Start page numbering from page seven as page one?

[r1xlx]

I have a manuscript that has to be page numbered.
It has seven title and intro pages and I want to start numbering with eighth page as 1 but no matter how I try I cannot do this.
I obviously don't want Title page numbered one in final book so how can I ensure firstseven pages are not numbered but eigth is number 1 and rest is number from 1?

[robleyd]

Have a look at [Tutorial] Page numbering

[r1xlx]

Hi robleyd.
I tried every method in the Writer manual but it refuses to start numbering from the seventh page but puts number 1 on title page!
I delete that and all numbering diappers.
I tried the first paragraph method and that make every page have just one paragraph.#I tried the F2 method and that makes a nonsense of document/
Must be some way of starting numbering from first page of the story?

[John_Ha]

You may find this explanation helps your understanding.

It's all about Page Breaks.

The page following a Page Break can be exactly the same Page Style as the page before the Page Break. BUT if you want to change the Page Style (so as to change headers or header text, footers or footer text, page numbers, hide page numbers etc) you must insert a Page Break and you must select an existing Page Style, or create a new Page Style, which makes the change you want.

In a correctly working document page numbers follow from the preceding page. If you want to change the page number itself, or remove a page number from a page, or add a page number to a page without one, you need to insert a Page Break where you select the Page Style for that page (and subsequent pages) which does what you want.

It is very useful to make Page Breaks visible by Tools > Options (Preferences on Mac) > OpenOffice > Appearance > scroll to Text document > tick Section boundaries > choose a colour for Page and column breaks. Page Breaks now show on the screen as a thin coloured line and identify all page breaks. This is the default setting on later installations where the Page Break appears as a thin blue line.

Page Styles (and hence changed headers and footers); Page Breaks and Page Number are an attribute of the first paragraph on the page following a change even if the paragraph is empty or is a Heading (or is a table at the very top). Note that Heading means a Heading 1 or a Heading 2 etc, and not a Page header as in header/footer. Set View > Non printing characters ..., to ON to see the paragraph break.

When you Insert > Manual Break > Page Break..., the small pop-up window allows you to choose the Page Style for the first (and hence subsequent) page(s) following the break; and also the option to change the Page Number for the frst (and hence subsequent) page(s) following the break.

You can also manually insert and delete Page Breaks, manually choose the Page Style (and hence change headers and footers), and manually change the Page Number, by placing the cursor in the first paragraph and going Format > Paragraph > Text Flow > Breaks ... (or in the table, and going Table > Properties > Text Flow...) where all these options can be changed.

You can also delete Page Breaks by Backspace, or by deleting highlighted text which includes the Page Break.

Debug page style changes / changed page numbering / changed header problems by placing the cursor in the first paragraph following a page break and going Format > Paragraph > Text Flow > Breaks .... What is the document telling Writer to do following the break? If you see nothing there to cause the change, the document has become corrupted and (much!) more diagnosis is required.

A word of caution. You can go Format > Page ..., and edit the format of the page in which the cursor is currently located. However, you are actually editing that page's Page Style, so all other pages which use that same Page Style will also have their formats changed.

You can get more information on Page Styles, Page Breaks and Page Numbering in Chapter 4 - Formatting Pages of the Writer Manual.

See the Writer Tutorials where you will find [Example] Document structure and numbering and [Tutorial] Page numbering

If your problem is solved please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.

If not, upload a small example file showing the problem so that it can be analysed. Use the Upload attachment tab below where you type (128 kB max) or use a file share site for a larger file.

[John_Ha]

See file. The first six pages use Page Style First Page, where the page number is not shown. The seventh page uses Page Style Default, where the page number is set to 1 in the Insert > Manual break > Page Break ..., dialogue.

[r1xlx]

Hi,

tried all those suggestions but still no joy.
i tried one suggestion and got page numbers haflway down each page and no way to make as footer or header. cursor jumped to place but no number showed.

I tried making dummy doc with three intro and index pages before main body but it refused ot number them no matter how I tried insert manual break or format.


I can either have every page including title page numbered or none.
trying the last solution made every second a blank page!

I'm on a Win7/8 comp.

[RoryOF]

With respect, you are not, repeat _NOT_, reading the instructions correctly. Look at the structure of John_Ha's pages.odt file; it should give you an outline of how to do this If someone does it for you by manipulating your file, you have learned nothing.

[Bill]

I tried making dummy doc with three intro and index pages before main body but it refused ot number them no matter how I tried insert manual break or format.

Please upload the dummy doc so we don't have to guess about what you're doing wrong. It's virtually impossible to tell someone how to fix somethng from "I tried evertthing and nothing works".

[r1xlx]

John-Wa finally got it to number first page of body as 1 but it doesn't number consecutive pages...how do I get it to number all the pages?

[r1xlx]

here is dummy document.

[r1xlx]

I've checked a few of the text books and novels I have around and it seems I am not the only one seeking a simple way of having pages unnumbered until the first page of the body. One text book bosy starts on page 7, another 8, a novel starts on 6, another 7 and so.
what is needed is a simple fix that will allow us to start numbering from first page of body without being computer nerds.

[John_Ha]

what is needed is a simple fix that will allow us to start numbering from first page of body without being computer nerds.

There is a very simple fix. Read the Manual. Read the Tutorials. Search the forum for many posts covering many facets of it. It's very easy to do what you want.

If you use free software please have the decency to search the documentation before posting a question and then post something like "I don't understand what it says on page xx of the manual - what I am I doing wrong?"

[RoryOF]

I've checked a few of the text books and novels I have around and it seems I am not the only one seeking a simple way of having pages unnumbered until the first page of the body. One text book bosy starts on page 7, another 8, a novel starts on 6, another 7 and so.
what is needed is a simple fix that will allow us to start numbering from first page of body without being computer nerds.

Frequently the first pages of a book ar unnumbered (half-title, title, publication details); then the preliminary pages (Table of Contents, Preface, Foreward etc) are numbered in lower case Roma, continuing the count from the unnumbered initial pages. The body of the book can then start at 1, or in some cases, continue the numbering from the start of the book, but in Arabic numerals. Which page numbering convention depends on which manual of style is used, and sometimes on local conventions for non-English texts.

In sample file Dummy.odt, the following Page Styles are used
page 1, containing "TITLE: Default
page 2, containing "INTRO": Index
page 3, containing "FOREWORD": First Page
page 4, blank: First Page
page 5, containing "BODY": Default
page 6, containing filler text: Index
page 7, containing filler text: First Page
page 8, containing filler text: First Page.

On page 5, the Field Page Number is inserted into the page body, not into a header or footer.

Pages 1 - 4 should be First Page page style.
Pages 5 - end of book should be Default.

On page 5 the page number field should be in a header or footer (as desired).

[Bill]

The page styles have been changed and used in the dummy doc in an unusual manner. The Default page style has been changed to be followed by the Index page style instead of another Default page. The Index page style has been changed to be followed by the First Page page style instead of another Index page. Since the Default page style has been applied to the first page of the body, the second page of the body will have the Index page style and the third and subsequent page of the body will have the First Page page style.The first thing that should be done to fix the problem is to change the page style settings back to their defaults, then don't apply the Default page style to the first page of the document.

[r1xlx]

so I tried to start another document.
set for default format.
left the first three pages unnumbered then tried to get first page of Body to be 1 but it comes out as 4 and although I click on set footer it ignores and puts it at start of page.
then it doesn't number consecutive pages.
I tried the manual break and that just makes blank pages ...

[RoryOF]

Try this
http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2012/02/h ... rt-on.html
but _you_ have to read it.

There is also a useful overview of using Writer at
http://openoffice-uni.org/openoffice-uni-en.pdf

[Bill]

In Dummy2.odt the Default page style is applied to all pages and Format > Page > Footer reveals that the Footer on option isn't checked which means there is no footer on any page in which you can insert a page number field. I don't know what you mean by "... I click on set footer". There is no "set footer" command in Writer. The page number is at the start of the page because that's where the cursor was when you inserted the page number field. It won't repeat on any other page because it's in the page text area and not in a header or footer.

Select Page > Format > Footer and check "Footer on". Close the Page Style dialog. Click in the footer on any page and select Insert > Fields > Page Number. The pages before the page break and the pages after the page break will be numbered 1-4. Since you don't want page numbers on the first four pages, you can not leave the Default page style applied to those pages and must apply a different page style which does not have a page number field inserted in a footer.

[John_Ha]

This is Chapter 4 from the manual which, as you can see, devotes 15 pages to telling you how to do what you want to do. Read it.

If you search the forum with page numbering you find over 1,000 threads.

If your problem is solved please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.

[arvchristos]

This post may be old but unsolved so:
I created an extension for this purpose, currently searching for new features to add. You can check it in LibreOffice Extensions here:

[Page Numbering Addon](https://extensions.libreoffice.org/exte ... ring-addon)

[Masta]

I had the same problem too but I figured it out how to solve it.

CREATE A PAGE STYLE
First you have to create a page style that will be followed by a page with the same page style.
There are some default ones but don't mess around with them. It would be easy to create a new one than to fix a default one.
However to create a new style just go on Format menu->Styles and Formatting.
In the new window select window style. It would be the 4th icon from the left.
Then right click on a existing style and select New....
On the first tab put whatever name you like and on the drop down menu just select the same name.
Then click on Ok and you created a new style.

SET THE FIRST PAGE WITH THE NEW STYLE
Just go up to the first page of the document.
Right click on the name of the style applied to the first page.
It would be on the window bottom just right from page number.
Select the page style you created.
Now all the pages should have the same style you created.

CREATE A BREAK
Place the cursor in the first paragraph of the page where you would start the text body.
Choose Format-> Paragraph.
On the Text Flow tab of the Paragraph dialog box, check Insert in the Breaks area.
In the Type drop-down list, select Page.
In the Position drop-down list, select Before.
Check With Page Style and specify the default page style.
Just type 1 on the page number blank then click Ok.

ADD FOOTER TO THE DEFAULT STYLE
Choose Format menu->Styles and Formatting.
In the new window select window style. It would be the 4th icon from the left.
Then right click on a default style and select Edit....
On the footer tab check the blank box then click Ok.

ADD PAGE NUMBER
Click on the footer you just created.
Choose Insert->Field->Page Number.
Now your document should as you intended.

I put the guide that I used to do solve my problem. Below "Restarting page numbering" title there would be the "Create a break" of my explanation.
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Docume ... ber_format

Most of the time it's better to start with a blank document in order to not mess around with some wrong setup you done before.
I attach here a file that I just created with this method. I create only three non-numbered page but it works in the same way.

[geranium]

OK. I have read all the information posted to date and NONE of the suggestions work for me. I also tried the instructions from the Help in my Open Office software. I am using Windows 10, and Open Office 4.1.6.

When I try the suggestions, some of the words you use do not appear on my screen. (for example there is no "window style".

But, there MUST be a simple answer to a simple question. The last message I read was from Masta. So long, and so complicated. Why isn't there just a simple answer? Anyway, Masta, your answer does not work for me. When I follow your instructions the footers appear on all the pages and the page number begins on the first page, not on page 7. PLEASE help again. Why is this not working?

[Hagar Delest]

It's all about Page Breaks.

The page following a Page Break can be exactly the same Page Style as the page before the Page Break. BUT if you want to change the Page Style (so as to change headers or header text, footers or footer text, page numbers, hide page numbers etc) you must insert a Page Break and you must select an existing Page Style, or create a new Page Style, which makes the change you want.

[...]

You can get more information on Page Styles, Page Breaks and Page Numbering in Chapter 4 - Formatting Pages of the Writer Manual.
See the Writer Tutorials where you will find [Example] Document structure and numbering and [Tutorial] Page numbering

All has been said.
Use page breaks and you'll be fine.
If you don't manage, then upload a sample file (see: How to attach a document here) so that we can see where you're lost.

[RoryOF]

If you want an explanation from a different source, look at the darkduck link in my earlier reply in this thread.

Where Masta wrote about "window style", on my computers following his instructions, this is "page style". Because of the multilanguage base of helpers on this forum there are often translation differences - hoiwever, Masta's instructions on how to reach that style assemblage were clear and unambiguous.