Writer: How can I remove blank page after title page?

Good morning, I’ve used Format/Title page to insert a front cover without a page number. This looks fine until I go into print preview and see a blank page with ‘blank page’ stamped on it (!) between the cover and the first page of text. The page number in the document jumps from 1 to 3 thanks to this blank page. How can I get rid of it as it’s not visible in normal edit mode?

Many thanks, Bob

The first thing you should know is that new page styles always start on a right-hand page. The following page will be left hand. You have two page styles, therefore two right hand pages with a left hand page in between (think of a book). You can suppress the the automatically inserted page. Either:

  • In the print dialog, click on the
    LibreOffice Writer tab and untick
    Print automatically inserted blank pages for a one-off print
  • In Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Print untick the box Print automatically inserted blank pages for a default solution (you can always tick it in the print dialog).

Note that you have a similar tick box in Export as PDF also. Cheers, Al

New page styles do not always start on right-hand side. It depends on the page style properties. The question to ask to OQ is which page style (s)he used.

Many thanks Al for your detailed explanation. I don’t pretend to understand it but after restarting LibreOffice, it suppressed the blank page in print preview. The document page number still jumps from 1 to 3 but I can live with that. :slight_smile:

In answer to ajl, the page style is heading 1 followed by default text. Does this help?

No, because Heading 1 and Default Paragraph Style (the likely correct name) are paragraph styles. I am interested in the page styles. The current one (where the cursor is) is shown in the bottom status bar.

If you want a full diagnosis, edit your question to attach a 2-3 pages sample file to yoour question. You can’t attach to a comment, thus the need to edit the question.

Apologies, not familiar with page styles. Page 1 is First page, Page 3 is Default Page Style.

Both styles are valid for right and left pages; There should not be any blank page in between unless you changed text flow parameters or inserted a stry page break. Only a thorough analysis of formatting can tell.

I’ve just recreated this with a blank page. Insert a new title page in front and immediately the left end of the status bar says ‘Page 1 of 3 (Page 1 of 2 to print)’. Anyway thanks for your assistance, I can live with it. :slight_smile:

@ajlittoz is correct about page styles not needing to start on right hand page (except for Right Hand). I was thinking of my templates’ page styles where I have changed page number after the first page style. Page 1 always starts on a right hand page so an automatically inserted left page appears if required. I assumed you have inserted a Manual break and changed page number, thus getting the automatically inserted blank page.

You’re right Earnest. Opening a blank page and inserting a title page in front produces a 2 page document. If the page after the title page is set to page 1, it becomes a 3 page document. It doesn’t require a page break (which I haven’t used anyway).