A master in an edition is like a background that you can associate to many pages. Objects on a master appear on all pages with that master applied. Changes you make to a master are automatically applied to associated pages. You associate masters to the physical pages in Fred4 and manage master, on the Editions or Pages main tab.

In GN4, master includes:

•Page dimensions and margins

•Default page grid, ie. the columns and modules, the vertical and horizontal nudge.

•Repeating logos, page numbers, headers, and footers, crop marks and color bars.

Note: empty text or graphic frames on masters, to serve as placeholders on pages, are not supported.

Masters can have only a single layer, unlike pages in your edition, that can contain up to 16 layers. Objects on a master may appear behind objects assigned to a page. The master guides, though, can appear above page objects, or above or below master objects.

Every page has an assigned master. The master specifies the page dimensions, including column width, margins, if the page is a double (spread), etc. A change in the geometry of a page involves only changing its master, which can be done either in Fred4.

There are a number of composition variables that can be used inside folio elements, including page number, section name, and edition date. This means that the same folio item 'adjusts' itself to the page it's on.

Elements on the master are locked to users editing the page. This ensures that users do not accidentally move or change master objects. To edit master objects, user have to open master page on the Pages main tab > Masters in Fred4.

A master cannot have other masters based on it, ie. children masters.

A master belongs to parent edition and cannot be shared between editions.