Chapter numbering that doesn't reset

[Dwayne]

I have a book that I need to format as:

• Book 1

  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 2

• Book 2

  • Chapter 3
  • Chapter 4
  • etc

Currently the numbering will reset to Chapter 1 after Book 2.

I can see the possibility of manually setting Chapter 3 to ‘3’ via a custom style for that chapter. But that is not what I’m after as there may be chapters added and removed and I’d prefer not to have to check the numbering every time that happens?

I was hoping that I might be able to set the restart numbering to something like zero to continue from previous, but that isn’t possible.

Any ideas?

[ajlittoz]

Is the “Book” numbering used some else as a prefix (in chapter numbers, TOC, …)? If you don’t need it, I’ll suggest a workaround.

[RGB-es]

You need to use workarounds to get that on Writer. Here it is one idea:

1. Use Heading 2 for your chapters and under Tools → Chapter numbering set a numbering only for that level 2
2. Define a new paragraph style (“Book”) and set its outline level as 1 on Outline & Numbering tab
3. Optional 1: Link this new style to Heading 1 to mimic its formatting
4. Optional 2: apply a list style to this paragraph style to get your “books” automatically numbered
5. Do not use Heading 1 on that document!!

For most documents this will work without problems, but as any workaround this trick is far from perfect: for instance if you choose to number footnotes per chapter or need to build sub TOCs for each chapter you’ll find some problems. In that case you’ll need to use Heading 1 for your chapters, but then you’ll need to manually tweak your TOC to make it look nice.

[ajlittoz]

Basically, my workaround was similar to @RGB-es’s: use a list for “books” and ordinary Heading x for chapters and subsections.

I have experimented variations on the theme:

• “books” with list style at outline level 1, chapters as Heading 2 with only one numbering) sublevel

  Meets the requirement

• “books” with list style at outline level 1, chapters as Heading 1

  To my surprise, this is possible: I believed only one style could be designated as the outline level representative!
  We get two series with independent numbering at level 1. This is fine for the text but not for the TOC as “books” and chapters display with same indentation (both using Contents 1).

• chapters as usual at Heading 1, “books” with list style at level 10 with only one numbering sublevel

  Meets the requirement provided Contents 10 is adapted. Should also address the caveats by @RGB-es about footnotes numbering per chapter and partial TOCs.

Please give feed-back about your choice.