[Solved] Book 1st page on right, but PDF starts ON left

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EdIsenberg
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[Solved] Book 1st page on right, but PDF starts ON left

Post by EdIsenberg »

I have one document (411 pages) that seems to be formatted correctly. The page numbers display with odd numbers on the right, and when displaying in book mode the first page is on the right. However, when I do a PREVIEW or export to a PDF file, the first page appears on the left.

This comes on the heels of a number of weird S/W issues involving OOWriter. To find them, search the main Writer area for:
Styles & Formatting missing styles + changes don't register
Post by EdIsenberg » Thu Jun 08, 2017 5:44 pm

Note that when I export to PDF I do so by going to FILE | EXPORT TO PDF... and then select "Export Automatically Inserted Blank Pages."

I am roughly 2 weeks away from submitting my final draft to the publisher & thence the printer. For this reason I would particularly appreciate any help people can give me.

My sincere thanks,

Ed
Last edited by EdIsenberg on Tue Jun 13, 2017 5:46 am, edited 2 times in total.
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RusselB
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by RusselB »

I think the problem you are encountering is due to the fact that a book, when you are looking at two printed pages side-by-side, has the odd numbered page on the left, not the right, as you are indicating you want.
I think what you need to do, is to force a blank page before your page 1. This would, to the best of my knowledge, also require you to force the page numbering to start at 1 on page 2.
My experience with multiple page Writer documents is very limited, thus someone else with more experience may have a better suggestion.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by Hagar Delest »

The rule is that odd pages are right for a book, indeed.
I tried a PDF of my own on my Windows machine and in Acrobat, by default the 2 pages mode displays the first page on the left, whatever the number is.
There is a setting to be changed for that: View > Page Display > Show Cover Page During Two-Up. See: Make It Look Like a Book in the Acrobat PDF.
The cover page will be displayed alone but at least the layout will be correct.

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the edit button if your issue has been fixed.
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RoryOF
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by RoryOF »

I agree with Hagar; in Adobe Reader /View /Two page display always shows the odd page to the left. If I view books in PDF, I always view in single page mode.
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EdIsenberg
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by EdIsenberg »

Thanks so much for all of you who are helping me. I have to make a clarification and then ask a question I need answered before I know the problem is solved.

Clarification:
When I look at the beginning of the book in OOWriter, with the bottom of the document window set to display two pages side by side in book format, the first page is displayed correctly, on the right. When I print it normally it prints correctly. It is only when I do a PREVIEW or actually output to PDF that the first page suddenly appears on the left.

Question:
To get this book published I have to export it to PDF format and then send it off. However the PDF file looks is how it will be printed. I could easily have misunderstood you folks, but it seems that the solutions you all propose has to do with changing the settings on the PDF reader (e.g., Adobe). If that's true it won't work. The PDF file must truly be exactly the way I want the book to be. I hope you understand, as I don't know how to explain it better.

I certainly can add a blank page to the beginning of the book, and force the numbering to change. Happily, I already know how to do that. It just seems like a kludge, and if it isn't needed then I don't want to do it. Besides, why is it different when I look at it or even print it out normally, but is wrong in PREVIEW and in a PDF file?

Ed
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RusselB
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by RusselB »

What settings are you using for the PDF export?
I have to admit that your statement of actually printing the document gives a difference from the preview has me stumped, as the preview should be using the same settings as doing the actual print.
The export to PDF, however, does have it's own settings.
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by RoryOF »

In Adobe Reader one might need to enable "Show Cover Page" to get the correct two page display (i.e., odd page on the right). This seems to be a PDF viewer problem.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by Hagar Delest »

EdIsenberg wrote:The PDF file must truly be exactly the way I want the book to be.
The rendering on screen depends on the viewer, not on the PDF. For example on my Xubuntu machine, the default viewer Evince when in double page layout does show the cover page on the right with nothing on the left until page 2.
So don't bother the screen rendering for the page layout. That's a viewer setting.

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the edit button if your issue has been fixed.
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EdIsenberg
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by EdIsenberg »

I beleive I'm still miscommunicating. When editing my book in regular (not Print or Web format) it looks correct, with the very first page appearing on the right side in the setting at the bottom of the window: book mode (2-page). However, while in OOWriter in the same document, if I click PREVIEW suddenly the 1st page is on the left!

In other words, this isn't a PDF viewer issue because the file is still in .odt format. :shock:

I don't know what to do. It seems obvious to me at least that if I send this novel to the printer the sample book I'll get back will start on the left page. An odd thought: what is the left page at the beginning of a book? Isn't it the inside of the front cover? I have no idea how the printer's software would interpret the document if I send it the way it is now.

I remain very worried.

Thanks to all. Please continue to give me your advice. I must get this solved before my novel can be published. :(

Ed
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RoryOF
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by RoryOF »

As far as I know Print preview only shows pages as they will print individually, according to the scale selected - change to (say) 25% scale and you are shown perhaps four pages. It is not intended to give you a "book view".

If you want "book view" when editing you must select the rightmost of the three page icons at the right of Status Bar and adjust the scale factor (Page width or Optimal are good starting points).
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by Hagar Delest »

In the Preview toolbar, click the Book Preview button.
And anyway, use your PDF viewer with the correct setting and that will give you the rendering.

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the edit button if your issue has been fixed.
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EdIsenberg
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Re: Book doc. shows 1st page on right, but PDF starts left p

Post by EdIsenberg »

Thanks, Hagar & RoryOF. I am actually understanding things a bit better. For convenience sake I'm quoting now from RoryOF, but you, Hagar, and all the other people in this thread have been an extraordinary help to me.
RoryOF wrote:As far as I know Print preview only shows pages as they will print individually, according to the scale selected - change to (say) 25% scale and you are shown perhaps four pages. It is not intended to give you a "book view".

If you want "book view" when editing you must select the rightmost of the three page icons at the right of Status Bar and adjust the scale factor (Page width or Optimal are good starting points).
You've both clarified that issue of what the normal PRINT PREVIEW button does and doesn't do. I already knew about the 2-page book view button to the right of the Status Bar does. That's the mode I've been editing the book in. However, I never knew there was a BOOK PREVIEW button in the Preview Toolbar.

Unfortunately, after doing everything right in exporting the file to pdf format, I downloaded the -file to my hard drive and found that almost half a dozen pdf readers didn't read the file correctly. Only Microsoft Reader displayed in left-right format, where the first page was on the right. The others either displayed page one on the left side or wouldn't display two pages at the same time side-by-side.

I guess I'll have to communicate with the printer to make sure things are right before they print a proof.

While I will change the initial subject to start with [SOLVED], if any of you have an idea why so many of these pdf viewers are putting page 1 on the left side, please let me know.

Thanks again for everyone's help and your patience with me.

Ed
Edward D. Isenberg
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