Page numbering. Publisher. iPad version.

[CarolineL]

Hi all, happy new year.

I’m literally pulling my hair out over this.  I have searched the help section, I’ve searched youtube and asked in various relevant facebook groups and not a single source will give me a straight answer to what I feel should be a really easy question.

I would be so grateful if someone could PLEASE give me step by step instructions on how to add page numbers to a multi page Publisher document on the iPad.  I’ve been using Designer for years but I’m relatively new to Publisher so I don’t know all the terms and where to find things.

Thank you

[MikeTO]

31 minutes ago, CarolineL said:

Hi all, happy new year.

I’m literally pulling my hair out over this.  I have searched the help section, I’ve searched youtube and asked in various relevant facebook groups and not a single source will give me a straight answer to what I feel should be a really easy question.

I would be so grateful if someone could PLEASE give me step by step instructions on how to add page numbers to a multi page Publisher document on the iPad.  I’ve been using Designer for years but I’m relatively new to Publisher so I don’t know all the terms and where to find things.

Thank you

Hi, you'll find the instructions for Mac and Windows in the free manual I've shared in the forum (see the link in my signature). I don't provide steps for iPad but if you already know how to use a master page on the iPad, then the only additional things you'd need to track down are how to insert a page number and how to open the section manager on iPad. And you can find out all about that in this help page: https://affinity.help/publisher2ipad/English.lproj/contents.xml?page=pages/Pages/numberingPages.html?title=Page headers and footers

Good luck

[CarolineL]

19 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Hi, you'll find the instructions for Mac and Windows in the free manual I've shared in the forum (see the link in my signature). I don't provide steps for iPad but if you already know how to use a master page on the iPad, then the only additional things you'd need to track down are how to insert a page number and how to open the section manager on iPad. And you can find out all about that in this help page: https://affinity.help/publisher2ipad/English.lproj/contents.xml?page=pages/Pages/numberingPages.html?title=Page headers and footers

Good luck

Thank you, I appreciate that but I don’t know how to use the master pages or know where to track down the other things. This is why I’m going round in circles, no one seems to be able to tell me for iPad specifically 😢

[MikeTO]

4 minutes ago, CarolineL said:

Thank you, I appreciate that but I don’t know how to use the master pages or know where to track down the other things. This is why I’m going round in circles, no one seems to be able to tell me for iPad specifically 😢

For master pages, you would open the Pages panel. This image from another Serif website shows the Pages pane open - the icon to open it is selected I the right list of icons.

To get to master pages, tap the < or > beside the word Pages in its title. That toggles between the view of your document's pages and your document's masters. Then just tap the master page you want to edit.

Then draw a frame on the master in the header or footer for the page number. Then you just have to insert the page number field. There are two ways to do that, you can use the Fields panel - tap the More (...) icon at the bottom of the right list of icons, tap Fields, and then double tap Page Number (under Document Sections). Or you can bring up the on-screen keyboard and tap the Insert icon (the one in its upper-right corner). That will display all the things you can insert, including the Page Number field. Tap the abc icon in the upper-left corner to go back to the normal keyboard and the keyboard icon in the bottom-right corner to hide the on-screen keyboard.

Cheers

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, CarolineL said:

This is why I’m going round in circles, no one seems to be able to tell me for iPad specifically 😢

It works the same on iPad as on the desktop; it's just that the UI is different. Have you looked in the Help?

E.g., for Master Pages: https://affinity.help/publisher2ipad/en-US.lproj/pages/Pages/masterPages.html

 

[Twolane]

Deleted as being irrelevant.

 

[CarolineL]

2 hours ago, Twolane said:

I feel your pain. I, too, had quite a learning curve with Publisher. However, I persevered, and I consider myself an expert in my own mind at what I use the software for, which is POD books on Ingram Spark and Amazon.

You might want to give this video a try. She discusses Master Pages beginning at the 29-minute mark. Page number setup on the Master page is discussed at around 32 minutes. Or, you could watch the entire video and learn some things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6fqmvlaqY

 

Thank you but again it’s the PC version, everything is in very different places on the iPad.  

[AllanP]

@CarolineL It's a bit difficult to know where to start with this, as from the post you originally made on Facebook its' unclear if you've produced the document seen in your FB post, or if this is something you've obtained from elsewhere. It's unclear how much experience you have had of using the software.
Here is my best suggestion based on my understanding of the process although I don't possess an iPad.
Looking at your screen shot (attached below), you have the document opened and the right-hand panel shows the Sections control.
Not being an iPad user myself, I'm not certain of the navigation, but I think if you tap the "<" next to Sections, doing that should take the right-hand panel tp the Pages control which I believe looks like the second attached screenshot. (The panel will show the pages of your current selected document)
In the Pages panel click on Master Pages (towards the bottom) will now display the Master page(s) for your document, i.e. the page furniture that appears on all pages that use ech master. Select the Master page and that will appear in thge main editing area of the screen. There you will be able to insert a text frame and position it for where you want page numbers to appear.
Click on the three-dot menu on the toolbar at the top of the screen and that will show "More" tools, including Fields panel.
Click on Fields panel and then click on the Page Numbering option to insert a Page Number marker (#) in the frame you have created on the Master page.
When you return to the Pages view, you should see page numbers appearing in the position you placed them.
The YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I8qCn86U-c  starting at about 1 minute and 30 seconds in gives an indication of this, although the video creator is starting with a document which already has page numbers.

I hope that is of some help. Perhaps an iPad user can provide a clear video walk-through or set of screenshots that explain the process in more detail.

 

[walt.farrell]

12 hours ago, CarolineL said:

Thank you but again it’s the PC version, everything is in very different places on the iPad.  

The Help will let you find where equivalent functions are located. There are also iPad Tutorials prepared by Serif that will let you become more familiar with the layout of the applications on the iPad, and after that it's just working with them enough to become familiar and learn where things are located, I'm afraid.

 

[CarolineL]

23 hours ago, MikeTO said:

For master pages, you would open the Pages panel. This image from another Serif website shows the Pages pane open - the icon to open it is selected I the right list of icons.

To get to master pages, tap the < or > beside the word Pages in its title. That toggles between the view of your document's pages and your document's masters. Then just tap the master page you want to edit.

Then draw a frame on the master in the header or footer for the page number. Then you just have to insert the page number field. There are two ways to do that, you can use the Fields panel - tap the More (...) icon at the bottom of the right list of icons, tap Fields, and then double tap Page Number (under Document Sections). Or you can bring up the on-screen keyboard and tap the Insert icon (the one in its upper-right corner). That will display all the things you can insert, including the Page Number field. Tap the abc icon in the upper-left corner to go back to the normal keyboard and the keyboard icon in the bottom-right corner to hide the on-screen keyboard.

Cheers

Thank you so much.   I got this far following your instructions (this is a test document, where I’ve opened a master page and inserted two page number fields).  I can’t work out what to do from there.  When I go back to the document there are no numbers in it.

[CarolineL]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

The Help will let you find where equivalent functions are located. There are also iPad Tutorials prepared by Serif that will let you become more familiar with the layout of the applications on the iPad, and after that it's just working with them enough to become familiar and learn where things are located, I'm afraid.

 

Thanks.  I’ve never known anything so complicated.  Even microsoft have ‘insert page numbers’ - one click.  I think something that should be so basic shouldn’t need hours and hours of research and learning, but maybe that’s just me. (Just to note I appreciate your reply, I just need to let off steam about it).  I think I’ll have to do it manually, it’s the only way for now.

[CarolineL]

4 hours ago, AllanP said:

@CarolineL It's a bit difficult to know where to start with this, as from the post you originally made on Facebook its' unclear if you've produced the document seen in your FB post, or if this is something you've obtained from elsewhere. It's unclear how much experience you have had of using the software.
Here is my best suggestion based on my understanding of the process although I don't possess an iPad.
Looking at your screen shot (attached below), you have the document opened and the right-hand panel shows the Sections control.
Not being an iPad user myself, I'm not certain of the navigation, but I think if you tap the "<" next to Sections, doing that should take the right-hand panel tp the Pages control which I believe looks like the second attached screenshot. (The panel will show the pages of your current selected document)
In the Pages panel click on Master Pages (towards the bottom) will now display the Master page(s) for your document, i.e. the page furniture that appears on all pages that use ech master. Select the Master page and that will appear in thge main editing area of the screen. There you will be able to insert a text frame and position it for where you want page numbers to appear.
Click on the three-dot menu on the toolbar at the top of the screen and that will show "More" tools, including Fields panel.
Click on Fields panel and then click on the Page Numbering option to insert a Page Number marker (#) in the frame you have created on the Master page.
When you return to the Pages view, you should see page numbers appearing in the position you placed them.
The YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I8qCn86U-c  starting at about 1 minute and 30 seconds in gives an indication of this, although the video creator is starting with a document which already has page numbers.

I hope that is of some help. Perhaps an iPad user can provide a clear video walk-through or set of screenshots that explain the process in more detail.

 

Thank you so much for your long reply.  To answer your questions yes I created that document myself from scratch, and I have very little knowledge about Publisher (I know Designer pretty well but I’ve barely used Publisher).

So I’ve got this far.  I’m now working on a test document.  I opened (by pressing +) a master page (image one shown), and inserted two page number fields.  But when I click back into pages they’re not showing (image 2 shown).  I seem to be missing a step?

[MikeTO]

They should just show up, it worked fine when I tried it just now. The only thing I can think of is that you've added the page numbers to Master A but pages 1 and 2 aren't based on Master A. They would be by default. Could you please upload that test document here so we can see it?

Thanks

[CarolineL]

30 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

They should just show up, it worked fine when I tried it just now. The only thing I can think of is that you've added the page numbers to Master A but pages 1 and 2 aren't based on Master A. They would be by default. Could you please upload that test document here so we can see it?

Thanks

Thanks so much.  I really really appreciate this.  I look forward to the day they do a Microsoft and create a button that says ‘insert page numbers’!!! (Document attached)

Test for Page Numbering.afpub

[MikeTO]

Hi Caroline, somehow you have inserted a # sign and not a page number field. If you tap the right side of the preview icon in the upper right (the one that looks like a wiper), ensure you tap the menu icon on its right side, and then tap Highlight Fields from its menu, you will see shading behind all fields such as page numbers. There is no shading behind the # signs you have entered so those are just # signs.

Now it's possible you did insert a page number field and then while still on the master page converted it to plain text by selecting it and choosing Expand field, but that would take extra effort so you probably didn't do that.

I suggest deleting that # sign and trying to insert the page number again.

Good luck.

[CarolineL]

2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Hi Caroline, somehow you have inserted a # sign and not a page number field. If you tap the right side of the preview icon in the upper right (the one that looks like a wiper), ensure you tap the menu icon on its right side, and then tap Highlight Fields from its menu, you will see shading behind all fields such as page numbers. There is no shading behind the # signs you have entered so those are just # signs.

Now it's possible you did insert a page number field and then while still on the master page converted it to plain text by selecting it and choosing Expand field, but that would take extra effort so you probably didn't do that.

I suggest deleting that # sign and trying to insert the page number again.

Good luck.

I actually can’t remember how I added it now, but if you look in the history you can see it says that I inserted page numbers?

[CarolineL]

2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Hi Caroline, somehow you have inserted a # sign and not a page number field. If you tap the right side of the preview icon in the upper right (the one that looks like a wiper), ensure you tap the menu icon on its right side, and then tap Highlight Fields from its menu, you will see shading behind all fields such as page numbers. There is no shading behind the # signs you have entered so those are just # signs.

Now it's possible you did insert a page number field and then while still on the master page converted it to plain text by selecting it and choosing Expand field, but that would take extra effort so you probably didn't do that.

I suggest deleting that # sign and trying to insert the page number again.

Good luck.

I’ve just taken a screen recording of me doing this again.  It doesn’t show what I’m pressing (and it’s not smooth because I had to remember what I was trying to do)… but it does show me going to master pages, inserting a text box, inserting the page number symbol from the fields menu, and then going back to the original pages where nothing showed.

[MikeTO]

I can't see what you're doing there but if you turn on Highlight Fields then you should see shading behind a valid field. I'm not seeing that in your recording but I don't know if you have highlight fields on or not.

[AllanP]

17 hours ago, CarolineL said:

Thanks so much.  I really really appreciate this.  I look forward to the day they do a Microsoft and create a button that says ‘insert page numbers’!!! (Document attached)

Test for Page Numbering.afpub 24.35 MB · 1 download

I downloaded the test file and looked at it in my Windows AfPub det up.
Examining the History, I was surprised to see that the document started off without any Master pages set - the History shows "Add master pages" just 3 steps before "Insert <page number>"  (see attached)
Is this normal?
Further looking at the Pages panel, the pages are numbered Page 1 (01) and Page 2 - that seems a bit confused.

Just wondering what the impact of starting a document without Master page is...

Just tried raking a copy of the test file, deleting the master page and then inserting a new master page and then applying page number to the master. The page number field appears on the master but is not propagated to the individual pages until you apply the selected master page to the actual pages. If a page doesn't have a master page applied to it, it won't show what's on the master page.

Hope that helps

[MikeTO]

A document can be created without a master page by deselecting the Default Master option in the New Document window.

So yes, that's the problem. If you start a document without a master page, add a master page, and then insert a page number on that master page, the page numbers won't appear on document pages.

I apologize, I didn't look at the test document that closely. Caroline, while you did successfully add the page numbers to the master pages, you didn't apply the master pages to the document pages. Also, this document opens to the master page, you didn't switch back to the document page to see the effect of the change. When you tap the pages vs. master pages toggle at the top of the Pages panel, you still must tap the page you want to view. In this case you should have tapped page 1 to go back to it.

Also, page 1 in this test document has three adjustment layers applied to it which aren't doing anything - I assume you added those by mistake while you were testing.

I suggest starting over, this time with Default Master selected in the New Document window. It's a small toggle which you probably turned off by mistake

[AllanP]

@MikeTO Thanks for expanding on my response to @CarolineL  My comments were written on the fly earlier today after downloadibg the test document. I think between us we've got to the root of the problem even without an iPad. Guess that shows AfPub works consistently across platforms, it's just the constraints of the iPad UI that may make things difficult to diagnose. Hadn't appreciated you could bypass default master at document creation; I've never felt the need to. Have always used masters since using Serif's PagePlus way back when.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, AllanP said:

Hadn't appreciated you could bypass default master at document creation; I've never felt the need to.

On the desktop versions, if you have Default Master enabled, then you cannot create a document that contains Artboards using Publisher. With it disabled, when you do File > New from the Designer Persona, you have the option of creating an Artboard- instead of a Page-based document.

 

[CarolineL]

@MikeTO and @walt.farrell - thanks so much for finding the root cause.   If I’m understanding correctly, when opening a new document, adding a master page is not default, I would actually have to click this box to add one.    As newish user I would never have known to do that (see attached picture, that is off as standard).

Now I have the problem where the document I want to add the numbers to is 78 pages long.  Please don’t tell me I have to start again with a new document with master page? 😳🙀

[CarolineL]

@MikeTO @walt.farrell  I’ve found this which I thought might do the trick but every single time I try to add a page with or without the circled ‘replace existing’ the programme immediately crashes and closes.

[AllanP]

Thanks for the info @walt.farrell I'll have to investigate the Designer persona further. Been really focusing on Publisher for my projects.