, usually with no running head and a folio in a different position, or none.
• C-Master: full-bleed image pages, with no furniture at all.
• Front matter: title page, contents, imprint. Often no folio.

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.

Automatic page numbers

Never 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.

• InDesign: Type ▸ Insert Special Character ▸ Markers ▸ Current Page Number (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N).
• Scribus: Insert ▸ Character ▸ Page Number (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+P).
• Affinity Publisher: Text ▸ Insert ▸ Fields ▸ Page Number.
• LibreOffice Writer: Insert ▸ Field ▸ Page Number, inside a header.

Insert one page and add a next/previous page number marker too if the document has continued articles.

Sections, which is what people miss

A 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.

• InDesign: Pages panel ▸ select the first page of the section ▸ panel menu ▸ Numbering & Section Options. Set the style (Roman, Arabic) and the starting number.
• Scribus: File ▸ Document Setup ▸ Sections. Add a section, set its page range, style and start.

Without sections, people fake it by typing numbers, and every insertion afterwards breaks them silently.

Why folios drift

The commonest bug in long documents: page numbers or running heads that are 3 mm out on some pages and not others.

Three causes, in order of frequency:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Two masters with the folio in slightly different places. Fix it by basing one on the other rather than building them separately.

Running heads that know their chapter

A 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.

• InDesign: Type ▸ Text Variables ▸ Define ▸ New ▸ Running Header, set to the chapter-title paragraph style. Insert the variable on the master.
• LibreOffice Writer: Insert ▸ Field ▸ More Fields ▸ Document ▸ Chapter.
• Scribus has no equivalent; running heads are set per section by hand or by a script.

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.

Left and right are not the same page

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 inside and outside rather than left and right. Every application offers this and it is a checkbox at document creation that people miss.

Page 1 is always a recto. If your document opens on a left-hand page, the page count or the start position is wrong.