I cannot get my page numbers to work

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#1

Hi,
I had a document created on Google Docs, exported to .docx , imported to LibreOffice and exported as .odt. I have been unable to get page numbers to start at Chapter 1. I’ve read the Writer book and seem to be having issues with Page Styles? The instructions for setting the starting page number does not seem to work. Does anyone have a simple set of instructions to help me set up the Page Styles and Page Numbers?

Or is there a way to “reset” all the styles/numbers and start over? Whatever I do, Chapter 1 starts at Page 11 - which is getting annoying.

#2

A shot in the dark: Could it be that there are two page number fields?

This would make page 2 appear as page 22.

If that doesn’t lead to a solution, attach a sample document containing the fault.

1 Like
#3

If there aren’t any other pages (like TOC) in front of chapter 1 the setting of ‘11’ seems to be part of the first paragraph of chapter 1.
Go to first paragraph → right mouse click → Paragraph → Paragraph → Text Flow → Breaks. There might be chosen “With page Style” and “Page number” ‘11’

#4

The contorted creation history of your document (GDocs → DOCX → ODF) complicates matters as it damages its conceptual structure. The multiple translations create artefacts which can hardly be fixed. This means you frequently end up with full direct formatting making pointless any attempt of solution with styles. Regarding pages and their properties, the DOCX step frequently creates individual single-occurrence page styles (one per page in the worst case).

Your best approach (if the document is meant to be revised) is to restart from scratch, pasting your existing text as unformatted and applying styles.

2 Likes
#7

Thanks for all the suggestions. After reformatting the pages and making sure all the manual page breaks were in place, I was able to get Chapter 1 starting at Page one! I think I’ll avoid messing with the xml as I’m a little rusty on it.

My next goal is to get the Front Matter numbered with roman numerals without messing up the chapter numbering. I was thinking of creating a specific Page Style for the Front Matter so it shouldn’t interfere with the First Page Style, or the Chapters.

1 Like
#8

This is exactly what should be done. Pages with a specific design call for a corresponding page style. It is as simple as that.

#9

Okay that actually worked. I created the new Page Style, used a Manual Break and Organizer to set the Fron Matter Pages, edited the page number Field and set it to i,ii,iii and it worked!

#5

Found this interesting tidbit in LibreOffice Help. ODT files are composed in XML. Look under “XML File Formats.” I go back to the days when XML was introduced as an alternative way to compose documents in Internet Explorer. Working in enterprise environments, I have had to untangle numerous documents that have traveled through different word processing genres and really weird things have cropped up. One of which are repeatedly inserted HTML or XML commands that lend to formatting complications.

I like ajlittoz’s semi-nuclear option. The nuclear option is to cut and paste the written content to a text editor, save it as a TXT file, then cut and paste the content into LibreOffice. This will automatically disinherit any functions programmed into the document.

Let me know if you want to know how to access the XML code. It is a bit intriguing.

#6

The easiest way to access LO XML code is to save document as .fodt for Writer, .fods for Calc, … However, I don’t recommed fiddling with the XML directly. This requires expert knowledge in ODF and it is easy to make mistakes.

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