Can not create chapter numbers

English
#1

In my document I am trying to insert chapter numbers in Heading1. Initially there were no chapter numbers. I am trying to change this. My steps are:

  • User Tools->Heading Numbering:.
  • Set Level 1.
  • Set paragraph style to Heading 1.
  • Click OK.

Nothing. No Chapter numbers.

Did a Tools->Update->Update All. No chapter number in the TOC.

In the page header did Insert->Field->More Fields-<Headings/Chapter. In the page header the chapter number was shown, ‘I’, but no text.

In previous versions of LO I was able to start/stop chapter numbering at will. Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

#2

Did you set a number sequence type in the Number field?
Did the Preview show the numbering?
SetNumbersequenceTypeInNumber

#3

Yes. A number sequence was set, Roman Numerals (I, II, III, …).

#4

I assume you have just the one Heading 1 style, or if there is more than 1, that the same paragraph style has been applied to the chapter headings as have been set for numbering.
You could try Tools > Update > Update all but probably it makes no difference.
If the file is opened in Safe Mode (Help > Restart in Safe Mode > Continue in Safe Mode) does the numbering show?

#5

Make sure you have no direct formatting overlaid on your Heading 1 paragraphs. In particular, make sure you haven’t tried to apply some numbering with the toolbar buttons. Doing so you create a conflict between two features and it is very difficult to reset to “normal” state.

#8

Yes. One Heading 1 style.
One other bit of information. This is the sequence of steps to get me to this file.
[1] Create an odt file.
[2] Save as Microsoft docx file - note, this was done by someone else.
[3] Open docx file in LibreOffice. This is where the error occurs.
[4] Open original odt file. No error. (I just noticed I had the original file).

My guess is that there is some issue with converting from a docx file to an odt file.

I just reopened the file in question. Now, all heading numbering is in place and works. The TOC has correct numbering and the headings have correct numbering. The short term fix is to do Tools->… and then save and then reopen the file. Strange, but true.

#9

There are unexplored areas in DOCX format (which is not publicly released, so present guesses come from retro-engineering). And the “someone else” may also have introduced instabilities in Word itself if s/he isn’t an expert.

Anyway there is a golden rule: always save in native format, no matter the application. If you want to live dangerously in heterogeneous environment, rely on very simple features. List numbering (chapter numbering is a by-product of list numbering) is already among “advanced” features. Sad, but true.

#10

I followed your steps and found no problem in either Writer nor Word. Heading numbering continued to work correctly in both suites adding additional chapters with correct numbering after save as .docx.

I suspect the someone opened and saved the file in Google docs which is notorious for damaging other file formats.

#11

@ EarnestAl I apologize to everyone. In fact, the document was posted on my behalf to Google, and was downloaded by me. I think that you have solved most of the issues, to wit, Google ‘enhanced’ the file and caused some functionality to not work.

But this leads me to ask a question as to why. I would think that LO could insulate itself from most or all of the egregious behavior seen. In this case, following your lead, Google caused an internal ‘disruption’ that made it impossible to change heading numbering. But, after saving and reopening the document, it worked.

The generic question then becomes (1) what is to be expected from downloading documents from Google, and (2) why can’t LO recognize and repair the fault?

In any case, thanks. You have given a reason for my issue to have occurred, and given me reason to question the document source before I send for the marines.

#12

How do you decide, if the read content is intended behaviour or not. YOU know, what you expected, but LibreOffice don’t.
.
Open the .odt file with a zip-Tool and find the contents.xml Extract and open this. If there are errors in the xml LibreOffice will stumble, but not loading just because there is an unusual combination is no good idea. Compare it to rejecting british english in the US and vice versa.
.
Actually I often describe using other file formats to translation to a different language, like from german .odt to english .docx or .doc and then asking a person using spanish language (google doc) to translate this back to original. It works often but not always but details like doc/docx and even sequence may be important.
.
Imho google put more work to M$ files, so I’d recommend to save .docx from google, then trust LibreOffice to make something of the .docx.

#13

ODF (the standard upon which LO is based) is an evolving standard. To cope with future extensions and avoid rejection of newer documents using not yet known features, the standard explicitly states that unknown XML constructs should be ignored but kept untouched in the file, thus providing upward compatibility.

This may explain why a Google-mangled file becomes unmanageable if the “changes” are really conflicting and messy.

#6

Extras –> chapter numbering…: numbering and position

#7

What is “Extras”? A menu labelled this way? But under which OS and language?

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