Transfer Master Pages Between Documents

[LightCreator]

Is there a way to transfer master pages between documents? On either the Windows or Mac version?

[Pšenda]

Select master page in Page panel (double click), Layers panel, select all items/layers (Ctrl+A), Ctrl+C, switch to new document, select...... and Ctrl+V? 

[GarryP]

Copy All and Paste won’t copy things like margins, guides, etc.

Which brings up a related issue if this was to be made available, which is: “If such a thing was possible, how would the software cope with things like page size/set-up differences, or copying one part of a spread to a different spread with a different set-up, or copying the left side of a master spread to the right-side of another master spread, or copying the right-side (or left side) of a double-page master to a single page master, etc., etc.?”

I don’t think copying master pages from one document to another would, in a lot of cases (but not all), make much sense.

[walt.farrell]

I think you can transfer Master Pages using Document > Add Pages from File. 

[GarryP]

I’ve just tried adding some pages from a V1 document into a brand new V2 document and Publisher crashed a few seconds after displaying the Add Pages from Document dialog.
Tried it again and the dialog was fine but the application hung when I pressed OK.
I had to manually end the task after about five minutes; Publisher memory usage was over 9GB at the time and I was only adding five pages.

[MikeTO]

51 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I’ve just tried adding some pages from a V1 document into a brand new V2 document and Publisher crashed a few seconds after displaying the Add Pages from Document dialog.
Tried it again and the dialog was fine but the application hung when I pressed OK.
I had to manually end the task after about five minutes; Publisher memory usage was over 9GB at the time and I was only adding five pages.

Walt is right, the correct way to transfer a master page from one document to another is to use Add Pages from File. Just choose to add one page or spread based on the master rather than all pages. Publisher will add that page or spread as well as the master(s) it is based on. Then you can delete the added pages if you don't want them, keeping just the masters. I just tried it on macOS without issues but there may be something in your document causing issues. Try making a copy of the source document and deleting all of its pages, leaving just the masters. Then use Add Page from File for this reduced document.

If you're adding the master to a new document, don't bother with this, just duplicate the document and delete all the pages, index marks, etc., until you have a blank document with the masters.

Cheers