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Specifying Chapter Breaks and Page Layouts

After you create a page layout and configure its frames and settings as necessary, you need to associate the page layout with the appropriate content. In most cases, you will probably want to associate different page layouts with various entries in your "outline TOC" (so that different page layouts can be used for different parts or "chapters" in a manual). Otherwise, you would associate a single "master" page layout with an entire target or project; in that case, the same page layout will be applied to all topics in that target or project. Whenever you associate a page layout with a TOC entry, you must first create a chapter break in order to do so.

Following are steps for creating chapter breaks and associating page layouts with TOC entries. Before completing these steps, you must first create an outline TOC. See Creating a Table of Contents.

In addition to specifying page layouts, chapter breaks also allow you to generate output in multiple files (as opposed to just one file), although a "multi-chapter" output can be also contained in a single file, depending on the output type. With chapter breaks, you can also take advantage of auto-numbering at the chapter level and automatically include endnotes at the end of each chapter. Finally, setting a chapter break can have an effect on whether a generated TOC can be included in the output (if you are producing Word or FrameMaker output).

How chapter breaks affect the various output types

When creating native PDF or XPS output:

If you select the option to create a chapter break:

• It determines where a new chapter will be created at this point in the output TOC. However, it will not necessarily create a new PDF or XPS file in the output for each chapter. If you want multiple files in the output, you must also select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option in the Advanced tab of the Target Editor. If you do not select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option, only one file will be created in the output (but it will contain chapter breaks).
• You will be able to use chapter auto-numbering, even if you only have one PDF or XPS file as a result of the output. For more information see About Auto-Numbers.
• You will be able to insert footnotes in your topics that are consolidated and placed at the end of each chapter. See About Footnotes.

If you do not select this option for any of your TOC entries:

• Only one PDF or XPS file will be created when you build your output. Even if you select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option in the Advanced tab of the Target Editor, only one PDF or XPS file will be created, because you must use the "Start a new chapter document" option in the Properties dialog to tell Flare where you want new documents to start.
• You will NOT be able to use chapter auto-numbering (because no chapter breaks exist).

When creating FrameMaker output:

If you select the option to create a chapter break:

• A new FrameMaker document will be created at this point in the output TOC (giving you multiple FrameMaker documents).
• You will be able to include a generated TOC in the FrameMaker output. For more information see Creating a Topic for a Print TOC.
• You will be able to use chapter and volume auto-numbering. For more information see About Auto-Numbers.
• You will be able to insert footnotes in your topics that are consolidated and placed at the end of each chapter. See About Footnotes.

If you do not select this option for any of your TOC entries:

• Only one FrameMaker document will be created when you build your output.
• You will NOT be able to include a generated TOC in the FrameMaker output. You must have multiple FrameMaker documents in order to have a generated TOC.
• You will NOT be able to use chapter and volume auto-numbering because FrameMaker requires multiple documents in order to take advantage of that feature.

When creating Word output:

If you select the option to create a chapter break:

• It determines where a new chapter will be created at this point in the output TOC. However, it will not necessarily create a new Word file in the output for each chapter. If you want multiple Word documents in the output, you must also select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option in the Advanced tab of the Target Editor. If you do not select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option, only one Word document will be created in the output (but it will contain chapter breaks).
• You will NOT be able to include a generated TOC in the Word output (if you also select the"Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option in the Target Editor). However, if you select the "Start a new chapter document" option in the Properties dialog but not the"Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option in the Target Editor, you will be able to include a generated TOC in the Word output. In other words, you must have only a single Word document in order to have a generated TOC. (This is the opposite of the FrameMaker situation, where multiple documents are necessary.) For more information see Creating a Topic for a Print TOC.
• You will be able to use chapter auto-numbering, even if you only have one Word document as a result of the output. For more information see About Auto-Numbers.
• You will be able to insert footnotes in your topics that are consolidated and placed at the end of each chapter. See About Footnotes.

If you do not select this option for any of your TOC entries:

• Only one Word file will be created when you build your output. Even if you select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option in the Advanced tab of the Target Editor, only one Word file will be created, because you must use the "Start a new chapter document" option in the Properties dialog to tell Flare where you want new documents to start.
• You will be able to include a generated TOC in the Word output (because only one Word document will be generated).
• You will NOT be able to use chapter auto-numbering (because no chapter breaks exist).

How to specify chapter breaks and page layouts

1. Make sure the Project Organizer is open. By default, the Project Organizer is located on the left side of the interface in an accordion structure with the Content Explorer, unless you have previously moved it and saved the new layout. You may have to click the Project Organizer bar to bring it into view.
2. Double-click the TOCs folder.

3. Double-click the TOC that you plan to use for the printed output. The TOC Editor opens to the right.

4. Select the entry in the TOC where you want to insert a chapter break and where you want the page layout to start being used in the output.

5. In the local toolbar, click .

6. Click the Printed Output tab.
7. Click Start a new chapter document.
8. Click in the field labeled Configure chapter using this Page Layout, and select the layout that you want to use.

9. (Optional) If you want a particular page type from the layout to be used for the FIRST page of that "chapter," select it from the Page Type field.

   If you selected the very first entry in the TOC that links to a title page, you probably want to select the "Title" page type.

   If you selected an entry that is designed to be the start of a new section of content—such as a generated TOC, chapter, or index—you probably want to select the "First" page type (or perhaps "Right" or "Left").

   If you do not want a right-left type of page flow, but instead just want the same layout on every page (perhaps like a screenplay), you probably want to select the "Normal" page type. Unlike "First," "Right," or "Left," if you elect to begin a chapter with the "Normal" page, that page will be used throughout that chapter.

10. (Optional) If you are using a page layout that includes an empty page, new chapters will automatically start on right (odd) pages. However, if you want to override the forced empty page for a particular chapter, you can click the down arrow in the field Auto-end on 'left' page and select Disabled. You would also need to disable the empty page for the "new chapter" entry before it.

    This is a rarely used field, and most authors will not need it. However, it is available if needed. For more information see Disabling Empty Pages.

11. (Optional) If you want to specify a particular file name for the chapter being created, enter it in the Chapter File Name field.

    For PDF, XPS, and Word outputs, the default setting is to create a single file for the entire output. However, you can use an option in the Advanced tab of the Target Editor to generate a new PDF, XPS, or Word file for each chapter break. The Chapter File Name field in the Properties dialog would be applicable if you decide to generate multiple PDF, XPS, or Word files instead of just one.

12. (Optional) In the Page Number section, you can specify how you want page numbers in the chapter treated (if you have inserted them into the page layout).
    • Reset to If you want the first page number in the chapter to begin at a specific number, you can select this option and enter the number in the field. If you select the "text" option from the Format field, you can type any kind of text into this field. That text will be used instead of numbering.
    • Continue from previous If you want the first page number in the chapter to continue from the previous chapter, you can select this option.
    • Format If you want a particular format of numbering to be used (e.g., decimal, upper Roman, lower alpha, text), select it from this drop-down. If you select the "text" option, you can type any kind of text into the "Reset to" field. That text will be used instead of numbering.

    Note: If you want to include auto-numbers in the page numbering (e.g., the chapter auto-number followed by a period and then the page number), you can do so using a couple of different methods. With the first method, you can insert the appropriate auto-number variable next to the page number variable in a page layout (see Inserting Chapter, Section, and Volume Number Variables into Frames). With the second method, you can use the "Reset to" and "Format" fields on this tab. First, you can select "text" from the Format field. Then in the "Reset to" field, you can enter the appropriate codes for the auto-numbering. For example, if you want each page to show the chapter auto-number followed by a period and the page number, you would type {chapnum}.{n} in the "Reset to" field. Using this second method ensures that your page auto-numbers are also displayed accurately in a print index. See Including Page Auto-Numbers in Print Indexes.

13. Click OK.

14. Repeat these steps for each area in the content where you want to specify a new chapter break.

    Note: You do not have to follow these steps for every single TOC entry within that chapter—only for the first TOC entry in that chapter. The page layout will be used in the print-based output starting at that location in the content and continuing to the end of the document, or until it comes across another chapter break/page layout that you have designated.

15. Press CTRL+S or click to save your work.

Note: When it comes to associating page layouts with entries in an outline TOC, it is important to understand the meaning of the word "chapter" in the Properties dialog. In that dialog, a "chapter" is simply the designation for a new portion of content that will use a particular page layout. It does not mean a chapter in the traditional sense of a manual. For example, if you have a title page, a TOC, 10 chapters, and an index in your manual, each one of those might be considered a separate chapter as far as the dialog is concerned, because you are creating a chapter break with a particular page layout specified at each of those locations in the outline TOC. Therefore, although you only have 10 chapters in the traditional meaning of the word, you might have 13 chapters as far as the dialog is concerned (one for the title page, one for the TOC, one for each traditional chapter, and one for the index).

WHAT'S NEXT?

After you specify chapter breaks for your printed output, you can move on to any of the remaining tasks for creating printed output.

See Also

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