Page number offset is not saved with document

This clearly shows you have a bad mix of list numbering with heading styling.
You are probably following rules for your previous application without questioning their validity against Writer which is based on different principles.

Though they will not show exactly the same, settings in menu View will already display a lot of useful information. The “codes” are hinted by the Style Inspector in the sidepane. But this is complex because Writer controls many many attributes. This is why it is easier to use styles (a single name for a large set of attributes) instead of direct formatting.

I recommend you read the Writer Guide for an introduction on Writer usage.

You know, this explains a lot. Being one of the mentors of the Style Inspector GSoC (incomplete feature), and seeing it as a correct response to tdf#34002, your summary shows how the “give me Reveal Codes” is actually a wish to get back to the good old days, when everything was as simple as slightly more than TXT. (Yes I am oversimplifying, gust to stress the idea.)

People don’t realize that putting all the control data beside the text on screen, it would get simply unmanageable.

But … see how Jim improved the style inspection recently while implementing tdf#38194:

Jim’s screencast

This goodness will be in version 7.6.

Thanks, guys. I really didn’t intend to start a culture clash with my whining. My needs are simple. Sometimes the capabilities of the tool overwhelm my needs and I get lost. And thanks for the link to WP2021, I had no idea it still existed in any form. I’ll give the free trial a run and see if it fulfills my dreams.

-----Paul-----