Empty Page After Title Page

[erinep23]

I just don't get it. I have an assigned page for the title page in the page layout, and it is assigned in the Properties as well. The page layout itself has our company graphic and title on it. The title page is the first page when I print it, but then, for no reason, there is a blank page between the title page and the Copyright page. WTFIU?

[LTinker68]

Look in the TOC Properties screen of your title page entry and see if you have "Auto-end on Left" enabled. If so, disable it. If that doesn't take care of it, check the title page topic itself to make sure you don't have extra blank lines that wrap to a second page or a style that has page-break-after set to always on it.

[kwag_myers]

Also, check the PageLayout (.flpgl) to see if you have a second page there. I'm not sure if the Auto-end on Left over-writes this or not.

[LTinker68]

Also, check the PageLayout (.flpgl) to see if you have a second page there. I'm not sure if the Auto-end on Left over-writes this or not.

Secondary pages won't appear unless it's an Empty page and 'auto-end on left' is enabled or if there's enough content in the topic to extend to a second page.

I also forgot to suggest to make sure the body frame is large enough to hold the content in the topic. That includes padding and margins on the tags containing the content. So if you're using a paragraph tag that has .5 inch margin on the bottom and the body frame isn't large enough to include that bottom margin, then a second blank page may be created, although I've never tested that to confirm it. Flare may be smart enough to ignore bottom padding and margins at the end of frames, but I kind of doubt it.

[erinep23]

Thank you for your help. I will try it.

[kwag_myers]

... make sure the body frame is large enough to hold the content in the topic. That includes padding and margins on the tags containing the content. So if you're using a paragraph tag that has .5 inch margin on the bottom and the body frame isn't large enough to include that bottom margin, then a second blank page may be created, although I've never tested that to confirm it. Flare may be smart enough to ignore bottom padding and margins at the end of frames, but I kind of doubt it.

I actually had this happen, sort of. Only the body frame was too large. Even though the foot displayed correctly, I couldn't figure out what was causing the blank page between Cover and TOC. Once I shorted the body frame, i.e., moved the bottom of the frame up away from the bottom of the page (and footer) on the PageLayout, the blank page was gone.

[jamesbuchanan]

HI
Not sure if i can climb on board seing as i have a similar issue, or whether i must start a new thread. I am very new to Flare. I get a blank page after every topic in PDF output. I can see the blank pages at the end of every .htm page in the Print layout mode. Nothing on them and i can't get rid of them. What is happening pls?

[kwag_myers]

If it's consistently every topic my suspicion is the PageLayout is causing the blank page. In the Content Explorer, go to Resources > PageLayouts and open the FLPGL file you're using (probably Default.flpgl, unless you've made another). In Flare 8, the Page Types display as icons on the right. You should have a left and right. If you have more that the two, try deleting it/them.

The only other thing I can suggest is to add a new PageLayout and make the frames a little smaller than the one you're using. This is the issue I was having. Anyway, make sure to change the Master Page Layout setting in the Primary Target > General tab and give it a test run.

[crdmerge2]

This might work: for each TOC entry, select Properties > Printed Output, and set "Auto-end on 'left' page" to Disabled.


Good luck,
Leon

[Iwan]

I'm running into the same issue. I have a titlepage Topic with 1 sentence. I have a copyright Topic with quite some text. I avoided pagebreaks between titlepage topic and copyright topic, so the copyright stuff starts on the titlepage. I assigned normal page to the copyright page and title to the titlepage. when I create the PDF output there is an empty page right in the middle of my copyright stuff. I've tried shortening the body part of the title page (as well as all other suggestions on this topic).

[Msquared]

Clarification. Is the unexpected empty page between the content in your title topic and the content in your copyright topic, or is it in the middle of your copyright topic?

That is: do you have Title page, blank page, copyright page, or do you have title page, some copyright stuff, blank page, more copyright stuff?

Also, what do you mean by "the copyright stuff starts on the title page."? Do you mean that you are expecting some of the copyright stuff to appear at the bottom of the title page, or that you didn't expect it to, but it is? If you are assigning two different page layouts to the two pages, then the copyright stuff should always start a new page. I don't see how it could ever start of the same page as the title stuff.

A couple of things to consider - from now on, I'm assuming that the blank page is between your title topic and your copyright topic, and that your copyright topic does start on a new page (albeit not the correct new page).

Have you definitely got a body frame on both page layouts? Older versions of Flare allowed you to create a page layout without a body frame, but made a mess of your output if you did.

Can you see where the blank page is coming from? Is it an extra page based on the page layout you are using for your title page, or an extra page based on the page layout you are using for your copyright page? If you aren't sure, you could try adding something obvious like a graphic to the page layout (a different one for each page in each page layout that is involved), then see what appears on the blank page. Then at least, you will know what page Flare thinks you have asked it to include at that point. When you know that, it may be easier to work out why Flare thinks it should be included.

[Iwan]

To "debug" where the empty page came from, I have the copyright stuff start on the title page. So what I have is:
Title page, some copyright stuff, blank page, more copyright stuff
The blank page appears in the middle of the copyright information. If I include the copyright information topic in a later chapter there is no empty page.

[DDP]

I'm new to Flare and I'm having a problem with an empty page after the title page in my PDF.

My default.flpgl consists of: a Title Page (my cover page), a First Page (for the software name & version and copyright info) and a Normal Page (for the content, with a footer for the page number). For the Title Page, I added a New Image Frame and used an 8.5"x11" .jpg that our marketing department created (text/images) - so, the entire Title Page is an image file (i.e. no text).

I then created a new Topic & called it Cover Page. The Page Layout, just after creation, was set to Default.flpgl > Normal, so, in my workspace, there was a blank Normal Page (the page number was 1). I changed the Page Layout to Default.flpgl > Title and, in my workspace, the Title Page was displayed (with the image). However, there was a also second page - the Normal Page - after the Title Page (page number 2). And I can't get rid of it.

In the Master Properties for Printed-Output, Break Type is Chapter Break, the Page Layout is /Default, Page Type is Title, Chapter File Name is (default) and I disabled "Auto-end on 'Left' page". Generating a PDF results in an empty, Normal Page after my cover page. I tried setting the Break Type set None and Page Layout Break but the results were the same.

It seems to me that there's an issue with my Cover Page.htm file and its page layout. Full disclosure - I'm used to Framemaker and master pages. Trying to wrap my head around Flare's 10 page layout types is giving me a headache.

Any suggestions for getting rid of the empty page? Thanks.

[Nita Beck]

Forgive me that I only skimmed your post. My first instinct is to suspect that the .jpg's size (8.5x11 inches) is too big to fit within the frame of the page layout and so Flare forces the extra, empty page. You can probably add the image as a background image to the title page, instead of placing it within a frame on the title page.

[Msquared]

I'm not sure I follow exactly what you are trying to do, but if you are associating a topic with a page in your page layout file, then that page must contain a body frame (where the topic text would go), even if the topic itself is empty and has no text. Otherwise Flare gets knotted up, and adds a blank page after the page you specified for your topic. Could that be it?

[DDP]

I'm not sure I follow exactly what you are trying to do, but if you are associating a topic with a page in your page layout file, then that page must contain a body frame (where the topic text would go), even if the topic itself is empty and has no text. Otherwise Flare gets knotted up, and adds a blank page after the page you specified for your topic. Could that be it?

Thank you Marjorie! Adding a body frame worked.

[Msquared]

Glad to be of help.

The first time this happened to me, it took me ages to find out what I'd done wrong. I may still have been looking now, but fortunately, I had another target with a different branding, which built correctly, and which used a different page layout, among other differences. I took a copy of the good one, and changed one thing at a time to convert it to the faulty one. Even when I narrowed it down to something in the page layout, it still took a while to track down.

Welcome to the forums, by the way. Keep asking the questions!

[hchiang]

My title page is adding an extra page and uses the wrong page layout.

My default.flpgl currently have 4 different page styles

normal right (includes a footer on bottom and page number, bottom right)
normal left (includes a footer on bottom and page number, bottom left)
title (default margins set by Flare, no page numbers or any sort of color added to the footer)
TOC (default margins set by Flare, no page numbers or any sort of color added to the footer)

I have created a new topic (with no image and only 4 rows of text) and it defaulted to use the normal right layout.
I used the Page Layout drop down to select my title page.
Once I select the title layout, it adds another page and shifts my text down to the second page.
The first and second page have the correct page layout assigned (title) but for some reason, the normal right footer is now being used.

Why did Flare shift my text down and add a page when I generate or preview the page? When I created the Title page type, I left the margins default and created a body frame that fits most of the page. I also disabled the auto end of left page from the TOC entry. I have also notice that the page layout assignment doesn't stick. I go back and see that the page is assigned normal right. Is there some field in the topic properties I missed setting?

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm new to Flare. Thanks!

[smajors]

I'm not sure I follow exactly what you are trying to do, but if you are associating a topic with a page in your page layout file, then that page must contain a body frame (where the topic text would go), even if the topic itself is empty and has no text. Otherwise Flare gets knotted up, and adds a blank page after the page you specified for your topic. Could that be it?

@Msquared, thank you for this information. I've been trying to figure out why there's an empty page after my title page and this was exactly why. I added a body frame and then a decoration frame the same size as the body frame (acting like they're layered) and that solved my issue.