Reply To: Chapter Title Strategies

Regarding vertical positioning: Use a Rule Above, with a color of None and a good distance in Vertical Offset, and switch “Keep In Frame” on to offset a first paragraph on a page. Works every time.

As for hiding a running header, rather than shift-click and deleting it (deprecated, actually) or applying another master page (which personally I prefer, and I take re-applying them for granted), you could use this extremely Dirty Trick. (Hold on to your seat.) In addition to your Rule Above, also define a Rule Below. Set its color to Paper and its thickness to +/- 12 pts — do not opt to Keep it In Frame. Then move it upwards with a negative Vertical Offset to cover the running header.

You might need to apply this style on the occasional left-hand blank page as well, if you start everything on a right hand page. If you have page numbers at the bottom, you can make a specialized “blank page” style, where you use the Rule Above (without Keep In Frame) to hide stuff on the top, and Rule Below to hide the bottom things.