Affinity Publisher - Table of Contents shows chapters starting in even pages instead of odd ones

[Ramon56]

I am using Publisher 2.30.

On creating a book, I have created a template for book pages, and a special template for the first page of a chapter, which allows me to include the chapter headers. The chapter header goes in one layer, and the text in a different one. Left pages include the book title and page number in the footer, right pages have my name and page number in the footer. Nothing specially fancy.

Everything works perfectly, and when I generate the Table of Contents, it does indeed include the chapter titles, BUT unfortunately it indicates the number of the LEFT (even) page, even though the chapter starts in an RIGHT (odd) page.

I am not sure whether this is a bug or something has escaped me. The chapter header layer is on the RIGHT (odd) page, but the TOC still indicates that it is on the left page. I have tried moving around the layers of the templates, but to no avail.

In the screenshot below you can see the page layout. The "Prefacio" (Preface) chapter is on page 5 (odd page), but the TOC states that it is on page 4 (previous even page). The left side of the screenshot shows part of the TOC, and you will notice that ALL are even pages.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MikeTO]

This isn't important, but given how simple the layout is I'd suggest not using a separate master page for the first page of a chapter and not using a separate text frame for the chapter heading - just put the chapter heading directly into the main text frame with appropriate space before and after settings. That would make things easier for you but the way you have it should work perfectly, too.

I tried to duplicate the problem with a simple template but couldn't find the issue. Could you share a sample document? if not, please take a look at the sample I've attached and let us know what is different about it compared to your document.

Cheers

test toc.afpub

[Ramon56]

Hello, Mike.

Thanks for your assistance. The test file that you sent seems to work OK.

I attach an extract of the book, basically deleting all the text except one paragraph and two chapter headers. This issue has me really mystified.

Cheers.

Sample.afpub

 

[Old Bruce]

@Ramon56

I think it is because the 7th actual page is a section which you have said should start with Page number 4. Should be renumbered with an odd number not an even number.

[Ramon56]

Ok, got it, @Old Bruce

What was confusing me was that the footer stated Page #5.

Thanks for your help! (You too, @MikeTO!)

[Ramon56]

However, I now have a new issue: The TOC generates fine, but the page numbers in the footer are now wrong (page 5 which is the beginning of the chapter becomes page 6!

It looks as if the page footers are set at spread level, and not page level! So when you set the section page start at 5, it considers that the LEFT page of the spread is #5, and not the page where the section has been made!

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[MikeTO]

8 minutes ago, Ramon56 said:

However, I now have a new issue: The TOC generates fine, but the page numbers in the footer are now wrong (page 5 which is the beginning of the chapter becomes page 6!

It looks as if the page footers are set at spread level, and not page level!

Any ideas on how to fix this?

What did you renumber it to? Normally you would choose "Continue page numbering" so that the section started on page 7 or you would choose "Restart page numbering" and enter page number 1 to restart numbering at 1.

[Ramon56]

All sections are "Continue page numbering", except this one, where the page number needs to start with "5". But in order to achieve that, I need to set the section number to "4", as can be seen from the previous screenshot. However, if I do so, then it scrambles the TOC and we get back to the original problem.

[MikeTO]

3 minutes ago, Ramon56 said:

All sections are "Continue page numbering", except this one, where the page number needs to start with "5". But in order to achieve that, I need to set the section number to "4", as can be seen from the previous screenshot. However, if I do so, then it scrambles the TOC and we get back to the original problem.

You've inserted the wrong field into the text frame. Delete the fields in your footer and start again. You probably inserted Last Page in Section or Last Page in Run or something like that. I didn't take time to figure out which it was, but I deleted it and inserted the real page number field and then it worked fine.

Cheers

[Ramon56]

I tried fiddling with the different field types, but if I get the first section correct, the following ones get the numbers wrong.

I'll let it go for now and simply generate the TOC, then reset the section number again. I have to deliver the book (it's already on pre-sale) and cannot dedicate more time to it.

Thanks for your help!