Page Numbering in OpenOffice.org Writer (a tutorial)

[JohnHind]

There is a particularly nasty "gotcha" with this system in OO which does not happen with the different system Word uses.

Here's the scenario (hardly uncommon): The document starts with a table of contents and then moves on to the document proper. The page numbering should start at 1 from the first page AFTER the TOC. You also want each chapter in the document to start on a new page.

You can set the heading1 style to throw a page and assign a page style. This makes each chapter start on a new page. You cannot reset the page number in this style because you DO NOT want page numbering to restart each chapter, only the first. If you put a manual page break after the TOC, you can reset the page number in that, but now there are TWO page throws at the start of the document resulting in a blank page and the document starts at page 2. It will not even let you set the page number to 0 so you can later discard the blank page! This seems to be a real "gottcha"!

Any ideas? What's needed is a way of disagregating the page number reset from the page throw itself. I should say that the document content is imported as a link from a HTML file, so I can change the attributes of styles, but have to live with the style associations set by the import process.

Also, is there any way to display/edit/delete manual page breaks once they are inserted?

[zero0w]

Excellent tutorial, good job Paul .

How do I get page numbers of odd (right) pages to the right, and subsequently to the left on even (left) pages.

If it's is covered elsewhere, it ought to be added to this thread.

This comes in handy when printing on both sides.

No, it's not included here. Good idea. I will put it on my "to do" list.

BFN,

I am still reading Jean Weber's OpenOffice.org Writer, but I am guessing you could use the Left Page and Right Page in the Page style stylist to do the job.

Notice that when you right-click Left Page -> Modify in the Stylist, and then click on the Page tab. You will see under the "Layout Settings" section, that this page style is set to be used for Only left page (take a look at the screenshot).

Then click on the Organizer tab, set the "Next style" to be followed by Right Page. Reciprocally, you do the same for the Right Page style to be followed by the Left Page style in the "Next style" field.

This is my guess for now, but I don't know how to apply it to an existing document already filled with hundreds of pages. Do I need to assign the pair of Left Page and Right Page styles to each paper sheet one by one? It doesn't sound right.....

[tqurlbysrllj]

I'm having difficulty figuring out how to paginate a dissertation. Presently I bring everything into a master document, with separate files for front matter (FM), chapters, and back matter (although the table of contents is only in the master document--I thought I had to do that to collect data from each chapter).

Here are my pagination requirements:

1. FM pagination is lower case roman numerals. The first two FM pages suppress pagination.

2. The beginning of units (chapters, table of contents, references, etc.) has page numbers centered in the footer; subsequent pages in each unit is in the header.

3. Pagination begins with "1" in the first page of chapter one and runs consecutively through the rest of the document.

If someone could help me with this, I'd be grateful.

[Paul]

Hi tqurlbysrllj,

I don't have much experience with Master Documents, so unfortunately I can't offer any help now.

If anyone else has any comments I'd be interested to read

BFN,

[JonasPoro]

Hi!

Now here's a tricky question for you: I'm working on a paper with a colleague, who's naturally using MS Word. Everything was peachy right up until the point when we put the TOC on. Now we have a nice TOC and the page numbering is right, we have page styles and everything set, but.. Why does the Table of Contents start counting the page numbers from the first page of the document, not from the first numbered page (which is in absolute term 3rd)? And more importantantly, how do I get the TOC to line up, without having to manually correct the page numbers? Have I screwed up with the page styles after all? If anyone's got this this one right, I'd sure appreciate some pointers

Thanks in advance
J

[Paul]

Hi J,

Is your file confidential or could you upload it, or attach it to a PM to be if you don't want to "Publish" it?

I am interested in looking at this and seeing if a solution is possible.

BFN,

[crazyfresh]

Hi guys! I have something that I'm trying to do, and it's just evading me for some reason:

I have a landscape-oriented page template with two columns, so it will print somewhat like a book when the page is folded. What I want to do is put a page number at the bottom of each column (this will be two page numbers per document "page," if you understand what I'm saying), in the footer.

So, the first page will have "1," and "2" at the bottom of the columns, the second page will have the columns numbered "3" and "4," and so on. I figured the best way to do this would be to somehow mess around with variables and the like, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

If anyone could help me figure this out without having to go through and put in each number by hand, it would be greatly appreciated !

[Paul]

Hi crazyfresh,

A better option would be to set up an A5 page instead of each column, then print these side by side on an A4 sheet.

Here's how: http://www.8daysaweek.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19

HTH,

[Schelle]

It has been years since I last needed help with OOo, but as always, I know if I come looking, your excellent tutorials will save me hours of frustration!

I couldn't work out how to have a blank title page, roman numerals for the introduction, and arabic numerals for the body of the thesis (with each section starting at 'one')... a quick read, a few clicks and I am one very happy camper!



Thank you!

[Wed]

I tried the left and right page style. But any which way I tried, my document (218 pages) can have only one page style, either or ... (Actually, I can have a first page along with the default)

So I have yet to figure out how to put header/footer information in left and right pages respecively.

As soon as I assign a page with a page stylethe document report 435 pages, and EVERY header and footer disappear.

And the first page also becomes either left or right.

OOo 2.0.4 /Debian Etch


Edit!! Scrap the above, I missed the Organizer bit following the right page with left and then the other way around. All solved, Life is good.

[Wed]

But after the last right page I want a rear cover. Like a "first page" but last.

This however illudes me. Every time I chose a page for a page style "Default" for example that is no longer in use by the text body, EVERY page becomes Default.

The organizer part doesn't seem to cover "previous style" as it does "Next style".

Any hints?

[n9bauer]

There is a particularly nasty "gotcha" with this system in OO which does not happen with the different system Word uses.

Here's the scenario (hardly uncommon): The document starts with a table of contents and then moves on to the document proper. The page numbering should start at 1 from the first page AFTER the TOC. You also want each chapter in the document to start on a new page.

You can set the heading1 style to throw a page and assign a page style. This makes each chapter start on a new page. You cannot reset the page number in this style because you DO NOT want page numbering to restart each chapter, only the first. If you put a manual page break after the TOC, you can reset the page number in that, but now there are TWO page throws at the start of the document resulting in a blank page and the document starts at page 2. It will not even let you set the page number to 0 so you can later discard the blank page! This seems to be a real "gottcha"!

I am having the exact same problem JohnHind mentioned earlier in the year. I've yet to see a solution anywhere, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

FYI, I am using OpenOffice 2.0.4. I have my chapters as subdocuments in a master document, where the latter contains the preliminary pages and table of contents. So, like John, I would like to reset the page number to 1 at the start of the first chapter, and then have the rest of the chapters run continuously. Any ideas?

[Paul]

Hi n9bauer,

I will have a look at this if I get time in the next few days. It would be helpful if you could upload an example document to work with, showing the behaviour you describe.

BFN,

[n9bauer]

Hi n9bauer,

I will have a look at this if I get time in the next few days. It would be helpful if you could upload an example document to work with, showing the behaviour you describe.

BFN,

Wow, thanks for getting back to me so soon, Paul. OK, I've zipped up the master doc and its sub-docs. I should be clear that I know how to fix the page numbering within a normal, single doc. But I can't figure out how to fix it in my current setup (a master doc containing the preliminary material and a table of contents, with separate sub-docs for each chapter). If you can show me how to get chapter one to restart on page one (after the preliminary material), while keeping the remaining chapters from restarting, I'd really appreciate it.

Best,
Nathan

[Paul]

If you can show me how to get chapter one to restart on page one (after the preliminary material), while keeping the remaining chapters from restarting, I'd really appreciate it.

Well, I can't guarantee it, but I will certainly try! Let's hope "2 heads are better than 1"

BFN,