Master pages, fronts and backs

This article is for designers whose deck needs a back, or more than one front layout. It explains the three views in the top bar and how a card decides which back it prints.

What this page helps you do

• Switch between the Pages, Front and Back views.
• Apply a master to a free page, the InDesign way.
• Add a back and pick which back each card uses.
• Set one back on many pages at once.

You'll start from the view switch in the top bar of a component (Prototypes > Components, then open a component).

Before you start

• Beta, rolling out to teams. If Prototypes is missing from your sidebar, your team is not in the rollout yet.
• Plan: Pathfinder plan and up. Adventurer teams see "Prototypes are a Pathfinder plan feature" with Upgrade to Pathfinder. Virtual Table AI is Oracle and LaunchBoom only, 50 builds per team per day.
• Roles: Collaborators cannot use the Component Designer or 3D Mockups.

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Know the three views

The top bar has Pages, Front and Back. A master is any page with a {{field}} on it (see Data Merge).

Helpful details

• Key areas: Pages shows every page and every card made from the table. It is the default and always there. Front shows front masters only. Back shows back masters only.
• What you can do: Pick Back when you have no back yet and the editor adds one for you.
• Good to know: Front and Back fall back to Pages when their last master is gone. The hint under Pages reads "Every page and every card made from the table. Pick a front master and a back above each one."

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Apply a master to a page

In Pages, every page has a Front picker above it. On a free page (one without fields), picking a master puts the master's elements under the page's own, linked, so they follow the master from then on. No master takes them off again.

Helpful details

• Key areas: On a generated card, the same picker switches the row to another master. The row keeps its data and its own back pick.
• What you can do: Design a rulebook where every page follows a "page frame" master, or a deck with two front layouts and switch cards between them.
• Good to know: This is the same idea as master pages in InDesign: the master is the one place the layout lives.

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Add a back and see it beside each card

Pick Back in the top bar to add a back master. Design it like any page. Back in Pages, the Backs toggle beside the zoom (on by default) draws each page's back beside it, with a Back picker above the back.

Helpful details

• Key areas: With Backs off, the picker sits next to the page name, and each card gets a Front | Back switch that turns it over in place.
• What you can do: Move a page between sides with Move to Back or Move to Front in its page controls. A front that already has cards asks first ("Make this page a back?"), because its cards would become the rows' backs.
• Good to know: A back with {{fields}} is a master too: each row gets its own generated back card. A back without fields prints as it is, with no card generated. After changing a back with fields, press Update cards.

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Understand which back wins

A card can get its back from three places. The order, strongest first:

1. The table's back column for that row (by page name, or by number among the backs).
2. The page's or card's own Back picker.
3. The back its master picked, or, failing that, the first back.

Helpful details

• Key areas: The picker's hint says "This page and every card made from it print this back."
• What you can do: Leave the pickers alone for a deck with one back. Use the back column when the data decides, for example "Spell" cards get Back 2.
• Good to know: Backs never produce fronts, and a row's generated back card never shows on its own in Pages.

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Set a back on many pages at once

Open the Data Merge panel and scroll to Fronts & Backs. It lists the front masters ("3 pages follow it") and the back masters, with Edit and Add back.

1. Under Apply a back to many pages, pick a Back, or Follow the master, or none.
2. Under Apply to, pick All pages or A range of pages and set From page and to.
3. Click Apply. A toast confirms "Back set on 12 pages".

Helpful details

• Key areas: Pages count in the order of the Pages view.
• What you can do: Reset a whole deck to Follow the master after experimenting.
• Good to know: The panel reminds you of the order: a page's own back wins over its master's, and the table's back column wins over both.

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Tips & common questions

Do I need a back at all? No. A deck without a back exports fronts only. Add one when you want duplex print-and-play sheets or a Tabletop Simulator back.

Why did my cards disappear when I moved a page to Back? They were generated from that page as a front. The confirmation warned that "the cards lose this front". Move it back to Front and press Update cards.

Can one deck have two different backs? Yes. Add two back masters and either pick per card with the Back picker or name them in a back column.

My back has a {{name}} field. Why do I see twice as many cards? A back with fields generates one back card per row, listed after the fronts. That is expected; exports pair each front with its back.

Related articles

• Turn a spreadsheet into a deck (Data Merge)
• Create and manage components
• Export: print and play, images, TTS, PDF