How to Use Adobe InDesign Master Pages to Streamline Your Workflow
Master Pages can streamline your InDesign workflow. Here, we'll go over what Master Pages are and how to use them.
If you're working on a multi-page document like a brochure or a magazine, you'll often have to use various common elements across different pages.
That's where InDesign Master Pages can be indispensable. By enabling you to reuse your basic layouts, they simplify your workflow and make it quicker to achieve the result you're after.
Read this guide, and before you know it, you'll have truly mastered Master Pages.
What Are InDesign Master Pages?
InDesign Master Pages are essentially templates you can use within documents. They allow you to reuse layouts, styles, and assets, thereby saving time and effort.
A Master Page might, for example, include a color scheme that's consistent throughout your document. It may also incorporate page numbers, a logo, and the title of your document, including any styling you have applied.
It's easy to see how this would be useful when creating something like a brochure or a magazine. Your front and back covers may have unique designs, but the rest of your pages will likely share some common elements.
If you put these common elements into Master Pages, you can apply them throughout your document and avoid unnecessary work.
Working With InDesign Master Pages
By default, when you create a new document, you'll already have a Master Page to work with in your Pages window.
If you don't have the Pages window open, go to Window > Pages, or hit F12. If you selected Facing Pages when you created your new document, then you'll have a double-page Master spread. Either way, it will be titled "A-Master."
As you can see below, all the pages in our Pages window have the letter "A" on them. This tells us they're linked to A-Master.
To demonstrate how to work with Master Pages, we're going to create a very simple magazine layout. The back and front covers will not be connected to Master Pages. Inside, we'll have two four-page articles, each using a different set of Master Pages.
We'll begin by creating our first Master Page spread. Double-click on A-Master in the Pages window to select it.
You can now start adding elements to A-Master. We've built a simple layout with page numbers in colored circles, a title bar at the top, and two columns on each page.
Return to your main document by double-clicking any of its pages in the Pages window. You'll see that your new design elements have been added to it.
Note that these elements are locked within the main pages of your document. To make changes to them, you need to head to your Master Pages again.
You'll also find that Master Page elements are always on the bottom layer. Anything you add while working on regular pages will sit on top of the Master Page items.
Related: How to Build a Table of Contents in InDesign
Unlinking Pages From InDesign Master Pages
For our purposes, we don't want our cover pages to use Master Pages, as we want them to have unique layouts. We need to unlink them from the Masters.
To do this, we will apply the [None] template in the Pages window. One way to do this is to click and drag [None] onto the pages you want to unlink from the Master Pages.
Alternatively, select the pages you want to change from the Pages window, then right-click, and select Apply Master to Pages.
Now, choose [None] and the pages you want to unlink. Click OK, and those pages should be blank.
You can now create your cover page. As you can see from our simple design below, our front cover has a layout without any of the Master Page elements included in it.
Overriding InDesign Master Page Items
By default, you can't edit Master Page items without going to the Master Pages themselves.
You can get around this by right-clicking pages in the Pages window and choosing Override All Master Page Items. The shortcut for this is Ctrl + Alt + Shift + L.
This will unlock all Master Page elements on those pages, so you can move and edit them. For example, that means we can now add text to the columns we set up in our Master Pages.
However, if you override Master Page items this way, it unlocks everything—including parts of your design you probably want to remain locked. That can result in elements moving accidentally, as shown here.
Thankfully, you can also override single Master Page items on a page. Just hold Ctrl + Shift on Windows or Cmd + Shift on Mac, and left-click on locked Master Page elements to make them editable.
By doing this, you can edit the parts of the page you need, all while leaving things like page numbers and titles untouched.
Related: How to Use the InDesign Story Editor
Adding More InDesign Master Pages
You can use more than one Master in a document. We're going to use this feature to create a second article layout with a different color scheme than our first.
To add a new Master Page, right-click the Master Page areas in the Pages window. Alternatively, click the menu button in the top-right of the Pages window (the four horizontal lines). Select New Master.
Now, you choose a prefix, a name, whether it's based on another Master Page, the number of pages, and the page size. If you base your new Master Page on [None], it will be blank.
If you choose to base a Master on another Master, InDesign will bring in all the Master items just as it would with a regular page. That means all A-Master items in B-Master, for example, will be locked until you override them. It also means changes to A-Master will be reflected in B-Master.
You can also create a copy of a Master by right-clicking on it in the Pages window and selecting Duplicate Master Spread. In this case, it will create a copy without any kind of dependency, so you can edit it immediately.
That's what we've chosen to do here. We've created a new color scheme and applied B-Master to our remaining pages.
Reusing InDesign Master Pages In Other Documents
Although there are some great InDesign templates available for free online, you may want to reuse your own designs instead. You can do that by importing your Master Pages into new documents.
To bring in Masters from other documents, open the menu in the top-right of the Pages window. Select Master Pages > Load Master Pages.
Now, choose the document that holds the Master Pages you want to import. You'll be prompted to rename them if there are any conflicts.
You can also turn any pages into a new Master. Select any pages you want to include in the Pages window, and then open the menu using the button in the top-right.
Click Master Pages > Save New Master. InDesign will add a new Master to your Pages window.
Create Layouts Faster With InDesign Master Pages
For simple one or two-page documents without repeated design elements, you may not need to use Master Pages. But they really come in handy when you start to create longer, multi-page layouts.
If you need to use the same parts of a layout throughout your document, Master Pages enable you to do it quickly and with minimal effort.
You can create Master Pages based on other Master Pages, too. That means you can layer them and create dependencies. And if you need to override Master Page items, you can do it one at a time or unlink everything all at once.
By using all of these techniques together, you can easily produce large documents without repeating the same actions over and over. It can easily improve your InDesign workflow, saving you a substantial amount of time.
Adobe InDesign CC - Page Management
Adobe InDesign CC - Page Management
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Page management is important if you are dealing with a document having multiple pages. InDesign provides a lot of easy ways to insert, remove, or duplicate pages. Most of these functions are accessed from the Pages menu under the Layout main menu. However, we will use the Pages panel in the Panel Bar as it is much easier and intuitive.
The Pages Panel
We see that this document has two pages in two spreads. Clicking the Pages button on the Panel Bar opens the flyout showing various options that are possible with this document. Let us explore some of the options available in this panel.
The bottom of the Pages panel has three buttons. The first button is called Edit page size. This lets you change the dimensions of the page, say from A4 to US Letter or A3. The second button is called Create new page. This allows you to create a page right next to the page currently selected in the Pages panel. The third button is called Delete selected pages and allows you to delete the selected pages.
You can create pages and re-arrange them simply by dragging and dropping them as desired within the Pages panel. You can also select multiple pages by pressing Ctrl on Windows or Command on Mac and selecting the desired pages.
Options in the Pages Panel
You can also make use of some more options to work with pages. Clicking the menu button on the Pages panel opens up a menu, which allows you to have more control over page management.
If you want to insert more than 1 page in the document, click the Insert Pages… command in the menu. This opens up a dialog box wherein you can specify exactly how many pages you want to insert and where you want them to be inserted.
Say, for example, you want to insert a page after page number 2, specify them in this box to insert the page. You can also choose to insert the pages before, after, at the start, or at the end of the document.
If you want to move a page after a particular page number, you can use the Move Pages… command in the same menu. You can specify the page number that you want to move and the page number that you want to either move after, before, or at the start or end of the document. Of course, you can also click and drag the pages to the desired position.
A neat feature is that you can also move pages from one open document to other.
Using the Page Tool
You can change the page dimensions of the pages in your document by going to the File menu and selecting Document Setup… You can then specify your new Width and Height values here. Do keep in mind that all the pages in the document will be affected by this.
What if you wanted to change the dimensions of only a single page? The Page tool on the toolbar is your answer. You might want to change the dimensions of a specific page if you are preparing flyers or brochures that fold at specific pages. Using the Page tool is simple and straightforward but you must remember to set the correct reference point.
The above screenshot shows a two-page spread. If you look carefully, the first page on the left-hand side has some handles along its four sides. This is the indication that the Page tool is active on this particular page. Now, on the Control Panel at the top, you can specify your desired dimensions.
Remember the reference point, we discussed earlier? That is the left most button with the 9 small spheres. Each sphere is a reference from which the rest of the adjustments to the dimensions are made.
Say, for example, you want to reduce the page size towards the right, you would put a reference point in any of the left most spheres to ensure that the left part of the page is kept constant, while the right side is adjusted. This helps to avoid gaps in the page which can look out of place in the finished document.
Master Pages
A master page, like the name suggests, defines the overall layout of the document. Any changes to the size or number of pages on the master page affects the whole document. You can have any number of master pages, but the first master is called the A-Master. There is also a None master page which is devoid of the schema of the other master pages.
Master pages are very essential when working with books or magazines where the content flows from one page to the other.
Clicking the Pages panel opens the flyout where you can select the A-Master and None master pages. Double-clicking on the A-Master opens the two-page spread master page which is basically blank. Notice that the individual pages in the panel show an A symbol. That means that the A-Master master page is applied to them.
You can specify items on the master page such as header, footer, page numbers, or design layouts that would apply to all the other pages to which this master page is applied.
Don’t want a master page element on any of your subsequent pages? No problem. Simply drag the None master page in the Pages panel onto your desired page to remove any master page defined layouts.
Creating Page Numbers
Creating page numbers in InDesign is easy. Since you would want the page numbers to appear on every page, you need to specify the location of page numbers in the master page.
Say, for example, you want to number the pages in a book. Open the master page as described earlier, and select a location for the display of your page numbers. Let us select the bottom of the page for this example and draw a text bar at the bottom by clicking the Type icon in the toolbar and dragging the textbox to the bottom of the page.
The key thing to remember is, you don’t enter any actual numbers here. What you do is, tell InDesign that you want page numbers to appear in that position. To do that, go to the Type menu, go to Insert Special Character, then Markers and finally select Current Page Number. This will insert a symbol A in the textbox referring to the master page, A.
You can duplicate this page number textbox to the second page of the master page by holding down Alt + Shift on Windows or Opt + Shift on Mac and dragging the textbox to the same position on the next page.
Now, when you check the other document pages, you will have the page numbers at the exact position and with the same formatting you’ve specified in the master page.
In the above document, it can be seen that InDesign has automatically designated page number 6 to the 6th page. Page number assignment is dynamic. As you add or delete pages, the numbers are adjusted automatically saving you the trouble of manually verifying them.
Removing a master page & deleting parts off the master page in InDesign.
Video transcript
In this video we're going to have page 1 where it's got no 'Master Page' applied even though the rest of the pages have master pages. So we're going to insert a blank page. And we're also going to look at-- you can see, this still has the 'A Master' applied but it doesn't have the page number, I've just selectively deleted this. Or in this case I could go and change this color of this box. And it's still part of the 'A Master'. So let's go and learn how to do this.
There's two ways we can do this, and it depends on your requirements. This first page, I want to completely remove the 'A Master'. I just want it to be a blank page with nothing on it. What we can do is, you can select on page 1, right click, and go to the one that says 'Apply Master to Page', click on that. And what we can say is, 'To Pages' '1', I'm going to say 'none', please. Click 'OK', and if I double click page 1 now it's got none of that 'Master Page' stuff on it. And that's going to be great for our cover page.
The other way you might implement this is that you want to just delete certain parts of the 'Master Page'. So let's say page 2, I double clicked on it. We want to remove the page number, but we like this colored bar here. So what we can do, there's two ways of doing this, you can right click it, and there's one that says 'Override All Master Page Items', click on this. It's still got the 'A Master' applied. So if I add something to the 'Master Page' now it will still receive it, but you can see, these objects are actually click-able. And I can say, actually I just want to get rid of the page number. So, this side here, because I haven't done it, you can see, I can't select it, or remove it, so this one here, it's still part of the 'A Master' but these objects are actually kind of yanked out. So I can start manipulating, I can change the color of them, I could do some stuff to them. It depends on what you want to do.
Another cool little trick that I use mostly is, say I want to do the exact same thing to page 4, is I hold down 'Command' and 'Shift' on a Mac, or 'Control' and 'Shift' on a PC, and give it a click. That is like a manual way of doing that thing we just did with the 'Override All Master Page Items'. Don't know why that's a shortcut. They make the weirdest shortcuts here in InDesign. Who does that, and remembers that? Maybe I do. So, there's two ways. You can right click the page, and say, I want to apply 'None' to that page, or you can do this 'Override All Master Page Items', and it just pulls them off, and you can individually decide what to delete.
