[Solved] Page numbers change working in .DOC format

[Annie88]

Hello Fellow Office Users! I am new to the forum, I have been using Open Office Writer for many years (currently Office 4.1.7) and I have never experienced an issue that I couldn't resolve myself... until now. I am writing a document that has chapters, therefore each page needs to start on a certain page number. I have always used the method of right clicking on the document and going to Paragraph, Text Flow, ticking Insert and With Page Style and then altering the page number that way. It was up until yesterday that this method worked perfectly well. I don't know if I accidentally clicked on something, but now whenever I enter a page number - no matter what number it is and even if I save the document - the page number changes itself to the number 4! I have spent days trying to figure out what has gone wrong, I have tested it multiple times, I have uninstalled Office and reinstalled it, I have tried restarting my computer, I have Googled the issue, I have asked other people who have tried many methods - and I have gotten nowhere! I am at the end of my tether with it now - I really don't know what else to do! Please, if anybody has any advice or knows what the problem is - please help!

Thank you in advance

[RoryOF]

Why does each Chapter need to start on a "certain" page number? Surely each chapter starts on the page after the end of the last chapter? Are you manually numbering the pages to match a manually written Table of Contents (ToC for short)?

Normally all pages of a book are numbered sequentially, and then OpenOffice can generate a ToC to match.

Please got to /Format /Styles and Formatting. On the Window that opens, press 4th icon from left to show Page Styles. In the bottom bar of Styles and Formatting window, use the Dropdown to select "Applied Styles". How many page styles does it show in use?

[Annie88]

Hi! Thank you so much for replying so quickly! Well, I start each chapter in a new document so I manually insert the page number myself and I have never had any issues up to this point - but all of a sudden this had started happening. I have done as you have suggested and there is just one style there - which is Default? As far as I am aware this is the only style I have ever used?

[RoryOF]

If this is happening on each new chapter file, then you are making some trivial mistake. On each badly numbered file, check these settings:

On the first paragraph of each file, select /Format /Paragraph, and then click on the Text flow tab.

In the Breaks section, your entries should be

"Insert" Checked
Type "Page"
Position Before
"with Page style" checked
Default chosen from the drop down
Page Number <insert your desired page number>

Click on your header or footer, where you wish the number to appear.

Then /Insert /Fields /Other, select Document tab.

In Type column select "Page",
in "Select " column choose "Page Numbers",
in Format Column chose "As Page Style" (probably).
Make sure nothing is entered in the Offset box.

Press Ok.

This is not the best way to write and page number a book, but it will let you get on with it now, using a method you are used to; we can sort out finer details later.

[Annie88]

Hello again. Yep, tried all of this, I even tried inserting the page number twice in two different places and saved it - and when I opened it up again, the numbers had all turned into 4s! I'm absolutely baffled, do you think maybe there's an error somewhere in OpenOffice?

[Hagar Delest]

Can you upload a sample file (see How to attach a document here)?

[Annie88]

I have uploaded a file here and I would like to know how it looks to other people on different devices!

[Bill]

I see it using AOO 4.1.7. It looks like a problem with the document import. AOO displays the wrong page number upon loading for pages greater than 255. LibreOffice displays the correct page number.

[Bill]

It's a bug that was reported 14 years ago. You can save in .odt format or switch to LibreOffice if you must use .doc:

Issue 50334 - WW8: Page number starting higher than 255 not handled by import

[Annie88]

Hi Bill! Ah I see, so are you saying that the page number is too large? That really is baffling that it won't allow any more than that amount of pages! So do you suggest that I use LibreOffice instead?

[Bill]

Use what works for you. I use the .odt on OpenOffice because it works for me.

[Annie88]

Hello again Bill! Ah, I see - what a relief, this makes so much sense - I thought I was going mad! I am up to page 259, the problem started when I tried inserting page number 260! I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that you have helped me figure out this problem! I will try LibreOffice instead - fingers crossed! Thank you Bill, and thank you also to everyone else who has helped me!

[RoryOF]

I have made files \in OpenOffice, saved in .odt format, with pages numbered to over 20,000 pages. the 256 limit comes about when one Saves in .doc format and you are probably getting a value of 260 - 256.

Work in .odt format.