Exporting just some pages in Publish by Zaweba

Exporting a whole newsletter just to send someone the front page is a waste of time and a waste of their inbox. In Publish by Zaweba both Export PDF and Export pictures accept page ranges, so you can export exactly the pages you need and nothing else.

The ranges are typed in the familiar way. A range such as 1-3, 5 gives you pages one to three and page five. A range such as 4- gives you page four and every page after it.

How the ranges read

A single number means that page. Two numbers joined by a hyphen mean every page from the first to the second. A comma separates pieces, so you can combine single pages and runs in one go. A number followed by a hyphen with nothing after it means from that page to the end, which is handy when you don't want to count how many pages a long document has.

That covers almost every case you'll meet. The front and back pages of a newsletter, the middle pages of a programme, everything from the second page onwards, or a scattering of pages that need checking can all be written in one short line.

Jobs where a range helps

Proofing is the big one. When a page has changed, export just that page as a PDF and send it to whoever needs to approve it, rather than asking them to find the change in a whole document. A committee member checking the events page doesn't need the other seven.

Social media and websites are another. Export the front cover of a newsletter as a picture for a post, or just the page with the timetable for a club website. With Export pictures, every page you choose becomes its own file, so a range keeps you from producing a folder full of images you'll only delete.

Printing a section is a third. If you need to print a few extra copies of a single insert, a menu page or a set of tickets from a larger publication, export that range as a print-ready PDF and print or send it on its own.

Things to watch

Page numbers in a range are the page's place in the publication, counted from the first page. If your pages are printed with different numbers, for example a cover that isn't numbered, count from the very first page of the file when you type the range, not from the number printed in the footer.

Booklets are a special case. File > Export booklet PDF rearranges pages into saddle-stitch order and needs a count that's a multiple of four, so it's built around the whole document. Page ranges belong to Export PDF and Export pictures, so use those for partial exports and save the booklet export for the finished, complete document.

When a page refers to another one, such as a table of contents or a note saying continued on page 4, remember that a partial export will contain the reference but not necessarily the page it points to. That's fine for a proof, but worth a moment's thought before sending a partial document to readers.

Working faster with ranges

Get into the habit of thinking about who needs which pages before you export. A designer making changes for several people can send each one only their page, which makes replies quicker and clearer. And for a long publication that you check as you go, exporting from the page you've just finished to the end, with a range like 6-, lets you look over the newest work without wading through the parts you've already approved.

Page ranges are a small convenience in Publish by Zaweba, but they're one you'll use every week once you know they're there.