Adobe InDesign: How to Start a Document With a Spread

Adobe InDesign can do a lot of things by default, but unfortunately there isn’t a one-button solution to starting your document with the first page on the left. However, we can start our document with a spread using a few unconventional steps.

First, I’ve added some page numbers to my pages so you can clearly see what’s happening at each step of the process. I’m also starting my document with two pages so you can see the process clearly.

I’m going to be working in the Pages panel, so if you don’t have that open, just go to the ‘Window’ menu at the top of your screen and then find ‘Pages’.

Then, I’m going to right-click page 1 and choose ‘Numbering and Section Options’.

It’s going to say ‘Automatic Page Numbering’, but you want to change that to ‘Start Page Numbering at: 2’. Don’t panic, though, because we’ll change it back to start with 1 towards the end.

Now your pages are in a spread together. If you don’t care about the page numbers, you can leave it here and it will work just fine, you’ll just be without a page 1.

If you would like the pages to start with a 1, though, keep reading.

Then, we’re going to right-click our spread and click ‘Allow Document Pages to Shuffle’. There’s a little tick mark next to it, so when we click it it will turn off and the spread will be locked together.

Now, we can go back and change the page number to start with 1. To do this, right-click your spread again, and select ‘Numbering and Section Options’.

Then change the page numbering to start at 1.

And now you have a spread that starts with 1. When you add more pages, those spreads will be locked together too.

You may notice that the pages in your document aren’t lined up though. You can see it in the Pages panel too, were the tall line is sitting. In our first spread, it’s in between our pages, but in the other spreads it’s on the left side of them.

You can change this by dragging your pages in the pages panel to the other side of that line if you want to.

Changing this can be more helpful when you’re working on the document, but it doesn’t make a difference when you export it.

But that’s all there is to it. Now you can create documents starting with a spread.