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Hi,

I am excited about Open Office. It's a great Idea, and looks like a powerful program. I am using Open Office 2.3.1, and Windows XP.

I am working on publishing a Bible. The pages have two columns, and I need unique headers on each page. For instance, the first page of Genesis would have the word Genesis in 24 pt. font in the header. On the second page I would like to have a header that says Genesis 1:26 in a 10 pt. bold font on the left side. The third page would have a header that says Genesis 3:15 in 10 pt bold font on the right side. I am having trouble figuring out how to do this. Can anyone help? I can upload a few pages.

Thanks,
BobW

Take a look at the Page Numbering Tutorial

This has come up several times; you can try a search and see if you can find the previous discussions. Frankly, I don't remember whether there was ever a satisfactory solution found for generating headers that show book, chapter and verse as you describe.

Generally speaking, you can set up your page formats to define an even-page header and an odd-page header, and you can include fields in the header to provide information that changes, however it is a big stretch to get Writer to provide information such as text numbering automatically. There is no real support for it, but there may be some workaround way to get it done.

Has a solution been found for this???
I have been searching for months without any answer!
I too, have been trying to figure out how to override the page headers so that I can have a unique header for each page. It really shouldn't be this difficult, but i see that, upon a Google search, about a million others also struggle with this to no avail.

PLEASE HELP!!

merska wrote:Has a solution been found for this???

The solution is found in the tutorial.

I have been searching for months without any answer!

Try looking in the right place.

I too, have been trying to figure out how to override the page headers so that I can have a unique header for each page.

Do you really want a unique header on every page? If so, you will need a unique page style for every page.

It really shouldn't be this difficult

Easy and difficult depend on ability and knowledge. If you don't know how to do something, it may seem difficult. If you know, then it is easy.

but i see that, upon a Google search, about a million others also struggle with this to no avail.

Really?! Don't exaggerate. It just magnifies your own perception of how difficult this is. Just read the tutorial carefully and learn how to do what you need to do.

Hmm, I would take a different view. I don't see where the tutorial covers this request.

As for an answer, you can easily get a different header/footer on every page by including the page number, which will be different on every page. But I assume that's not what you want.

However, all seriousness aside, that is basically how you change the header/footer for a particular page: you have to include a field of some sort. Unfortunately, Writer is rather limited as to what fields will work this way in a header/footer. It can either be fairly easy to do, or impossible to do, depending on exactly what you want to change on each page.

Displaying a chapter title, or a section title, in the header/footer is easy; doing Bible-style, or dictionary-style headings is very hard if not impossible. Well, at least I've never been able to do it in a satisfactory way.

So can you be a little more specific as to what you're trying to do?

Don't you mean "All joking aside"?

The tutorial does explain how to get a unique header on each page:

Header/footer are configured in the Page style (each has its own tab in the properties of the page style).

Create a new page style based on the existing one for each unique header that you need. Insert a manual page break and select the new page style to start after the break. Then the previous header is over-ridden and replaced with the new one.

Do I understand correctly: you mean to make a page break with a new, unique page style for every page?

Well, I guess that would certainly work, but it would not be a lot of fun to manage.

I always thought that the whole idea of a header WAS to have the same on all pages [or a selection.] If all are different, then, for what it's worth, why not just type them in as the need is met? If it's at the top of a page, it's a "header" in that sense.

David.

Dave wrote:If all are different, then, for what it's worth, why not just type them in as the need is met?

Because then you cannot edit or reformat the text or the header would move.

I don't think many users would need a unique header on every page, but some might like to type the header instead of using fields so that one could, for example, have a short header, but a longer heading.

I don't see any convenient way of doing this in any program without a lot of work. In a DTP program you would just put a text frame at the top of each page with text and a page number code, without bothering with Master Pages, but a word-processor works differently. One could use text frames I suppose, but this would hardly be any easier than using lot of page styles.

If all are different, then, for what it's worth, why not just type them in as the need is met?

I was hoping that the poster would tell us that, but it seems we will just have to guess.

In some kinds of document, like a dictionary, or a reference book (subdivided into small chunks), it's common practice to put not only a chapter and/or section name, but also the exact chunks that appear on the page. So a dictionary will show the first and last words that appear on each page, or a Bible will show the first and last verse that appears, and so on. That calls for the header to change with each page.

You can get some of this done with fields. You can set a field with each entry in the running text, and you can display that field in the header and footer; in fact, you can show the first entry in the header, and the last entry in the footer, but you can't show both at the same place, like you might see in a dictionary "aardvark-abacus".

Here's a sample that numbers sentences, and shows the first on the page in the header, and the last on the page in the footer. In this case, I cheated and added another variable in the first entry on each page, so in the footer I can show "start-end", but this is totally dependent on manually finding the first entry on each page. If I do anything that changes the pagination, then I have to go through and fix all those markers, or the footer numbers will be wrong.

Seems to me that you don't need a header at all. Just type in the info on each page. Headers are for grouping pages to gather with the same info on each. And to group pages together you simply do a manual page break and the end of each section and give the next group a new page style. The tutorial is great and does cover all of this

I would try having a header. Then go to in Insert->Fields->Other. There is probably some way to get the desired effect this way.

Boatman189 wrote:Seems to me that you don't need a header at all. Just type in the info on each page. Headers are for grouping pages to gather with the same info on each.

That is precisely what I was driving at. If it's different each page, then it's not a "header". So, don't put in a "header", just type stuff at the top of each page. Or, what am I missing? I have the impression that there's a difference between header and heading.

David.

Thanks to the information at http://notepad2.wordpress.com/2007/01/1 ... numbering/, I am able to make different headers on different pages. I have listed clear steps here for everyone else:

http://radiier.info/s.php?s=10062010HGpr1 - (disabled dead link - floris v, moderator)

I do reports all the time for my work. and need to edit the headers on each page they cover a new section, such as definitions, recommendations, lab results and would like to edit the header as such. I need a simple soultion to this issue. I have seen many others with the same issue. But, I need to be able to explain it to my technology illiterate boss. So, if any one knows how to help me... please ... my boss won't leave me alone about the headers... -pulls hair out-

Denio Fomorii wrote:I do reports all the time for my work. and need to edit the headers on each page they cover a new section, such as definitions, recommendations, lab results and would like to edit the header as such. I need a simple soultion to this issue. I have seen many others with the same issue. But, I need to be able to explain it to my technology illiterate boss. So, if any one knows how to help me... please ... my boss won't leave me alone about the headers... -pulls hair out-

Certainly, you just manually insert (Insert > Manual Break > Page Break and choose a new page style

Set up a template with the required page style and heading and you're away.

Attached is a simple-minded template file you may find useful.

Have a look at the Style and Template chapters at
OpenOffice.org 3 User Guides

Using separate page styles seems like the "quick & dirty" approach.

Normally, each section of a document will have a heading to label the section. Once you've configured Writer to identify those headings, you can use one page style that simply displays the heading--the actual page heading text will change to follow the different section headings automatically.

It does take a little more planning to set that up, but once you do, then you never need to worry about editing your page headings.

Using the search box on top right of the forum page, search for "running headers" (no quotes).

Yes...the answer has been solved. Basically, for each chapter...in my case, sections...you would have to create a new page style for each section. A fast way to do all the sections you need is to be active on the page that you are happy with, then go to page styles and create a new style based off the current one. You would then create: Section 1.1, then 2.2, then 3.3. and so on. Each page style will then change dynamically with the header based off the Header format from the Apply Style Drop Menu on the left of the screen. After I made all my page styles initially,here were my series of clicks per section to get it done:

Make sure the cursor is at the end of the last character after the Preface or Table of Contents Page. My tip would be to always create Paragraph breaks at the end of each section.

Assuming all the Page Styles are created and labeled 1.1, 1.2,...or Chap1, Chap2...and so on, and they have headers, you then go to:
Insert > Manual Break and Choose Page Style Radio Button > Style > The first one...1.1 or Chap 1...whatever you named the first one.

Click in the Header of the new page then go to:

Insert > Fields > Other
On the Cross-Reference Tab > Headings
In Selection Box > Choose Section 1.1 or whatever the first one is for you...maybe just a chapter
Then on Insert Reference to > Chapter (Optional), Click INSERT> Reference, Click INSERT (this is what you want to show on each page header, dynamically for each section)

After that, the header has all the information based of the Section Name provided you are using applied headers to each section (not header as in the bar at the top...header as in the style for each section called Header from the drop menu on the top left of the screen)

The Header will have everything clumped together...just put the cursor at the beginning of the string of information and move the cursor right to go to each field and hit the spacebar to create gaps otherwise it will look like this: 1.1Section About Stuff, instead of 1.1 Section About Stuff...I used two spaces.

Thanks for the post and I hope my reiteration is helpful.

Why don't you use a single page style and use Document fields instead of cross-reference? The former is updated according to the outline of current page.

I am unfamiliar with these references to 'field' and 'cross-reference' but maybe someone can help me. I am trying to create a header style which would repeat every odd page, and another every even page. I need a step by step guide, as I have tried (in a crude fashion) 'header left' and that does not seem to work. All I have is a header for page 2, and a header for page 3. I want them to repeat (with changed page numbers) throughout the document.

Thanks

See for example: [Solved] Headers with multiple fields and justifications.

In addition to Hagar's link, look also in the Tutorials subforum Writer; there you will find some useful tutorials on Headers. The Fields for useful items such as Page Numbers are found under / Insert / Fields. There are specific entries under that heading for Page Number, Date and other commonly used fields, but it is useful to look also under the Other heading on that entry, which offers a wider range (e.g, Date, which updates automatically on file open, and Date (fixed), which doesn't).

Note that Headers/Footers need to be redefined for every different Page Style in use; a common problem is that First Page and chapter start pages need no Header, but other pages need headers; you need to use First Page Style for these, and cause it to change to (perhaps) Default for the remaining pages. Play with a trivial sample document until you get the hang of this.