Heading Background Style

Controls

Background Image

Drag your image onto this thumbnail, or click to select the file on disk.

Image Presence

Use this control if you need to adjust the presence of your image. Decreasing this value can make any text that appears above the background more legible.

Image Span

This controls whether your image spans just a single page or an entire spread. When configured as a spread, the image will span both pages whenever the opposite page is empty (e.g. for Chapter 1).

Image Extent

Use this to control how close to the edge of the page you want your background to go. If you want the image to go to the very edge of the page, select Full Bleed.

Note: Full Bleed is automatically selected when you make your image span the full spread

Use White Text

If your image is very dark, you can use this option to change all text (and ornaments) on the page to be white.

Note: If you haven’t provided an image, this will change the background to black.

Apply To

Use this popup menu to indicate that your custom background should apply to all elements of a specific type – Chapters, Parts, or Volumes – or that you’ll be configuring Individual Elements.

To clear your custom background and return to presets, press the ⓧ shown in the upper left.

Adding an Image

Before you add an image, the feedback section provides a recommended size for any image used as a background:

The recommended size is based on the trim size you’ve selected for your book as well as the state of the controls above.

If you are working with full bleed, the image you add should match these dimensions exactly. For help with this, you can make use of one of the available Full Bleed Image Templates.

Size Feedback

Once you provide an image, Vellum will indicate whether the image will work for your configuration:

Individual Elements

In some cases, you may want a heading background to appear on a specific element and not on all elements of a particular type. To do this, use the Apply To popup:

Selecting Individual Elements will reveal the Using Name text field, which allows you to name the background. Enter a descriptive name so that it is easy to find in an element’s Heading Background menu.

An element will show this menu when:

• You have a heading background that applies to Individual Elements
• You don’t have a heading background that applies to the selected element’s type

When it’s available, this menu will appear in the gear menu to the right of an element’s title:

You’ll also find the Heading Background menu in the main menu, under Chapter. You can use this version of the command to set the heading background for multiple elements at once, if necessary.

Using Multiple Backgrounds

In some cases, you may want to use unique heading backgrounds across multiple elements.

To add an additional background, press the Use Multiple Backgrounds button:

For more details, see our guide to Using Multiple Heading Backgrounds.