Page number greater than 1

English
#1

Google search: “start mac libreoffice page number greater than 1”
AI overview
To start page numbering in LibreOffice on a Mac greater than 1, you need to modify the page style and set the starting page number. First, navigate to Insert > Header or Footer > Edit Header (or Footer) and select “Different First Page”. Then, go to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers and choose to “Start at” a number greater than 1.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
• 1. Enable different first page header/footer:
◦ Go to Insert > Header or Footer > Edit Header (or Footer).
◦ Select “Different First Page” to avoid numbering the first page.
• 2. Set the starting page number:
◦ Go to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers.
◦ Under “Page Numbering”, choose “Start at” and enter the desired starting number (e.g., 2).

All this maakes perfect sense and is what I expected to do, compared to instructions I found about creating dummy page 1, creating new header style, to start new page number etc. And have a dummy blank page that makes no sense.
Problem is I do not have a method to insert a header or footer or can’t find it. My Insert Menu > Header and Footer shows Header > page style and next line same for Footer. There is no option that I find for “Different First Page” which I expected. (I recall using MSWord decades ago it had this feature which I’ve never needed until now.) And I see no method to Start at (page number). These instructions are for Libreoffice Writer.

I see there is post on June 23 " Change page numbering to start on a number greater than 1" which are part of other solution mentioned. I couldn’t get that working and I need a template that I can modify so as to create 11 unique documents starting at 11 unique page numbers. Tried following instructions that again can’t match back to my view and most videos speech and images weren’t clear enough to follow along.

I use LibreOffice 24.8.4.2 on MacOS.

#2

That’s expected. You use a tool to give you the most likely answer. It is not designed for precision. (Example: I asked for a shops hours AI overview was: closes at 7 PM while I could see 5 lines below the correct answer 8 PM.

Let me quote the manual/guide from LibreOffice.org (pdf, chapter5, page 119)

Select Insert > Header and Footer > Header > [Page Style] on the Menu bar. The
submenu lists the page styles used in the document and the entry All, which activates
headers on all the page styles of the document

You may find the guides at LibreOffice.org via
Menu>Get Help>Documentation
or via this link:
English documentation | LibreOffice Documentation - LibreOffice User Guides
(if you consider reading it yourself)

#7

The only way to alter a page number is to force a “special” page break.

Where you want to change the page number, Insert>More Breaks>Manual Break. This opens a dialog:

  1. select a page style from the drop-down menu
    Explicitly choose the same page style as the current one if there is no change; in your case, it is likely Default Page Style. The selection enables the next control.
  2. tick Change page number
  3. set the page number
  4. OK

If this page break occurs as the very first “object” in your document, it does not create a blank page.

1 Like
#17

(post deleted by author)

#3

Have a look at : Page Numbers

So, ‘first page’ can be set to different. The next section needs to have its own page style, with page numbering set to roman, Arabic or some other schema. (I have a TOC section I rumber in roman numerals). You can then create new page styles for each ‘section’ of your document for which you need a different page numbering style.

I use fields to insert page numbers, and right clicking the number or field offers me formatting options that include a field called rather misleadingly ‘offset’. It means start at - or + whatever page number you desire (blank or 0 means start at 1). So, say I have a title page displaying no page number, and four TOC pages numbered from ii-v, my main document would then have an offset of -5 to start at Arabic 1.

There is no way I know of that you can simply apply all this to several documents at once, but it may be possible with some programming I am not competent to perform.

I think this question of page numbering different ‘sections’ has not yet been seriously considered by Libre Writer developers (even the word ‘sections’ is used non-intuitively). Implementation of the above strikes me as clumsy and as an afterthought by someone who doesn’t really create word processing documents of any complexity, but I think the process I have tried to outline here is your best bet.

#4

Or maybe you are bound to a different idea what “section” is, used differently in another software (and your “intuition” idea is actually equal to “what I’m used to from prior experience, when initially it wasn’t “intuitive”, but I already forgot that learning curve”)?

Page numbering (including different numbering schemes) is considered seriously. But insertion of empty pages is a problem.

#5

The usual idea is to create a template to use for new documents before you start the next one.
To modify existing documents there is an extension “template changer”, but it has to be done one by one, as your different documents are likely styled differently.
In easy cases: Copy text in your new template.
.
Advanced stuff: Master-documents override the styles of imported documents. So you can “change” templates in the master, if the same names/styles are used.
.
But I think this will be a bit “off topic” to @macRBC - who has to find “inserting” headers first…

#6

This is wrong. The offset field does not alter the page number. It retrieves the page number of another existing page. I emphasise word existing because you get “void” if this page does not exist, which is the case near the “ends” of your document. This field is used to cite number of next or previous page (or further away pages if your offset is “bigger” than ̇±1).

#8

@mikekaganski Sorry if I haven’t been clear: ‘sections’ means something quite unambiguous for a writer, and the meaning in Libre Writer (the software) appears to ignore that definition, which, for a writer, is about chapters, subchapters, and other ways of differentiating between parts of a written manuscript. To call this just software learning curve or acculturation is to ignore the ‘user story’ of a writer-an author-in favour of an artificially imposed software ‘logic’. What’s worse, that logic is not clearly explained in the documentation, especially not with use cases that can be easily understood by people who write, but don’t understand programming.

I know this will always be the case, but I think it’s counterproductive to argue that people who write should conform to programming logics they don’t understand (and don’t want to understand). Libre Writer will succeed on its usability, not on pedantry about how people should use it.

#9

A header (or footer) is an intrinsic property of a page style. Consequently, you (@macRBC) must first enable the header in the page style. For the current page style:

  1. click on the active page style name in the middle of the bottom status bar
    This opens the con figuration dialog.
  2. go to the Header tab
  3. tick Header on
#10

@ajlittoz Your language here is impenetrable, because you don’t define offset, and I have no idea what you mean by ‘recovers’.

So, when I have a single page template in which the first page is unnumbered (only because no page number is displayed), and the next four pages are numbered i-v, I have to use an offset of -1 to start at i instead of ii? And then, for the rest of the document to be numbered 1-n, I have to use an offset of -6 to start at 1 instead of 6 or vi? I have actually done this on one of my documents using the page number field in the footer. In a conventional sense (English grammar), the page numbers were indeed changed by the process I just described to you.

#11

A section is a “subdivision of a written work”. And Writer’s sections are just about that. And you never explained how that differs from “something quite unambiguous for a writer” - except for your confusing mix of chapters with sections.

#12

The field page number is a rather complex “object” due to its use in typography.

A document is subdivided into an ordered sequence of “blocks” of pages controlled by a page style. These “blocks” are delimited by explicit “special” page breaks (manual page breaks which alter properties of the “blocks” – see my answer). Within each “block”, a page has an immutable page number. This number is monotonically increasing. The first page of the “block” may be assigned an arbitrary number by the special page break.

Inserting a page number field is a two-step process:

  1. get the target page
    The target page is the current page plus offset. Thus, the common case of no offset hits the current page. With an offset of +1, you hit the next page if it exists (it does not exist if you’re on the last page of the document); and so on.
  2. retrieve the page number
    Once the target page is known, you retrieve its page number for insertion or “void” if it does not exist.

As a general rule, don’t use the Offset parameter unless this corresponds to something like “See next/previous page”.

No. You have strong significant breaks in your document where you change (“transition”) from front material to TOC then to narrative. These are distinct parts (you call them “sections”) in your document, probably with different page styles because the “geometry” or layout is different. These parts are separated by special manual page breaks with which you can optionally restart the page number to your preferred value. Note it a “restart” (absolute value), not an “offset” (relative value") and this is much safer and predictable.

#13

At last. Then please explain how to accomplish that feat, which is not documented anywhere I can find it. And you may thereby answer @macRBC 's question. The section break I’ve attempted to insert in existing documents always tells me it’s uneditable because it’s read only, even if I don’t check that option when I insert it.

#14

I’m not vying to be ‘right’. But I am trying to make sense of pedantry. If I’m wrong about my advice to @macRBC, please specify how to do it the right way. In language decypherable by a writer or editors of documents. Why are we arguing about this at all? I have written books with chapters, legal documents with what are called ‘sections’ in lgalese, user manuals with chapters and sections. None of which correspond to the way Libre Writer deals with what it calls sections. At least not intuitively.

@macRBC needs answers that can be followed step by step, not roosters pecking at each other about being ‘right’.

#15

Someone already linked help:

And I quote from there the use of breaks:

You are writing a text document that should start with page number 12.
Click into the first paragraph of your document.
Choose Format - Paragraph - Text flow tab.
In the Breaks area, enable Insert. Enable With Page Style just to be able to set the new Page number. Click OK.

#16

I have already pointed to my answer which is presently below (until “liked” when it will bubble up). It is a bit hidden by the development of the current discussion.

Have you read the Writer Guide? The properties of the “special” page break are mentioned there. You can also find them in the built-in help.

#18

I’m so sorry I couldn’t help, and seem to have sidetracked the entire thread into an unproductive wang-size-measuring contest. I had hoped knowledgeable people would jump in with solutions rather than righteousness. I hope you get the answers you need. But I am going to tune out now. Nothing I say seems to elicit any useful solutions to your problem.

#19

I aborted using a template. Will repeat my steps for the 11 documents. Too much time spent and I only have limited period to use my source book.

Here’s what I did and is working as desired:
Create new document; set margins if desired.
Format > Title Page > Number of TITLE pages: 1 (applicable to my needs)
Place title pages at: Page 1 (default)
Page Numbering: reset page numbering AFTER title page (check): Page number: 210
Set page number for FIRST TITLE PAGE: 209 (one before above)
On pge 209 turn on header and click page “border” between body and header to see blue box “Header (Default paragraph style). Drop down select toinsert header. Page willl be 209. Next page will be 210.
If desired, add text beyond page number in headers.
I’ll repeat with new document using different starting numbers.

There are no styles to set. There are no blank pges. This is what I expected but until I executed, couldn’t remember.

Minor and will not spend more time than I already have, is have a different header for pages after the body where endnotes normally go. Circumstances of original document are that I do not want to create LibreOffice Endnotes but use what’s already done and just insert “Endnotes” in the header pages.

#20

You’ll need anyway to use a different page style to be able to set a different header (otherwise all your pages will have “Endnotes” header). You can use built-in Endnotes page style. There is nothing “locked” or sacred in built-in styles. They just suggest intent but you can use it for whatever personal purpose (even if it contradicts the name).

Between your narrative and your “endnotes”, Insert>More Breaks>Manual Break so that your can choose a different page style (here Endnotes) after the break.

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