InDesign: moving pages between documents

[Adrian]

Hi,

I'm using InDesign CS on a Mac, and I can't find any means of moving pages between two documents. Is this not possible, or is it so easy there's no mention of it in the Help?

Best wishes, Adrian

[John Nolan]

With 2 docs open, drag and drop page icons from the pages palette of one doc onto the other open window.

[Adrian]

Hello again!

I feel that I should amplify on my query a little!

I'm working on a document converted from QuarkXPress 4.1. It's a 97-page 4-colour 120MB file, and I want to break it up. If I copy the file and delete pages it works fine, but the resulting 4-page file is still 120MB. If I set up a new document and drag pages into it from the Pages palette, I get a message saying that the pages don't match, even though I've set the new document up to match the existing one.

I really don't want to keep working on a single file, so any advice gratefully received.

Best wishes, Adrian

[Adrian]

John,

Thanks for that. In order to address the issue of file size, I have created a document preset based on the existing document, and then copied pages over as you suggested. But, I'm still getting the error message, even though the new document looks fine, and the printouts from the two documents seem to match. Is this a case of InDesign being over-cautious?

Best wishes, Adrian

[ElyseC]

Originally Posted by Adrian

I'm working on a document converted from QuarkXPress 4.1. It's a 97-page 4-colour 120MB file, and I want to break it up. If I copy the file and delete pages it works fine, but the resulting 4-page file is still 120MB.

Have you tried doing a Save As to a different location or even different drive? Sometimes Save As cleans out stubborn residue, if there is any. You might also check whether images are embedded or merely linked to the file and what the screen preview settings are for each. I've seen QX files balloon to truly scary sizes when the screen previews for placed images were set to the maximum quality.

[Adrian]

Elyse,

Thanks for that. I tried Save As, but it didn't make any difference to the file size. I'm not able on this machine to save to a different drive. Part of the problem is that we're working on an adaptation of this 96-page book, but we're only changing about 12 pages, so we don't want to spend a huge amount of time fine-tuning pages that aren't going to change. Creating the document preset seems to have done the trick, and I can only presume that we're getting phantom error messages from InDesign -- that is until the printer points out a major problem with the PDF files at the last moment!

Best wishes, Adrian

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Adrian

Thanks for that. I tried Save As, but it didn't make any difference to the file size.

Have you deleted the text as well as the pages? If you delete the pages in the page palette you may well find that the text is still in the file. Click in the text and choose 'edit in story editor' from the edit menu and you may find the whole document is still there.

[Adrian]

Mike,

Thanks. I will have a look and report back.

Best wishes, Adrian