This article is in reference to my original article on the book page numbering bug.
I’m rather disturbed today to learn that at least one Adobe Tech Support Rep has been cutting and pasting my solution to the PDF page numbering issue with no reference to the source of the information. While I feel honored that an Adobe representative feels my information is worth passing on to Adobe customers, doing so without proper attribution to the source of that information is asking for trouble.
A Google search for “indesign book pdf export incorrect page numbers” currently brings up an article I wrote as the #1 hit. Most likely the Adobe agent found my article in a Google search and passed the info along to the customer, but he failed to properly attribute the information, making it appear that Adobe was the source of the information. Shame on Adobe!
My point here is to make it very clear that we must be careful to always give proper attribution to the source of information that we pass along. I’m sure the Adobe Rep was just trying to do his job; he probably just needs some education about proper rules of intellectual property and how to properly cite sources of information. Still, one cannot be saved in ignorance; companies have been sued because of plagiarism committed by their employees. (And no, that’s not a veiled threat; I’m too nice to ever want to sue anybody!)
Below is the text of an e-mail sent on August 13th by an Adobe Tech Support Rep to a customer, who forwarded it to me after finding my website. If you compare steps 1-5 with my original post you’ll see it’s a direct copy/paste, and the representative made no reference to the fact that he took the information from my article.
Thank you for contacting Adobe Technical Support. My name is [-----]. This is in regards to your concern posted on Adobe web support portal regarding an issue with Adobe InDesign CS5.5.
Based on the information provided by you, my understanding of your issue is that you are getting wrong page numbers on exported PDF from InDesign.
I understand the importance of your time in getting the issue resolved and we assure you that this will be taken care of with utmost importance. We appreciate your cooperation with us.
I would like to inform you need to Clean the corrupted chapters via IDML. Detailed instructions as follows:
1. Back up the book in a safe location.
2. For each problem chapter, open the file, export as an IDML file (File menu: Export, then set export type to IDML), close, then open the IDML, do a save as, and save it over the problem InDesign file.
3. Once this has been done for all problem files, open the book file. You’ll most likely have a yellow warning symbol next to each chapter you just replaced because it was edited outside of the book. Open each of the chapters and then close it, saving if prompted.
4. I synchronized the book and updated all numbering just for good measure, but these steps were probably not necessary.
5. Export the book as PDF. The PDF should have correct page numbers. However, you may notice other chapters now have incorrect page numbers. Go back to step 2 and repeat the whole process until the book works properly.
This should resolve your issue. If it does, please let us know, however in case it does not; please let us know.
We are always happy to assist you however, in future if you face any problems with Adobe products, you may also try referring to our knowledge base & User to User forums by clicking on the following links:
KnowledgeBase: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/search/index.cfm
User to User Forums: www.forums.adobe.com
To know more about Adobe products, please visit our product page:
Thanks for contacting Adobe Technical Web Support and we appreciate your time spent.
Have a nice day.
If anybody from Adobe Tech Support ever reads this, please know that (1) I harbor no ill feelings toward you, but (2) I hope that you educate your employees concerning the importance of properly citing the sources of information included in any documentation sent to your customers, as this is a very serious problem, and is a very unprofessional business practice that hurts your image.
1 comment
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Mary Maddox says:
September 9, 2011 at 10:11 am (UTC -7 )
Thank you very much for this fix, which I found via Google. I’m publishing an anthology of memoir essays, and when I exported the book to PDF the pagination was messed up. Following the procedure you outline, I was able to clean every file except one, which stubbornly exported with repeated page numbers even after being recreated from scratch. It seemed the problem went beyond the file itself. Trying to isolate what it was, I removed the troublesome file, updated the page numbers, and exported the book to PDF. The pagination was perfect. After cleaning the troublesome file again, I reinserted it into the book, updated the page numbering, and exported to PDF. Again, the pagination was perfect. I really don’t know why this worked. My Indesign experience is limited, and I was beginning to think a solution was beyond me. Once again, thank you for a solution that made all the difference.
InDesign CS5.5 Book PDF Export Problem: Incorrect Page Numbers (CONFIRMED BUG) » Creative Progression says:
August 25, 2011 at 1:46 pm (UTC -7 )
[...] Sarah also reported to me that earlier in her troubleshooting with Adobe, one Adobe Rep actually committed plagiarism by sending her a copy of a portion of this [...]