Working with Master Pages

Work in progress, being translated!

Requirements:
Operating system:	any
Scribus Version:	stable 1.3.3.* series
DTP skills:	novice

Why master pages

As soon as you consider using many objects (common headers, logos, background, page numbers etc.) on the same places throughout your document, you will be well advised to use master pages. You'll avoid some unnecessary drudgery and spare much time this way. The objects belonging to master pages cannot be changed in the normal Edit Mode. There as a good reason for it, since it could easily happen while woking with a document that something on a master page would be unintentionally moved or changed. A master page always belongs to a document – it cannot be saved as a separate file. You can however create a sample file containing frequently used master pages and use it as resource to import master pages into other Scribus documents.

How to create master pages

Plan A:

Create a new document. Choose Main Menu-Edit-Master Pages (Picture 1) to launch the Edit Master Pages dialog and to change into the Master Pages Edit Mode (Picture 2). The master page Normal is always present and cannot be deleted – the delete button will be disabled, if the master page Normal is selected (Picture 2). The master page Normal can be edited, it's better though, to leave it empty to be able to insert new empty pages. Picture 2 If you move your mouse over the buttons, you will see some helpful tooltips (Picture 2). Beginning from the left side: New Master Page Duplicate Master Page Import Master Page Delete Master Page Clicking on the Button Add a New Master Page opens a window in which you may give your page a name (Picture 3). Tip: try to pick a name that will have some meaning describing its purpose, so that if you haven't used it for a while, its name gives a clue. Picture 3 After you click OK you will see the window Edit Master Pages with your new Master Page highlighted. When you have a list of Master Pages you can then click from one to the next to edit each one as desired (Picture 4). When you close the Edit Master Pages window, you return to the normal editing mode in Scribus. Picture 4 If you find that you need a Master Page similar to an existing one, click on Duplicate the selected master page rather than starting a new Master Page from scratch -- this can be a great time-saver. You can also copy a Master Page from another document by clicking on Import master pages from another document button, which opens the Import Master Page window (Picture 5). Picture 5 Next, click on the button Change... to search for the document containing the Master Page you would like to import.

Picture 1

Plan B:

You can also create new Master Pages from the page you are editing in normal editing mode. From the menu bar select Page > Convert to Master Page... (Picture 6). This opens a window entitled Convert Page to Master in which you may give this new Master Page a name (similar to Picture 3 above). Afterward, you may then go back to Edit > Master Pages... where you will find your new Master Page in the Edit Master Pages window (Picture 4 above).

Picture 6

Double sided, 3-fold and 4-fold Pages

Picture 7 Picture 8 - Double Sided Picture 9 - 3-fold Picture 10 - 4-fold So how can we use these concepts with Double Sided, 3-fold and 4-fold document layouts? Actually, you will find that these are situations where using Master Pages is especially useful and time-saving. When you create a new document, select your desired layout(Picture 7). After this, create your Master Pages as explained above for Plan A or Plan B. To the right we see why the name chosen for a Master Page is especially important and helpful. Double Sided layout (Picture 8) 3-fold layout (Picture 9) 4-fold layout (Picture 10)

Applying master pages

To empty document pages:

Picture 11

Picture 12

Selecting either Page > Apply Master Page... (Picture 7) or Apply Master Page... from the context menu (right-click on the page - Picture 11) opens up the Apply Master Page window. From this you may choose to apply the Master page to the:

• Current page
• Even pages
• Odd pages
• All pages
• and you may apply to a range of pages

Select the desired Master Page from the drop-down list labeled Master Page.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the option Even pages can only be selected when the document has more than one page. Also, applying to a range of pages only applies when you have selected All pages.

Inserting as a new page:

Picture 13 Über Menü-Seite-Einfügen werden neue Seiten eingefügt. Hier kann man wählen, wieviel Seiten eingefügt werden sollen, wo die Seiten eingefügt werden sollen, und ob die neue(n) Seite(en) leer (Normal) oder angewendete Musterseiten sein sollen. Auswahl der gewünschten Musterseite über das Feld Musterseite (Picture 13). Bei Mehrfachseiten ist das Fenster Seite einfügen um die Auswahl der jeweiligen Seitenposition erweitert (Abb. 15). Hier nur das Beispiel einer 4fach-gefalteten Seite. Hint: Seitenzahlen (#) fügt man auf eine Musterseite am Besten über Storyeditormenü-Einfügen-Zeichen-Seitenzahl ein. Ab der Seite 10 müssen zwei ( ##) Seitenzahlen da sein, ab der Seite 100 drei (###) etc. Genau das Richtige um Musterseiten zu duplizieren!

Picture 14

With many thanks to the original author, Roswitha Ott aka Uchiki, who kindly contributed the first German version of this howto to the Scribus Public Wiki.