Is it possible to make a PDF with a cover page?

[soggybag]

Using a single publisher document, I'd like to export a digital book pdf with a cover, I'd also like to export a pdf for print that doesn't include the cover? 

Print services seem to want the cover as a separate file. If I want to also export a digital book the cover is missing unless I add it to the document in which case the cover is now a problem for printing. 

I tried making a copy of the document and including the cover but this seems inefficient since any updates now have to be applied to both documents. 

[walt.farrell]

If you make the cover on page 1, you could choose to include page one in your export (for the digital) and omit it on the export (for print). Then for print also export page 1 as a separate PDF.

[soggybag]

Thanks Walt. That seems to work.

I'm worried that this will be a problem with a print service. When export pages 2-29. The pdf ends up with a two page spread as the first page. When I export all pages the first page is a single page, not a spread.

 

 

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, soggybag said:

Thanks Walt. That seems to work.

I'm worried that this will be a problem with a print service. When export pages 2-29. The pdf ends up with a two page spread as the first page. When I export all pages the first page is a single page, not a spread.

If the PDF version is pages and not spreads then just start the document on the left side - it's an option in New Document and Document Setup. Then the print version will start on the right side when you omit that first cover page.

[Oufti]

24 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

If the PDF version is pages and not spreads then just start the document on the left side - it's an option in New Document and Document Setup. Then the print version will start on the right side when you omit that first cover page.

Alternatively, you could set the cover on the right page and add an empty page for its verso (as expected in real life). 

Then for the print version, you omit pages 1-2 and print from 3 (with pages numbering beginning there).
And so you can export as spreads for the digital version if you want. 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, soggybag said:

The pdf ends up with a two page spread as the first page. When I export all pages the first page is a single page, not a spread.

You should export your PDF with Area: All Pages, usually.

[Catshill]

8 hours ago, soggybag said:

 

I'm worried that this will be a problem with a print service. When export pages 2-29. The pdf ends up with a two page spread as the first page. When I export all pages the first page is a single page, not a spread.

 

 

Almost certainly your printer will require the export as pages not spreads. As @walt.farrell says just run two exports (as pages), one for the cover and one for the other pages. Just remember that (annoyingly) you have to change it from spreads to pages every time. 

[lacerto]

14 hours ago, soggybag said:

I tried making a copy of the document and including the cover but this seems inefficient since any updates now have to be applied to both documents. 

The print cover often needs to be prepared separately for multiple reasons: the color profile might be different because of media difference (e.g., coated cover, uncoated inner pages, colors in cover only, size difference if there are things like flaps, need to have front and back cover + spine in one continuous print area, etc.)

To avoid need to do updates twice, place the print version in the digital version and position and crop it properly for front and back. When linked, the placed PDF will update whenever you have modified the print version. When you prepare the print version, just export the inner pages. Typically you would start numbering from the title page so when you insert pages for the cover, you would typically number than e.g. with Roman numbers (I, II for the front cover and III and IV for the back cover). 

Note that when you have a facing pages layout and you want a compatible PDF viewer to  show the pages as spreads, the viewer must additionally support showing the first page as a cover page. These so called "initial view settings" can be saved as viewer instructions (only recommendations which can be ignored) within a PDF but so far you cannot do this by using Affinity apps, but need a separate app where this can be done, e.g. Adobe Acrobat Pro, or similar: