Chapter creation with headers

How can I create a document with several chapters, each with unique headers for each chapter, and with numbering consistent from the beginning to the end?

Any pointers in the right direction are appreciated.

  • Apply the paragraph style Heading 1 to your chapter titles.
  • Insert fields in your page header to reflect what you want to show there.

If you need more detailed guidance, provide more detail about your requirements. E.g your “numbering consistent” request: are you referring to pagination, chapter numbering, figure numbering across chapters (with/without restart)?

Your question is not precise enough. It can be understood in two ways:

  1. headers related to chapter heading, usually chapter heading repeated in the header
  2. headers totally independent from chapter heading, i.e. manually added and not related at all to chapter heading

Outline paragraphs in your document (among which chapter headings) are supposed to be styled with the Heading n family of paragraph styles. Numbering of these is controlled by Tools>Chapter Numbering.

Case 1 is easier and fully automated.

You have a single page style for all your chapters. This page style must be used only for the chapters in case you have other parts of your documents with separate headers (e.g. TOC, index, bibliography, annexes, …).

Your chapter headings are styled with paragraph style Heading 1.

In the header area in any chapter, Inert>Field>More Fields, Document tab, Type Chapter, Format Chapter name.

The chapter heading will automatically follow the changes in the documents. To make things neat, I suggest you add a page break in Heading 1 Text Flow with a forced break to the page style used for chapters. This will avoid you the pain of inserting a manual page break before the first chapter.

Case 2 is boring.

Since the header is arbitrary, you can’t “common factor” anything. You must then create one page style per chapter. You must also Insert>More Breaks>Manual Break before every start of chapter to forced switch to the dedicated chapter page style.

If you are not familiar with styles, I highly recommend you read the Writer Guide for a more developed explanation.

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