[Solved] How to customize blank pages

[Alain2]

Hi,

I use pages layout using headers and footers for my documents, and for some paragraph styles I have assigned specific page breaks in the Text Flow section (for instance for Heading1, Text Flow > Breaks > Insert "Page" "Before" With Page Style "Right Page").

My problem is that this is automatically inserting a blank page when required, which is what I want, but this page is *really* blank. I would like it to have headers and footers consistent with the rest of my documents (including the page number in the header for instance) and a short text like "Intentionally Blank" in the middle. This is important to me because otherwise I could get questions from customers asking for "missing" pages in my documents.

So my question is : is there a way to have a customized blank page ? Or do I have to resort to manually add / delete such blank pages as I use to do in word ? (which is a pain, having to check the document every time I edit it...)

[JohnV]

There is no way to customize the blanks that I know of.

You can't manually delete such a page except by manually adding a page to replace it.

[Hagar Delest]

Here is what I've just tested and it seems to work : you've to use the 2 page styles Left Page and Right Page. In the Organizer tab of both page styles properties, set the other one in the Next Style field (so they alternate). Activate the header/footer for both styles. Place your cursor in the header of the pages you want to be blank, insert a frame (anchored to the header paragraph), resize it so it covers the whole page. Remove the border of the frame. Type the text you want inside. Then, no 'normal' text should find a place on your 'blank' pages.

Thanks to add '[Solved]' in your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.
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[Alain2]

Unfortunately no Hagar de l'Est this is not the behaviour I want; what you suggest is to have a specific page number always blank (actually no, all pages from the page style on which the frame is anchored to the header will have the frame, making half the pages blank if alternating left/right), whereas what I want is the automatic blank page added if necessary if you have a paragraph defined with Text Flow > Breaks > Insert "Page" "Before" With Page Style "Right Page" for instance. This can be anywhere in the text, and the blank page is automatically added ; removed whenever pages are added / removed before that break page paragraph

Apparently this is currently not possible according to JohnV, and I can't think of any trick that could help ; maybe a macro trying to parse the text, recognize paragraph styles and page number on which they are, and insert a custom page accordingly if necessary.. (but never tried to use macro yet, so if someone has an idea it would be welcome) ?

But I think I'll do as suggested by JohnV: have a look in the print preview, note where blank pages are inserted, and add manually a blank page there.. not that bothering in the future if the document is edited, if a new automatic blank page appears and a manually entered blank page is there as well, I will see it in the preview and can easily delete the manual blank page, which will also remove the auto blank page as it becomes unnecessary.

Let me know if you guys have better ideas, if not I'll change the question label to [solved] in a few days

[Hagar Delest]

I did exactely what you want by adapting my proposal. Create a 'Blank' page style with Next Style set to your normal page style. Insert the frame as said above. Set the page layout to Left and right pages (default setting) and it should be fine.
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[Hagar Delest]

Hi Alain,

Any feedback about the file I've sent you ? It may help other users with this kind of request to know it eventually worked.
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[jwr]

Hi Alain,

I have met a similar problem a few years ago while editing a booklet in MS- Word.

Currently it seems to be a standard rule to start a new chapter at a rightsided page.
If the preceding chapter does not contain any information for the last leftsided page the page number (for this last leftsided page) has to be suppressed.
Of course these blank pages will have to be counted in the page numbering system.

I solved the problem by simply covering the total page with a blank graphic field, covering the page number. I did not use header and footer lines, but these may be treated as page numbers and may be covered as well.

Hope this (quick and dirty) suggestion helps if all other "professional" solutions are failing. It probably will work in any word processor.

Regards -Hans-
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[Alain2]

@Hagar de l'Est
Sorry for not replying sooner, I was away on a business trip, no internet access..
I just had a look at your file, and no it's not really solving my problem as your solution *always* inserts a blank page, and is not is not inserting one only when required.
Anyway I can't see any trick that would help having my customised left blank page, so I already settled for a cheap solution: keep the automatic blank page inserted, and before printing the last update, have a look in the preview, and everywhere a blank page has been added I insert my own (done very quickly by using an autotext F3 shortcut). It's a satisfactory solution for me as it's fastand I can still rely on the auto blank pages in the preview to see where to add (or remove) my customised blank pages. Hence the [solved] label

@jwr
I am not sure I understand you.. The page numbers are already by default incremented automatically when a blank page is automatically inserted.. Page numbering is not an issue for me, only the ability of customizing the inserted blank page.