Here's what's happening:
- I create a master page and don't base it on anything.
- To the master, I add two empty image frames, three empty text boxes (two of them are threaded together), and a fixed page folio (logo, page number, etc) that I won't change.
- I create a page based on the master.
- I override the empty master page items and load images and text into the frames.
- Inadvertently, somewhere along the way, let's say I deleted a master frame I actually needed and my page numbers. Just hypothetical... it's a Monday and I haven't had coffee.
- I redrag the master to the page to restore what's gone.
- The page is completely restored to master defaults with all frames and the folio, but all content I've placed on the page has disappeared. Deleted. Not moved, not hidden — gone.
HOWEVER:
If I apply a different master to the page, all overridden frames are kept AND master items from this different master are applied.
In previous versions of InDesign, you set image frames and text boxes on a master page where you wanted them, create a new page with the master applied, then override frames on a page to fill them with content. If you reapplied the master, you'd get duplicate copies of any overridden item, but the old ones stayed put.
Now, to keep anything, you either can't override it or you have to use Primary Text Frames AND use only anchored objects. But I don't want a primary frame because I'm not building a story. I'm building a 50-page templated recipe book with pictures where all the page content is self-contained and I DO NOT want it to flow to the next. I'll certainly shuffle my pages as I work out the book. I don't want them jumping around because I add text to one page. Also, anchoring objects is tediously unnecessary when you have multiple images and symbols that go with each recipe and aren't aligned with text.
My rant: Why on earth did this seem like a good feature?!?! It feels like punishment for negligence or edits.
My question: I just don't understand what's happening and why. What should I be doing?