[Solved] Numbering pages

[rmberwin]

I've been trying for hours to understand how to 1) add roman numeral page numbers to my preface material and 2) continue with arabic numbers for the rest of the document. But the explanations in the guide are confusing to me. For example, "Create a new page style and name it Preface". But no instruction is given on how to do that. This all could be a lot simpler, in my opinion.

[Hagar Delest]

See: [Tutorial] Page numbering.
And: [Tutorial] Page styles and headers/footers (and the wiki of course).

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the *EDIT button if your issue has been fixed.

[floris v]

To create or define a new style of any kind, open the styles list (F11), select the proper tab (for a page style, select the page styles tab), right-click on a style and select New.
Seriously, you just have to play with the interface, and you will see that it isn't hard.

[rmberwin]

Thank you for the replies, but I still don't understand what "Create a new page style and name it Preface" means. I'm not good with technical things.

[Bill]

Open Help in Writer. Click the Index tab and type "Page Styles" in the Search Term box. You should find several pages about page styles, including "Creating and Applying".

[John_Ha]

You are trying to do something a little complex, and not the default method, so you need to learn quite a bit.

You will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date AOO Writer for Students and the Writer User Guide. May I suggest you bookmark the pages.

Press F1 to access the Help screen and search for your problem

The chapter headings in the manual are:

1 - Introducing Writer
2 - Setting up Writer
3 - Working with Text
4 - Formatting Pages
5 - Printing, Exporting, Faxing and E-Mailing
6 - Introduction to Styles
7 - Working with Styles
8 - Working with Graphics
9 - Working with Tables
10 - Working with Templates
11 - Using Mail Merge
12 - Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies
13 - Working with Master Documents
14 - Working with Fields
15 - Using Forms in Writer
16 - Customizing Writer – Keyboard shortcuts.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.

[Hagar Delest]

I still don't understand what "Create a new page style and name it Preface" means. I'm not good with technical things.

Please read at least the second link I've posted.
What you want to achieve requires a basic level of technical things.

[keme]

I know, long written explanations can be daunting, especially when it is new stuff and you don't have a visual clue for support.

If you lose track when reading floris v's tutorial (as linked by Hagar above), I suggest the following:

• Make sure you have an hour set aside to focus on this.
• Check out this youtube video about page styles. Maybe look through it a couple of times, pause and test, rewind when something is unclear.
• When you have a grasp on the concept of page styles and the tools you use to manipulate them, it is time to return to the written tutorial again for the details.

Edit: The aforementioned written tutorial is really good, and explains the most important aspects of page styles in simplest possible terms I think. While Word's approach to this is more intuitive, Writer adds - and enforces - the concept of page style as another level of abstraction. More abstract means less intuitive, less direct. The purpose of this indirection/abstraction is to have a more powerful mechanism. The downside is that when you think you make adjustments to the page, you actually adjust the style. The video and the tutorial attempt to bring this to awareness.

[RoryOF]

Many have found this document helpful:

Writer for students (several languages)