PDF / Printed cover (again)

[Gucek001]

So I did follow https://www.madcapsoftware.com/blog/201 ... df-output/ as many people before me. And as many people before me - I have this CoverLayout applied to all pages.

CoverLayout has only "Title" page (there is only background picture on it, which btw I'm not happy with size - but this is another story)
"MyDefault" layout has only "Normal" page (I have some logo in the footer in there, probably will add page numbers or sth. - was done this way before me)

All possible previews (on screen or generated PDF previews) are perfect - I mean exactly the way I want them. Only after generating whole PDF this CoverLayout is applied to every page.
I have this "MyDefault" implicitly set in Project's properties as "Master Page Layout", so.. what is still wrong?!??

What is the purpose of such overcomplication and why are all previews misleadingly correct?

I guess that I need some kind of break added somewhere? Why? Where? And Why there?

TIA!!

[atomdocs]

I think this is where it is going wrong, in your first line: "I have this CoverLayout applied to all pages".

Clear that setting from your topics in the TOC, then create a dedicated title page topic if you haven't got one already. Add this title page topic at the top of your TOC, and apply your CoverLayout page layout to this TOC item only. I assume that your CoverLayout page layout just contains a "title" page, as indicated in the blog post.

Note that your title page topic just contains the text that you want to include on your cover - at least the title of you publication. You'll need to include a text box in your CoverLayout page layout to display this text. Any graphical elements or background colours can be applied directly to the CoverLayout page layout using a decoration box or by setting the background colour there.

Page layouts can indeed be tricky, but keep at it, you'll get it working. Although it can be complex, it does provide all the options we need for creating proper front matter for printed publications. It's complex, but it is powerful.

Also note that if you are also creating online output from the same TOC, you'll need to condition the title topic for print output only (as well as any other printed front matter / end matter TOC items you have).