Why will page layouts not save?

danielkpol · January 25, 2020, 1:53am

Hello,

I have a specific format that I need to save to either a .doc or .docx file for an assignment. I have a format for the first page, and a different style for second page. Each time I go in and change the layout of First Page and then layout for 2nd (Default style according to the Organizer option) and everything is correct, I save and when opened back up to check if format is good, both pages have defaulted to Default page layout.

Version I have is 5.2.7, running on Debian Stretch.

Thank you

gabix · January 25, 2020, 6:53am

need to save to either a .doc or .docx

You have actually answered your own question. Word DOC(X) files have no equivalent of page styles in ODT. For further advise, provide more details.

danielkpol · January 25, 2020, 12:53pm

The formatting requires that the first page has a footer, no header.

Second page cannot have the footer, requires a header to place a page number in upper right. 1" margins all around on both papers.

Has to be submitted in a .doc or .docx format.

gabix · January 25, 2020, 8:17pm

From your description, it should be OK to use First Page + Default. If you export to DOCX, does the second page retain the header after reopening (it should)?

dougp01 · December 9, 2020, 5:29pm

So, what I don’t understand is if Word DOC(X) does not support styles AND if I am editing in the DOCX file format, why does LibreOffice allow me to go through all the effort of setting up pages styles and then immediately throw out all my work when I save the file? In this instance, I prefer to edit in DOCX because I have a customer report to deliver. Also, if I use this feature and send the original as an ODT file to the customer, they will have the same conversion problems. I just lost a couple of days work trying to figure out the problem and all my work is now gone. Now, I’ll have to try to figure out how to do custom page headers at multiple places throughout the report I am writing.

Microsoft says Styles are “Supported”, but “There is an increase in the number of styles after you save the document in .ODT format, and all formatting in ODF is style based.”

gabix · December 9, 2020, 5:57pm

LibreOffice expects you to keep your work in native formats. Like any other program does. That’s why it lets you do the right thing of setting up page styles.

immediately throw out all my work when I save the file?

Your work is safe as long as you stick to the native format.

have a customer report to deliver.

Is saving to PDF an option? Did you consider it?

By the way, you did not specify what is the formatting that should be different on the 1st and following pages.