Expert: Roy Wilhelm - 4/29/2011

Question
I have 17 different docs, total of 288 pages, EACH has a DIFFERENT master page (master pages have been named uniquely). My client wants it in one 288 page document so she can make a flip book. QUESTION?
Does it have to be in one InDesign Document  to make a InDesign FLIP book?? If it does, what is the best way to combine these files into ONE 288 page file. I have just converted all of them from Quark 8--what a nightmare. I am on a MAC

Answer
Hi Peggie!

By "flip book" do you mean those printed books that you flip through quickly for an animation effect? Or are you talking about one of those digital, interactive books with the flipping animation?

It might be smart to make a single document, but since I don't fully understand what the project is, I can only try to make a suggestion. If you'd like an easy way to combine the pages, you can place the pages of one InDesign doc into another. (Use File > Place).

Or, you can drag the pages from one doc to another and tell InDesign exactly where you'd like to add the new pages. To do this:

1. Open the Pages palette in  the doc that has the pages you'd like to move
2. In the pages palette, click to highlight the thumbnail of the FIRST page you'd like to move
3. Hold shift and click the LAST page you'd like to move. (A range of pages should now be highlighted)
4. Click and hold the thumbnail of one of those highlighted pages and drag and drop onto the document you'd like to move the pages to.
5. A box will pop up asking where'd you'd like to add the files.

You can also set this up as an InDesign book, which will allow you to keep all of your documents separate, but enable you to easily adjust page numbers across all pages, AND you will be able to export the entire book into a single PDF or other file type.

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/5.0/help.html?content=WS3DC71014-481C-4...

Feel free to write back if you think clarifying your project will help me to provide you with a better answer.

Roy