Better Way to Apply Master Pages?

[Combs, Richard]

Karen Robbins wrote:
 
> Richard Combs wrote:
> 
> >The quick and efficient way is to use FM's default Right and Left
> >master pages (for two-sided docs), which are automatically applied
> >to right and left pages that you don't assign a custom master page
> >to.
> 
> Yes, customizing the default Right master page would help, but only
> partly. It would have the same effect as applying any custom master
> page to some group of body pages in the Master Page Usage dialog. I'd
> still be left with hundreds of body pages to which I would have to
> apply a custom master page manually. This is a single-sided document,
> no facing pages.
 
Please re-read what I wrote and read about master pages in the help/manual. The whole point of the default Right (for single-sided) or Right and Left (for two-sided) master pages is that the corresponding body pages _default_ to those master pages. You don't need to _apply_ the Right master page -- any page to which you _don't apply_ a custom master page automatically uses the Right master page (in a single-sided doc). 
 
> I did try making a book with only this file in it, but the Master
> Page Maps reference page didn't work--at least not as I expect.

Have you read the information about master pages and the mapping table in the help/manual? 
 
> I have thought about trying to write a set of running head variables
> that work out to "if you find this heading use it, but if you find
> this other heading use it instead" but that makes my head spin and I
> don't know how to go about that or if it would even work (there may
> be two tagged headings on a single page but I would want only one to
> appear in the running head).

Please re-read what I wrote and read about running headers and footers in the help/manual. The example I showed you is how you tell FM "if you find this heading use it, but if you find this other heading use it instead." It works. And as I stated, it's the _first_ heading on the page that appears in the running head. The help/manual has more detail, including explaining how to have the _last_ heading appear (to implement dictionary-style running heads). 


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
------