When I go to page number, it does not give me the option to choose whether I want the number top or bottom of page, right, left, or middle. Nor can I have it skip page 1, number 1 and start on page 2 with number 2.
ALSO…
I have having the same sort of crazy when I try to add a header.
Either it’s also on the 1st page, which I do not want, or its only on 1-page?
HELP please.
Just a thought: it’s baffling how Word could distort the logic: whenever one presses a key A, one knows where the “A” will get inserted: it’s, of course, where the cursor is blinking (it’s blinking exactly for that, right? To tell you your current position in the document, and where insertion happens). When you insert a table, you do not expect it to appear somewhere in a different place. But for page number! No, it’s absolutely unreasonable to expect that it appears at current point - no, it should appear somewhere else…
I assume you tried to add a page number with Insert>Field>Page Number which only adds the code for the page number at the current cursor location. Consequently, you must first “format” or “lay out” your document as you like it so that the cursor (which is attached to some text flow) is correctly positioned.
You say you want the page number in the header. A header is a property of page styles. Pages may be designed in a variety of ways (as many as users!) therefore they have neither header nor footer by default. These must be activated. This is done with Format>Page Style in the Header (or Footer tab of the dialog). Once this is done, click in the header area to put the cursor in it and insert the page number.
Note: I highly recommend you enable View>Formatting Marks and View>Text Boundaries so that you have visual clues about the limits of “active” areas able to receive text.
Your claim is more sophisticated. You want a special first page with presumably no header and no page header while subsequent pages have a header and a page number in it. This requires the use of two page styles.
Built-in First Page is ideal for that as it switches automatically to Default Page Style when end of page is reached (either implicitly with page overflow or through a manual page break). Headers for First Page and Default Page Style are independent from each other.
The bottom status bar reports the page style for the current cursor position. Make sure you are on a correct page before configuring your header and everything should go smooth.
I have only sketched the possibilities. It is likely that you don’t know what styles are and what they are used for. I recommend you read the Writer Guide for an introduction to styles. It is impossible to tweak headers and footers or page numbering skipping without styles (contrary to text formatting where you can fallback to direct formatting, but avoid it). So read the guide and experiment on short trial documents before tackling your real one.
To show the community your question has been answered, click the ✓ next to the correct answer, and “upvote” by clicking on the ^ arrow of any helpful answers. These are the mechanisms for communicating the quality of the Q&A on this site. Thanks!
In case you need clarification, edit your question (not an answer which is reserved for solutions) or comment the relevant answer.
Hello,
Regarding page number placement
the page number appears where you add Insert -> Field -> Page Number. And if you want it to appear
Regarding headers and footers to be different on “First page” and all other pages.
Rule: Whenever one or more pages should look different form all other existing pages you need a new Page Style and assign that new page style to the page, which should look different from the others, separated by manual page break through (important) Insert -> More Breaks -> Manual Break..., where you can set the page style for the page following the page break.
In case of a First Page, there is a simplification to that general procedure:
Format -> Title page and keep option [o] Converting existing pages to title pages and set the Number of title pages to 1
OK
F11 or View -> Styles) under Page Styles (4th icon beneath word Styles) that your first page has been assigned to page style First Page*. Esp. check, for better understanding, tab Organizer and what’s in entry Next Style
Hope that helps.
@anon73440385’s and @Ajlittoz’ answers are complete towards how to do what you ask for in a new document, and why it is so. Your stated problems are typical of mixed MS Word and Libre-/OpenOffice contexts. I will try to provide a rough guide to avoid the worst pitfalls of that mix. If you have everything sorted out by the explanations given by others, feel free to disregard the following.
The page numbering tool available in Word is not present in Writer. There used to be a pagination plugin which offered similar functionality, but I think it is incompatible with current Writer version.
What that tool does is to enable the page header or footer, and position the page number as requested, inserted as a field code. You need to do it in 3 steps in writer:
Insert - Field - Page #
Word and Writer are in many ways similar. When it comes to page layouts, and specifically headers and footers, the building structures are fundamentally different.
Word: Page layout is maintained by section. When you insert a new section, it will inherit settings from the previous section, but you can choose to break the link between each section’s headers/footers and edit page layouts individually for each. Additionally, or each section you can also have a different initial page, and different settings for odd and even pages.
Writer page layout is maintained by page style. One property of a page style is “next page style”, which can be used to build elaborate page sequences. When you insert a manual (or “hard”) page break, you can choose a particular page style for the new page. You can edit page layout directly, which will affect all pages of the same style (not the same section, like it is for Word). You can also edit the settings for page styles in the style dialog. Styles - Manage
If you have a document alternating between contexts (typically document editing in Word and saved as odt file, or edited in Writer and saved as doc/docx file), then every transfer of your document between contexts (that is each open and each save) will insert workarounds at every page transition where there is a change of page layout (or other formatting/objects which are handled differently between the apps). If the content is later modified so that page breaks occur at other points in the text flow, new such elements are added. It is going to be a mess. If that is your situation, you need to do the following as soon as possible:
Work to do: recreate the desired formatting, applying styles as needed. Before you proceed, make sure you understand the Writer styles (which are significantly more elaborate and powerful than Word’s styles). See the link provided in Ajlittoz’ answer.
Very clear context information, congratulations. +1