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• • July 20, 2010 at 4:47 am #56399
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    I've just come across a very bizarre problem with InDesign page numbers. I've done the usual thing of setting up a 'current page' marker on the master page. But when I output the PDF, on certain, apparently random, verso pages, instead of the page number I get the word 'Variable'. This only shows up in the PDF – the page looks fine in InDesign. There's nothing different about the master page on these pages and I haven't overridden anything. What's going on?

    Oh, and if I override the master object on that page, the problem just moves to the next verso.

  • July 20, 2010 at 5:42 am #56400
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    Yipes — And Now For Something Entirely Different!

    First things first: what OS are you on, with what version of InDesign? (And, if CS4 or older, what sub-version?)

  • July 20, 2010 at 6:38 am #56401
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    Mac 10.6 (Snow Leopard) with CS5.

  • July 20, 2010 at 6:58 am #56402
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    I've poked around a little further, and it appears to occur to the first verso that appears in the PDF with a given master. If I choose to make a PDF of a particular page range, the page number will be replaced by 'Variable' on the first verso page on that range; and if I change the page master, 'Variable' appears on the first verso (but not subsequent ones) where each master is used.

    Does this help at all?

  • July 20, 2010 at 7:12 am #56404
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Is this just one document? Or a number of documents based on the same original template? If so, there may be some kind of corruption going on; try exporting to IDML and opening the IDML file and exporting PDF from that. If it's all documents, you may have a bigger problem; try rebuilding your preferences.

    Other ideas: log in to a new account on your computer, or try exporting from a different computer.

  • July 20, 2010 at 7:23 am #56405
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    It's just the one document (another document based on the same template is not showing this problem). I've tried going through IDML, but it still happens.

  • July 20, 2010 at 7:31 am #56406
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    But if I open the IDML file in CS4, the problem goes away.

  • July 20, 2010 at 10:23 am #56409
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Try recreating a new master page.

    Even better, create a new document, and copy and paste your text frames over. Don't Move Pages or anything like that; just copy and paste and see if the problem goes away.

    I've had issues CS5 documents, brand new spanking created documents. And the Master Page for some reason brings up mutliple problems; including not allowing styles to be changed and then crashing.

    Thankfully I haven't experienced this problem. But perhaps worth a try.

  • July 22, 2010 at 6:42 am #56433
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    OK, I think I've tracked down the problem a little more now.

    In this document there is a single paragraph style for running heads (aligned away from the spine). The text of the running head should be in roman but the page number should be in bold, so I'd set up a GREP style to apply a bold character style to the page number. If I delete this GREP style, the problem goes away.

    I'm going to try and replicate the problem in a new document. I'll let you know how I get on!

  • June 18, 2012 at 9:30 am #62454
    czucker

    Participant

    Sorry to hash up a very old post, but I'm having exactly the same issue.

    I have a style attached to the auto page numbers via GREP code ~N and it causes the first verso occurence of the master page to show up as “Variable” when I export to PDF.

    Did anyone ever solve this?

    Thanks,

    Chris

  • June 19, 2012 at 1:23 am #62457
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I can't duplicate this in CS4 or CS5. If you make a document with only 4 pages and copy the master page items across with the paragraph style, does it still happen in an otherwise empty document?

  • June 19, 2012 at 10:16 am #62460
    czucker

    Participant

    Yup, still occurs.

    Here's the quick 4 page file that I created:

    https://db.tt/mGlSoniW

    See if you can export to PDF (any profile) without the folio on page 2 reading “variable”

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