Moving Master Page but Linked Text Doesn't Move With It

[jvrichardson]

InDesign CC 2017 (up-to-date), Windows 7 64-bit Pro

We have master pages created with "linked text" (using Place and Link). When I "move" the master pages to a different document, the text moves fine, but the links between master page texts are removed. I thought links were supposed to remain when moving pages and master pages?

[Cari Jansen]

This should work as far as I'm aware - what workflow are you using?

Here's the workflow I tested that worked and retained the links OK.

Three documents

• InDesign file that is the source for the text frames, with text frame placed on a document page (source-text.indd)
• InDesign file that is the source for the master page you want to move/copy (source-master.indd)
• InDesign file that receives the moved/copied master (destination-master.indd)

Steps used to test:

1. Add text frame to source-text.indd file
2. Select and choose Edit > Copy and Link
3. Navigate to master page in source-master.indd and click with loaded text icon to place the linked text.
4. In the Pages panel change the name of the master to B-WithText (just so we don't have clashing of master page names possibly causing any issues).
5. Select the Master Page spread with the linked text in the source-master.indd Pages panel and select Move Master from Pages panel menu.
6. Set Move To to destination-master.indd and click OK.
7. Navigate to designation-master and note the Link Badge on the tex frame on the master page.
8. Save all files
9. Edit the text in source-text.indd file and now check to see if there is a modified link warning on the text frames.

In my tests with InDesign CC (2017) this worked beautifully.

[jvrichardson]

I am not using a source-text file at all. Master Page -1 has "page tabs" on it, and Master Page 2-6 have similar tabs with the exact same text. So on Master Page -1 I copied that text and did "paste and link" onto the other master pages. That way, I can update the text on Master Page -1 and "update" to the other tabs.

So the links would remain when I move the master pages to a new document as long as the text is in an external file instead, but only in that case? Thank you for the clarification!

My team ultimately decided to just do "find and replace all" in the end.