Can I use headers for chapter titles?

[tooblond]

I am writing a fiction novel and want to copy something I’ve seen in some other books where each page (except chapter title pages) has the left side pages with the number, then the title of the book and the right side pages have the title of the chapter and then the number. I know how to set it up for the first chapter, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to have the headers change with each chapter title.
Here’s an image of what I’m talking about, for clarity’s sake. I cobbled it together, so hopefully you can understand the context here.

IF I can’t use headers to do this, I’m not very good at figuring stuff out when it isn’t obvious. Could someone give me a walkthrough? As in “click on whatever, then select selection, click OK, step 2, click on that, select something, click apply” You know, lead me by the hand, please! Thank you very much!

[tooblond]

Let me clarify again - I already know how to create left and right headers and include content in them. What I cannot do is get the content to change for each chapter without affecting the previous chapters.

[tooblond]

Is there someone I can pay to solve this issue? Any power users out there that can tell me what to do to get what I want?
Repeating - I want to be able to CHANGE the text in the headers for EACH chapter and not have all of them change. I already know how to create the headers, but I need to know how to format the document so I can change them for each chapter.

[tooblond]

If it’s not possible to do this using headers, is there another way to do it?

[tooblond]

Is anyone going to help me?

[ajlittoz]

Headers (and footers) are attributes of page styles. You need them to customise the page style used for chapters.

I guess your book is made of various parts: a cover, dedication, TOC, chapters, final material, back cover. Every part has its own page layout and therefore a dedicated page style.

In the chapter case, the layout is subcategorised as first page, left page and right page. You have two ways to achieve that. Since it has already been covered in detailed in this site, I’ll only present the “poor man’s way” since you seem to be a beginner with Writer. This method has some limitations but it fully covers your present need.

First step: page style setup

• Display the style sidepane with F11 or Format>Styles & Formatting, click on the fourth small icon in the toolbar (Page Styles)
• Right-click on the page style used for chapters and Modify
• Go to Header tab
• Check Header on to activate header
• Uncheck both Same content … boxes to enable first/left/right variants
• Push OK

Second step: define your headers

• In the first page of an chapter, click in the header (it is easier to locate the header if View>Formatting Marks is enabled) and erase everything
• In a left page:
  • (Recommended) ensure the paragraph style is Header Left
  • Insert>Field>Page Number
  • Type a space or a tab
  • Insert>Field>More Fields, Document tab, type Chapter, format Chapter name, level 1
• In a right page:
  • (Recommended) ensure the paragraph style is Header Right and set right alignment
  • insert the elements in reverse order

To go further than this simple case, download and read the free Writer guide.

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[tooblond]

I already know how to create the left and right headers to do as shown for the first chapter, but cannot change for each chapter. If I start a new chapter and erase the header, it erases the header for all the previous chapters, too. What am I missing?

[tooblond]

OK, I know how to make this really clear! I downloaded the users guide, so here is how I can make it clear. Look at the footer on page 35 (or thereabouts) of the Writer Guide. See how it says Chapter 1 Introducing Writer 35? OK, now look at the footer on page 63. It says Chapter 2 Working with Text: Basics 63.
THIS IS WHAT I WANT!! Only I want it in headers not footers. And I cannot find in the guide where it says how to do it!! The Writers guide itself is set up almost exactly what I want, yet nowhere does it explain how to do that! Maybe I should ask the person who wrote the writers guide.

[tooblond]

I found this web page and followed the instructions EXACTLY and it still didn’t work. Inserting a Chapter Name and Number in a Header or a Footer