Is it possible, when importing documents into a master document, to force the imported document to begin on a right (odd-numbered) page? This would entail automatically inserting a blank break ahead of its content when the previous document ends on a right page.
It is not clear why you want to use a master document. A master document is usually only introductory and has several sub-documents. Which page types are used is determined by the page styles.
For example, if you create a document template, the first page can be defined as a “Right page” followed by a “Left page” and so on.
See the basics for a master document:
Master documents in Writer
And please name your operating system and the LibreOffice version you are using. Thank you.
Explore the manuals.
Including a sub-document in a master does not change its intrinsic properties. So there are two ways to answer your question:
Configure the sub-document
Build your sub-document so that its first page is forced to right. This is usually done by applying Right Page page style to the first page of the sub. It will then automatically alternate between Left Page and Right Page.
The left/right constraint will be honoured when included in the master
Use of a non-constrained sub-document
In some cases, you may wish to include a “universal” sub-document, i.e. one without specific left/right constraint, so that it can be used in various contexts. Such a sub-document needs however also a specific configuration.
Design a pair of page styles, e.g. PageA and PageB, so that the Next property of PageA is PageB and vice versa. Leave Page layout property to Right & Left. *Apply PageA to the first page of the subdocument. Your sub-document is now “universal” in the sense it is neutral with regard to page parity.
When the subdocument is included in the master, the styles are also imported but “detached” from the subdocument. You can then modify page style configuration in the master to impose your preferred constraint, i.e. PageA for Only right. There is no need to change PageB.
EDIT
According to the description of your goal, either the articles can all be configured with Left Page/Right Page of with the same pair PageA/PageB since all articles are to be handled the same. Using a dedicated pair of styles allows you to keep the built-in ones for other parts of your book, independently from the articles.
Obviously, I find the user interface very confusing.
Well, actually your first suggestion, setting “Right only” in the page style for the first page does not help. Still, if the previous article imported into the Master document ends on a right page, a left page is not inserted so that the next article starts on a right page.
Depending on your selected interface, you’ll see or not automatically inserted blank pages. These pages are always displayed in print preview.
At right of the bottom status bar, there is a group of three icons controlling page display:
from left to right, single page, multiple pages and book (facing pages). Only the last one (which is selected in the picture) shows LO-inserted blank pages. Disabling View>Whitespace also hides bkank pages.
To get a blank page between a last right page and next article first right page requires a page break otherwise the new article starts in the remaining area of last page (since they are both Right Page).
If your articles all start with a “special” paragraph such as a title or a reference, this page brek can be configured in the Text Flow tab of the dedicated paragraph style.
Thank you for your suggestions, but unfortunately none of those options yield the desired result – inserting a page break only after an article ends on a right page.
What would give the desired result would be the ability to conditionally insert a page break at the end of the last page in an article, with this logic:
IF MOD(page-number;2) THEN page-break
But I haven’t found a way to do this in Writer.
This is not the “correct” way to do it. You should configure the (paragraph) styles in the articles to do that. Attach a small article so that I have an idea of their structure.
It is true that when you impose “Right Only” in the page style, and you view facing pages in LibreOffice Writer, it shows a blank page where it is required, but when you export that document as a pdf, that blank page is not there.
You must tick the Export automatically unserted blank pages in the PDF Options dialog. Don’t File>Export but File>Export as>Export as PDF to access the option dialog.
If problem still persists, just change Page layout for Teachingf in the master to constraint it to Only right. This should be sufficient, no need to modify every article.
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Ah, that is the missing element! Thank you!
One more question: Can I edit the page style used for the automatically inserted blank page? I would like to at least include the page number at the bottom.
You can’t. Ther aren’t real pages. Consequently they have no page style. This could perhaps be a feature request: when a blank page is inserted, assign it the page style which would have been assigned to the real page.
Feature requests are filed in TDG BugZilla. If you do so, please report the number in a comment below in the form tdf#<bug_number> (this automatically creates a link to the report.
Note also that a comment must have a minimal length (10 or 20 characters, I don’t remember).
tdf#158501