Tip of the Week: Starting a Document on a Left-Hand Page

David Blatner shows the easy way to change a document so it starts on a left-hand page in InDesign.

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Want to change your document so it starts on a left-hand page (so that the first two pages make a two-page spread)? One way is to double-click the little triangle over the first page in the Pages panel,

and set its page number to 2 (or any other even number).

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This article was last modified on July 7, 2021

Comments (5)

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  1. Max Castillo

    I think you can achieve this by selecting pages and deselecting “Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle” in the Pages Panel flyout menu. Then you can move pages into any spread configuration you like without renumbering.

    1. Yes, this is what I do all the time. :)

  2. Hi Blatner, try a script to do it:

    if(app.documents.length !== 0){
    app.doScript(function() {
    try {
    var d = app.activeDocument;
    p1 = d.pages[0];
    p1.appliedSection.continueNumbering = false;
    p1.appliedSection.pageNumberStart = 2;
    d.spreads.everyItem().allowPageShuffle = false;
    p1.appliedSection.pageNumberStart = 1;
    } catch (e) {}
    }, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, “FirstPage_LeftHand”);
    }