Changing page number former docx file

How do I change an existing page number in a header, this is a converted Docx file?

Do you want to change only a specific page number? Do you want to format all numbers differently (from numeric to alphabetic)? Do you want to number chapters independently?

Update your question to answer these questions.

Page numbers are in the header. I want to change the existing page number, first page of the document, as the initial page for the whole doc. .

Read these tutorials:

Page numbering

Page styles and headers/footers

Headers and footers, where you insert a field to contain the current page number, are attributes of page style. Therefore, whenever you want a different arrangement of header/footer, you must reference a different page style.

Page styles can be changed after a “forced” page break. Page breaks caused by “natural” text flow do not cause a change: text on the next page is arranged with the same page style. “Forced” page breaks result either from insertion of a manual page break or from usage of a paragraph style including a page break.

Page style change can also result from sequence definition in page style: you tell which page style follows this one when the end of page is reached.

That’s enough for page style theory.

In you case, you seem to have a cover page and then content pages.

Give your cover page style First page (a built-in style) with no header nor footer. This page style automatically switches to Default when the end of page is reached (or when a page break occurs).

Unless you have other different looking parts, use Default page style for the content, where you’ll tune header and footer to your liking. Otherwise define one page style per document part and remember to update First page to link with your first part page style.

PS: keep your document in native .odt format to make sure you will not lose formatting during conversions.

If this answer helped you, please accept it by clicking the check mark to the left and, karma permitting, upvote it. If this is what you expected, close the question, that will help other people with the same question.

That makes the page number that comes up, 1, This is a multi-volume book, and first page is a continuation from the previous volume. What I want to do is edit the field, change the number in the page number field. I guess you can’t do that, the way you can in Word.

In LO, styles are everywhere: page, paragraph, character, frame, list, table, … This is a much cleaner, layered approach than Word, bridging part of the gap with DTP software, once you get accustomed to it.

In your case, page styles allow you to split your volume in 2 parts: the continuation page(s) and original content, each with its own page style. You can then edit headers and footers independently from each other.

The is the 60th volume – the first page would be 6712. It’s a transcription of my journals over the years. No way I want that in a single file. But I think I see how this would work… just begin the sequential numbering on the 2nd continuation page.
I still wish there were a way to edit content inside the page field.
Thanks!

When you insert the page break to your “contents pages” with an explicit page style, you can simultaneously set the starting page number of the new part. In my opinion, it is safer than trying to edit the page field: where should the modification take place? On the page you edit or at the beginning of the part with the involved page style? Playing with the manual break puts the process under full versatile control (you can have several breaks).