Having trouble it writer w/ adding footers, specifically page numbers

[Lokee86]

any time I try to add a footer it messes with my margins and screws up all my formatting. I’ve tried adjusting page margins to compensate, but it doesn’t actually fix anything, it just makes them worse actually.

all I’m trying to do is add page numbers at the bottom of the page inside the margins without affecting anything else. This seems like it should be simple enough to do, but at this point it’s not looking that way.

yeah, I just tried again and for some reason it appears to be adding the footer above the page margin instead of below it

[EarnestAl]

Adding a footer will reduce the page margin, you can calculate how by much and adjust the margin accordingly

1. Note the page margin for the bottom of the page, say 2.00 cm
2. Add the Footer and note the Spacing, say 0.50 cm, and note the Height, say 0.50 cm. You might want to untick Autofit height at this point.
3. 2 cm - 0.50 cm - 0.50 cm = 1.00 cm, therefore change the bottom page margin to 1.00 cm

[Lokee86]

This worked beautifully, thank you so much.

[ajlittoz]

The behaviour you observe is the consequence of page properties design. The specification is different from M$ Word, which you are probably familiar with.

In Word, margins define the area available for the text of your document. Therefore, when you add something in margins, this does not change the text area.

In Writer, margins define contents area. Margins are considered as no-print zone and can’t contain data (at least without advanced techniques). Contents is header+text+footer. Consequently, when you add a header or a footer, text area automatically shrinks.

Both approaches have their pros and cons. Writer makes sure that no added data will ever be hidden by the binding device (glue, punched holes, clip, …) or spill over text. Word never changes your text layout. But if you’re sensitive to page geometry, then your document is probably dependent on direct formatting and can’t adapt automatically to minor changes. Either you are in DTP context where document is page-oriented and Writer is not the right tool, or you have not yet realised what you can benefit with styles.