= Page Category Keys
:description: Reference list of the available page category keys and their value types.
:navtitle: Page
:source-language: yaml

[#page]
== page

The keys in the `page` category control the size, margins, and background of the pages in a document (i.e., canvas).
We recommended that you define this category before all other categories.

NOTE: The background of the title page can be styled independently of other pages.
See xref:title-pages.adoc[] and xref:title-page.adoc[] for details.

[cols="3,4,5a"]
|===
|Key |Value Type |Example

|<<background-color,background-color>>
|xref:color.adoc[Color] +
(default: `'FFFFFF'`)
|[source]
page:
  background-color: #FEFEFE

|xref:images.adoc#background[background-image]
|xref:images.adoc#specify[image macro] {vbar} xref:images.adoc#specify[path] +
(default: _not set_)
|[source]
page:
  background-image: image:page-bg.png[]

|xref:images.adoc#recto-and-verso[background-image-(recto{vbar}verso)]
|xref:images.adoc#specify[image macro] {vbar} xref:images.adoc#specify[path] +
(default: _not set_)
|[source]
page:
  background-image:
    recto: image:page-bg-recto.png[]
    verso: image:page-bg-verso.png[]

|<<columns,columns>>
|Integer +
(default: _not set_)
|[source]
page:
  columns: 2

|column-gap
|xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement] +
(default: _$base-font-size_)
|[source]
page:
  columns: 2
  columns-gap: 12

|xref:images.adoc#foreground[foreground-image]
|xref:images.adoc#specify[image macro] {vbar} xref:images.adoc#specify[path] +
(default: _not set_)
|[source]
page:
  foreground-image: image:watermark.svg[]

|initial-zoom
|`Fit` {vbar} `FitH` {vbar} `FitV` +
(default: `FitH`)
|[source]
page:
  initial-zoom: Fit

|layout
|`landscape` {vbar} `portrait` +
(default: `portrait`)
|[source]
page:
  layout: landscape

|margin
|xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement] {vbar} xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement[top,right,bottom,left\]] +
(default: `36`)
|[source]
page:
  margin: [0.5in, 0.67in, 1in, 0.67in]

|<<rotated-margin,margin-rotated>>
|xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement] {vbar} xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement[top,right,bottom,left\]] +
(default: `$page-margin`)
|[source]
page:
  margin-rotated: [0.5in, 0.5in, 1in, 0.5in]

|<<prepress-margins,margin-inner>>
|xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement] +
(default: `48`)
|[source]
page:
  margin-inner: 0.75in

|<<prepress-margins,margin-outer>>
|xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement] +
(default: `24`)
|[source]
page:
  margin-outer: 0.59in

|mode
|`outline` {vbar} `none` {vbar} `thumbs` {vbar} `fullscreen` {vbar} `fullscreen outline` {vbar} `fullscreen none` {vbar} `fullscreen thumbs` +
(default: `outline`)
|[source]
page:
  mode: fullscreen none

|size
|https://github.com/prawnpdf/pdf-core/blob/0.6.0/lib/pdf/core/page_geometry.rb#L16-L68[Named size^] {vbar} xref:measurement-units.adoc[Measurement[width,height\]] +
(default: `A4`)
|[source]
page:
  size: Letter
|===

[#background-color]
=== Disable background-color

To turn off the background color for the page, set the value of the `background-color` key to white (i.e., `#FFFFFF`).
The color keyword `transparent` is not recognized in this context.

[#rotated-margin]
=== Rotated margin

The rotated margin is applied to the opposing page layout when a page is rotated.
If the initial page layout is portrait, then the rotated margin applies to landscape pages, and vice versa.
The `margin` key applies to the initial page layout.

The rotated margin does not honor <<prepress-margins>>.
Rather, it's the same margin regardless of whether the page side is recto or verso.

[#prepress-margins]
=== Inner and outer margins

The margins for `recto` (right-hand, odd-numbered) and `verso` (left-hand, even-numbered) pages are calculated automatically from the `margin-inner` and `margin-outer` values.
These margins are only used when the value `prepress` is assigned to the `media` document attribute.

The recto margin is applied to the title page if a front cover is specified.
To apply the recto margin to the title page without specifying a front cover, assign the value `~` to the `front-cover-image`.
See xref:cover.adoc[] for information about the `cover` category keys.

TIP: Setting `front-cover-image` to `~` makes the converter acts as though a front cover is present without reserving a page for it.
It essentially informs the converter that the front cover will be inserted by a separate process.

[#columns]
=== Columns

Page columns are applied to the body of a document that has either the article or manpage doctype.
The body of the document begins after the document title and, if present, the TOC.

If the toc macro is used in a document configured to have columns, the behavior is undefined.

If the columns are set on the index section using the `index-columns` key, that setting will be overridden by the value of `page-columns`.
The index will be arranged within the page columns.

[#column-break]
==== Column break

Even when columns are enabled, the AsciiDoc page break macro will still end the current page and start a new page.
The next chunk of content will be written to the left-most column on that new page.

If you want the page break macro to end the current column instead, add the `column` role to it.

[,asciidoc]
----
left column

[.column]
<<<

right column
----

If columns are not enabled, the `column` role will be ignored and it will revert to a true page break.
Thus, it's safe to add the role even when you're not using columns.

[#numbering]
== page-numbering

The key in the `page-numbering` category controls where the integer (1-based) page numbering begins.

[cols="3,4,5a"]
|===
|Key |Value Type |Example

|start-at
|xref:page-numbers.adoc#start-at[Start page] {vbar} Integer +
(default: `body`)
|[source]
page:
  numbering:
    start-at: cover
|===

See xref:page-numbers.adoc#start-at[Starting integer page numbering] for more information about the `start-at` key, its values, and their requirements.
