Override master page items

Select and edit master page items on select document pages.

Published August 10, 2023

This sample file is an Adobe Stock asset you can use to practice what you learn in this tutorial. If you want to use the sample file beyond this tutorial, you can purchase a license on Adobe Stock . Check out the ReadMe file in the folder for the terms that apply to your use of this sample file.

00:01

Introduction

When you add content to a master page in your document, those items will appear on any pages that have that master page assigned.

But you can't select master items on document pages.

What if you do need to edit these items on specific document pages?

Let's take a look.

With InDesign CC open, open this file from the practice files for this tutorial to follow along.

Initially, InDesign CC shows you Page 1 of the document in the Document window.

To see all of the document pages and master pages in this file, you can use the Pages panel.

If this panel isn't visible, choose Window, Pages to display the panel.

And you'll see a thumbnail for each page in the document.

00:43

Understanding master page items and limitations

Let's begin by examining the master page in this file.

To see the master page, double click the A-Master icon to display the A-Master page in the Document window.

Note that this master page contains two items: a red rectangle at the top and a yellow rectangle at the bottom of the page.

Because an A is displayed on the page 2, 3, and 4 thumbnails in the Pages panel, we know that the A-Master page is applied to pages 2 through 4 of this document.

To turn to Page 3 of the document, double click the Page 3 thumbnail in the Pages panel.

Now I think this page would look better if the header rectangle is black and the yellow rectangle were red.

To change the colors, we first need to select the rectangles with the Selection tool.

Select the Selection tool in the Tools panel and then click on the yellow rectangle.

But this doesn't work, does it?

Note the faint dotted border on the yellow rectangle.

This indicates that it's a master page item.

And master page items can't normally be selected on document pages.

This is usually a good thing because it means you aren't going to accidentally move or delete them.

And the whole point of master page items is to help you be consistent from page to page.

But thankfully if you do want to delete or change master page items on a document page, you can override or unlock them.

02:05

Overriding all master page items

To do so, click the Menu icon in the corner of the Pages panel to access the Panel menu.

And then choose Override All Master Page Items.

Because Page 3 is selected in the Pages panel, all the master page items on that page are overridden and can now be selected.

So, click to select the rectangle at the top of the page.

And change the color to black using the Fill drop-down in the Properties panel.

Then select the rectangle at the bottom of the page and change the color to red using the Fill drop-down.

Turn to Page 2 by double clicking the Page 2 thumbnail in the Pages panel.

This will display Page 2 in the Document window.

On this page, I want to remove the footer rectangle entirely, but leave the header rectangle untouched.

So, I don't need to override all of the master page items,

02:54

Overriding individual master page items

only the footer rectangle.

You can easily override individual master items on a document page.

To do this on a Mac, hold down the Command and Shift keys, and click on the yellow rectangle.

On Windows, hold down the Control and Shift keys, and click on the yellow rectangle.

This will override just this item.

Then to delete the rectangle, choose Edit, Cut...

Let's turn to Page 3 again.

To do so, double click on the Page 3 thumbnail in the Pages panel.

This will display Page 3 in the Document window.

03:31

Reapplying master pages to restore content

Now I've changed my mind about this page.

I want to put the header and footer rectangles on Page 3 back the way they were as they are on the master page.

To do this, you can re-apply the master page to the document page.

To do so in the Pages panel, drag the A-Master thumbnail onto the Page 3 thumbnail.

Release the mouse button when you see the black outline surrounding the page thumbnail.

This will restore the master page rectangles on Page 3 to the colors they were previously and lock them again.

Let's do the same thing for Page 2.

First, double click on the Page 2 thumbnail to display Page 2 in the Document window. then drag the A-Master thumbnail onto the Page 2 thumbnail releasing the mouse when you see the black outline.

This will restore the rectangle at the bottom of the page.

Master pages give us a way to add consistent elements like headers, footers, and page numbers to our documents.

But for those times when you want certain pages to be different, now you know that you can override items on individual document pages.

What you learned: How to override master page items on document pages

When a master page is applied to a document page, the master page items can’t be selected on the document page, by default. This is good for consistency from page to page, but bad if you need to remove or modify one of the master page items on a specific document page. You can select master items on a document page by overriding master items.

Override all master page items

Select one or more document page thumbnails in the Pages panel (Window > Pages).
Click the menu icon in the upper-right corner of the Pages panel, and choose Override All Master Page Items.
All the master page items on the selected pages have been overridden. Click the elements to select and delete, move, or modify them.

Override specific master page items

With a document page showing in the document window, press the Command+Shift keys (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift keys (Windows) and click on a master page item on the document page. This selects the master page item on the document page, so it can be deleted, moved, or modified.

Restore master page items

If you’ve overridden some master page items on a document page, and you want to restore the master page items back to the way they were, drag a master page thumbnail onto a document page thumbnail in the Pages panel.

Adobe Stock contributors: alexkich; Dmytro Panchenko; Providence Studio; Joshua Resnick

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