book-level pagination settings (was RE: Dang Extra Pages!)

[Combs, Richard]

Shmuel Wolfson wrote:
 
> While we are on the topic, I noticed that there are different 
> options for:
> Format > Page Layout > Pagination > 1st Page Side when you 
> select the chapter in the book than when you select this menu 
> option with the chapter open.
> When the chapter is open, you only get Right and Left options.
> When you select the file in the book, you get 2 additional options:
> Read from File and Next Available.

Think about it a minute: In a free-standing file, Next Available is
meaningless; it's only applicable when the file is being paginated as
part of a book. In that context, it says, "If the preceding file in the
book ended on a left page, start this one on a right page; if the
preceding file ended on a right page, start this one on a left page."  
 
> Do the settings that you select when you select a file in the 
> book override the setting when the book itself is open?

They do _in_that_book_. 

People can and do use the same FM file in multiple ways -- as a
standalone doc and/or in one or more books. The setting you make when
you select the file in the book window governs how it's paginated in
that book. It could have a different setting in a different book or when
it's not part of a book (for instance, as a standalone doc, it should
start on a right page, but as part of a book, it should start on the
next available page). 

"Read from File" only makes sense in a book context, and it means what
it says -- use the setting made in the file for the book, too. In the
file, "read the setting made in the file" is a given, don't you think?
:-)

> It's also interesting that this menu option is not available 
> when you select the top level of the book, only when you 
> select one or more chapters in the book.

By "top level," you mean selecting the book file itself? You
can't/don't/needn't set pagination for the book as a whole. It has to be
specified at the file/chapter level. The book starts on the page that
the first file in the book is set to start on. 

You can select multiple files in the book and apply the same pagination
settings to all of them. But you may not want to. For instance, all my
chapters/appendices are set to start on a right page, but some
frontmatter files (e.g., LOF and LOT) are set to start on the next
available page. Some people break very long chapters into multiple FM
files, and they set the continuation files to start on the next
available page. 

HTH! 
Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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