I inserted page numbers in a document and see them on the document but when I print the document, the page numbers do not appear. Version: 6.4.7.2 (I just got this version on my new Linux computer, but I have used LibreOffice on my old computer for many years and did not have this problem.)
Without any further information on your procedure, nobody can answer and help you. For best advice, attach a sample document with the issue.
Procedure:
- I open LibreOffice Writer.
2, I compose a document. - While in the document, I click the little mark that looks like a right angle at the lower right of the document and “Footer (default style) +” comes up in that area
- I click on that and the cursor moves to the bottom left hand side of the page.
- I click on “Insert” in the top bar area and from the drop down menu that appears, I click on “Page number”
- A page number appears at the lower left of the page.
- I continue with the document and each page of the document has a page number on it.
All that is exactly the same as in my previous version of LibreOffice. (I can’t tell you what version it was since my computer totally crashed so I got a new one last week which I am using now. The version I am using now is 6.4.7.2.
AND NOW THE PROBLEM OCCURS: I print the document, but no page numbers are printed on the pages of the printed document.
MY QUESTION IS: How do I get the page numbering to show up on the printed document?
Note: Attaching a sample document would not help at all. You would see the page numbering on the document. The problem shows up in the printed document which does NOT have a page number on any of the pages.
I hope this is enough to get some help. Thanks!
ajlittoz
April 28
Without any further information on your procedure, nobody can answer and help you. For best advice, attach a sample document with the issue.
You procedure is apparently correct.
Unfortunately no. I’d like to see which page and paragraph styles are used in the document. You may eventually have some direct formatting causing the field to become hidden.
1 Like
Procedure:
- I open LibreOffice Writer.
- I compose a document.
- While in the document, I click the little mark that looks like a right angle at the lower right of the document and “Footer (default style) +” comes up in that area
- I click on that and the cursor moves to the bottom left hand side of the page.
- I click on “Insert” in the top bar area and from the drop down menu that appears, I click on “Page number”
- A page number appears at the lower left of the page.
- I continue with the document and each page of the document has a page number on it.
All that is exactly the same as in my previous version of LibreOffice. (I can’t tell you what version it was since my computer totally crashed so I got a new one last week which I am using now. The version I am using now is 6.4.7.2.
AND NOW THE PROBLEM OCCURS: I print the document, but no page numbers are printed on the pages of the printed document.
MY QUESTION IS: How do I get the page numbering to show up on the printed document?
Note: Attaching a sample document would not help at all. You would see the page numbering on the document. The problem shows up in the printed document which does NOT have a page number on any of the pages.
@MarieW
That’s very clever to repeat the same comment you already wrote here.
If @ajlittoz is clever he can repeat his text now too. And you can then repeat it again and again and so on.
But I guess @ajlittoz doesn’t feel like repeating now what he already wrote.
So I created a simple document with three pages, with page numbering. It is enough to go to the document preview to see that the page numbers are displayed. You can test it on your end to see what is different. Good luck.
76943 HB Test 01.odt (56,3 KB)
…I am using now is 6.4.7.2.
It’s a very old Version
In what File format do you save?
Perhaps this can also help:
First steps to take before submitting a bug
Final comment:
To upload a file here, it is always assumed that the text is shortened and replaced by dummy text. This is called “shorten and anonymize”.
But the problem should still be there to be able to reproduce it.
Maybe next time?
2 Likes
Try to guess:
The page size in the document is A4, and the paper size in the printer tray is Letter.
3 Likes
Further to @LeroyG comment, if you are printing Letter size paper I would guess that you need to set your locale to English (US) or English (Canada). Click Tools > Options > Language Settings > Languages and in the Locale field change to the correct locale and OK out. When you have done that new documents will be Letter size rather than A4.
1 Like
@LeroyG’s suggestion was similar my first thought, too.
Page numbers are typically placed in a footer or header, which falls much closer to the page boundary than other text. When I used to work in a store that did minor print work, we frequently had to be careful of things like this, since our machines couldn’t print closer than a 0.25-inch margin.
My guess is that your page numbers are falling outside the printable area for your specific printer.
If you are unwilling or unable to post a document, try these questions:
- What’s the page size of the document?
- What’s the paper size loaded in your printer?
- How far from the edge of the document is your page number?
- What make/model printer are you using? (Alternately, what’s it’s minimum print margin?)
The other thing you can try is saving as a PDF (File->Export As->Export as PDF). Then when you go to print from the PDF, try two things:
- Choose “Actual Size” from the print dialog. See if your numbers are missing.
- Choose “Fit to Page” from the print dialog. See if your numbers are present.
If the numbers are missing from try # 1 and they’re present in try # 2, then your page numbers are too close to the edge of the page for the technical limits of your printer.
3 Likes
Thanks for the suggestions. Here are the answers to your questions:
- Whatever the default setting is. (Letter, not A4)
- Regular letter size computer paper (8.5 x 11)
- I used whatever came up with the default settings when you insert>page numbers. On my previous version of LibreOffice/Writer, I did not have this problem and I am inserting the pages in the exact same way. When the document prints, there is a bottom margin of nearly 1.75" that is blank.
- HP DeskJet 3755. According to the specs on HP’s site, 0.5".
I tried the pdf things you suggested and still got no page numbers when the document printed.
I am wondering: Is there some way to “hide page numbers” so that although they appear in the document, they don’t print? If there is, perhaps I could go wherever that would be formatted and check (or uncheck) that box to make the page numbers appear.
I checked all that. The language things are correct, and I also see “letter”, not A4 in the print dialog window. Thanks for your help.
I am new here. How do I attach a document?
Here is the document:
Document A.odt (27.0 KB)
When I printed this document, I then made a scan of it so you could see what it looked like, but I do not see that scan when I press the download button in this window. (It is on my desktop, though.)
Is there an updated printer driver for your printer? HP Linux Imaging and Printing according to HP site
BTW There is an option for hidden text but your Footer paragraph style doesn’t have that enabled. Click in Footer, open Sidebar > Styles (make sure paragraph styles is selected) right click on Footer and select Modify… , select the Font Effects tab and you can see Hidden attribute is not ticked.
Is there an option in the printer driver to realign or improve printing?
When you say (in the BTW) “Click in footer”, what do you mean? I can go to Insert > Header and Footer > Footer but the only thing after Footer is “default style”.
Or, in that menu thingie to the right of the document, if I select the thing at the top that looks like a paragraph symbol, footer comes up below that, but nothing about sidebar.
So, I have no idea of what you are trying to show me although I do appreciate your trying to help. Really.
Y’know, I spent three hours on Thursday and another five (yes five) hours today reading articles and forum topics, just trying to find some way to get page numbers to show up on the printed page with this new printer, all to no avail. I am so very worn out. In my previous version of LibreOffice/Writer with my previous computer (that totally imploded 4/16/22) I had absolutely no problems at all with creating and printing perfect-in-every-way documents, some very complicated with extreme tables, all with page numbers appearing on each page. Now, with this new computer and new printer, where I have changed none of the default setting (all 4 margins are at the default setting of 0.79") I get these garbage print outs with a tiny top margin of 3/8" and a giant bottom margin of 1 3/4" (one and three-quarters) and no page numbers (even though the document looks perfectly normal in LibreWriter with even and correct margins and page numbers.) I am really sick of the whole thing at this point and want to chuck it all out the window. It’s after 11 PM and I am so wired that I know I’ll be up for hours.
EarnestAl
April 30
MarieW:
When the document prints, there is a bottom margin of nearly 1.75" that is blank.
Is there an updated printer driver for your printer? HP Linux Imaging and Printing according to HP site
BTW There is an option for hidden text but your Footer paragraph style doesn’t have that enabled. Click in Footer, open Sidebar > Styles (make sure paragraph styles is selected) right click on Footer and select Modify… , select the Font Effects tab and you can see Hidden attribute is not ticked.
How do I check that? Where is it?
EarnestAl
April 30
Is there an option in the printer driver to realign or improve printing?
Thanks, @EarnestAl, for that excellent set of instructions. I only struggled a little bit with “open Sidebar > Styles” but eventually found it and the rest of your instructions were obvious.
For @MarieW there is a toolbar on the right edge of the Writer window. Look for the icon showing a capital "A" and a paintbrush. Click on that button to open a sidebar for managing Styles. Once that sidebar opens then the rest of the instructions from @EarnestAl will be obvious.
Your sample document exports correctly to PDF (here: LO 7.2.6.2 under Fedora 35). But contrary to what you state in it, although page format is Letter, margins are uniformly set at 2 cm or 0.79". If they really print at 0.38" top and 1.69" bottom, then you may have a problem with either the driver or the printer itself.
However, if the sample file is representative for your real document, there are a few problems (not related to the absence of page numbers in print).
- You mistake line break for paragraph break. The 1984 excerpt is exclusively divided with line breaks Shift+Enter making it a huge single paragraph. You should have used Enter to separate paragraphs.
- You use empty “lines” to vertically space paragraphs instead of incorporating the vertical spacing in the paragraph style. This will cause you difficult time when it comes to formatting tuning and disables all automatic alignments and page synchronisation.
- You have spurious space characters at end of every paragraph.
- You follow a (bad) US-cultural habit of typing two spaces after a punctuation (but apparently not in the 1984 citation which makes me think you copied it from internet or the like). This may result in wrong line wrap and anyway confusion the justification algorithm.
- You don’t use the styling system. Everything is typed under Default Paragraph Style with direct formatting overlayed everywhere. Once again, this will prevent you from achieving easy nice formatting and layout. The standard style for text is Text Body. Default Paragraph Style is reserved for setting defaults shared by all other styles and, because of this, should not be assigned to any text in the document…
I don’t have a laser printer nor is my Linux box working any more. If there is an option in printers to improve printing then try it.
If not, then try printing a full page pdf or a full page .txt document. If the margins still print with 3/8" top and 1 3/4" bottom margin then I think you will need to contact HP support to get printer aligned