Cannot delete page without losing formatting on all pages!

[brigitte.e]

Hi, I've been trying to figure this out for days.

I have a blank first page and I've tried every way to delete it, but the only way that's worked is to go to the next page and hit backspace, though when I do that every page that I VERY meticulously formatted one by one (over a hundred pages) lose all of their formatting. I have images on each page and not text, by the way. Any help would be SO appreciated. Thank you.

[Bill]

Why do you need to manually delete the page? Normally pages are created and deleted automatically when content is added or deleted. If you're deleting the page to move the images, that will work only if the images are anchored to text. The images won't move if they're anchored to the pages. In that case, the images will have to be moved manually.

[Zizi64]

I do that every page that I VERY meticulously formatted one by one (over a hundred pages) lose all of their formatting.

Did you meant the Page formatting properties? Use the Page Styles.
Otherwise you can not format the pages one-by-one differently in a normal document. You need adjust the format of the applied page styles.
I suppose your document is/was a MS fileformat document. Those may have different Page styles for every page!
If your document was scanned, and OCR-ed, and saved into MS fileformat, then (maybe) the scanner recognised a littlebit different margin values for every page, and therefore the export was created with many-many different page styles.

A well structured document has only 1-5 different page styles only: one for the first page, one tor the Contents list... etc...

Please share the problematic document here.

[RoryOF]

A sample document (say three pages) would be helpful.

[brigitte.e]

I've tried uploading a couple of screen shots but no matter how much I resize the image I keep getting the error message that it's too big.

A sample document (say three pages) would be helpful.

[brigitte.e]

I do that every page that I VERY meticulously formatted one by one (over a hundred pages) lose all of their formatting.

Did you meant the Page formatting properties? Use the Page Styles.
Otherwise you can not format the pages one-by-one differently in a normal document. You need adjust the format of the applied page styles.
I suppose your document is/was a MS fileformat document. Those may have different Page styles for every page!
If your document was scanned, and OCR-ed, and saved into MS fileformat, then (maybe) the scanner recognised a littlebit different margin values for every page, and therefore the export was created with many-many different page styles.

A well structured document has only 1-5 different page styles only: one for the first page, one tor the Contents list... etc...

Please share the problematic document here.

I've tried to share the document but it will not let me upload a screen shot image here for some reason. I am creating a book where it is necessary for me to move each image to fit exactly in the guidelines for the printing service I'm using (KDP). I have tried to upload several times and the only thing that has worked is by moving each image individually, and even though they are repeats of the same image, some need to be moved just a fraction of an inch more than other, I have no idea why.

[brigitte.e]

Why do you need to manually delete the page? Normally pages are created and deleted automatically when content is added or deleted. If you're deleting the page to move the images, that will work only if the images are anchored to text. The images won't move if they're anchored to the pages. In that case, the images will have to be moved manually.

Because when I upload my manuscript to the POD printing service I'm using (creating a book), the first blank page throws off the whole book. There is nothing on this first page, it is blank.

[MrProgrammer]

I've tried to share the document but it will not let me upload a screen shot image here for some reason.

The picture of your screen will almost certainly be useless to volunteers here, just as a picture of your car will be useless to a mechanic when it isn't running right. A picture would never show us why the first page is blank.

Attach a document demonstrating the situation (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply). We don't want all of your 100+ pages; the first few will suffice, and your full document may exceed the 128K limit for attachments. Open your document. Use File → Save As and create a copy of it, say SampleForForum.odt. After saving, click at the beginning of page 4. Scroll to the end. Shift-click at the bottom; this selects from page 4 to the end. Press the backspace key to delete that content. Verify that the title at the top of the window says SampleForForum.odt. Save the document again, so the saved document is the short version of it. Verify that the short version still demonstrates the difficulty you're reporting. Attach SampleForForum.odt here.

Since you use a Mac, I'll give you a link to [Tutorial] Mac FAQ. It doesn't relate directly to this topic but may help you with other issues, now or later.

I have images on each page and not text, by the way

Large images may cause even the shortened document to exceed 128K. In that case you can use a file-sharing service as described in the first link above.

[Bill]

Please make a sample document with only 3 images and upload the sample document, not a screen shot. A screen shot is inadequate because we need to see the settings actually used for formatting the document. Those settings can only be seen in a real document.

[Lupp]

Use F11 (Styles and Formatting) and there the "Page Styles" option to inspect the NAMED page styles of the blank page as compared to that of the subsequent pages. I would assume there are DIFFERENT page styles applied. Most likely all the subsequent pages have a common page style which once was enabled for them by a special manual page break using the 'Style' option. The document also may have got applied this implicitly during a conversion from an alien file format. (NEVER stick to alien file formats if you are doing ongoing work with OpenOffice! Always save your documents to .odt !)
Trying to delete the first (empty) page, you actually delete the page break, and by that the assignment of the second page style.

If the situation is as I described try:

-1- Look for the name of the page style applied to the subsequent pages.
-2- Place the view cursor into the first (empty) page.
-3- Assign the named page style (from -1-) ALSO TO THE FIRST PAGE by a doubleclick on its name in the Styles&Formats pane.
-4- Press 'Del' to delete the page break.

-5- Report the result.

[brigitte.e]

I've tried to share the document but it will not let me upload a screen shot image here for some reason.

The picture of your screen will almost certainly be useless to volunteers here, just as a picture of your car will be useless to a mechanic when it isn't running right. A picture would never show us why the first page is blank.

Attach a document demonstrating the situation (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply). We don't want all of your 100+ pages; the first few will suffice, and your full document may exceed the 128K limit for attachments. Open your document. Use File → Save As and create a copy of it, say SampleForForum.odt. After saving, click at the beginning of page 4. Scroll to the end. Shift-click at the bottom; this selects from page 4 to the end. Press the backspace key to delete that content. Verify that the title at the top of the window says SampleForForum.odt. Save the document again, so the saved document is the short version of it. Verify that the short version still demonstrates the difficulty you're reporting. Attach SampleForForum.odt here.

Since you use a Mac, I'll give you a link to [Tutorial] Mac FAQ. It doesn't relate directly to this topic but may help you with other issues, now or later.

I have images on each page and not text, by the way

Large images may cause even the shortened document to exceed 128K. In that case you can use a file-sharing service as described in the first link above.

I'm trying to save this file while using blocks (rectangles) to protect my content, but every time I save and upload it, the blocks are gone. I don't really understand how this works and why you can save something and it can upload without content you added.

[robleyd]

I'm trying to save this file while using blocks (rectangles) to protect my content

I'm not sure what you mean by using blocks, but see How to anonymise your document if it contains confidential information for simple ways to do so.

[Lupp]

There were lots of attempts to get the OQ to attach a relevant example.

I tried an answer omitting the study of an example. That answer contained advice how to solve the issue if my guess about its cause applies. Now I would appreciate any comments on it. In specific the opinion of experienced users would be valuable.

If someone can back my guess concerning the background, even @brigitte.e would probably consider to try the suggested proceeding (on a copy of her original, of course).

[brigitte.e]

There were lots of attempts to get the OQ to attach a relevant example.

I tried an answer omitting the study of an example. That answer contained advice how to solve the issue if my guess about its cause applies. Now I would appreciate any comments on it. In specific the opinion of experienced users would be valuable.

If someone can back my guess concerning the background, even @brigitte.e would probably consider to try the suggested proceeding (on a copy of her original, of course).

I've been caught up with a personal issue so have been slow to figure out what suggestions I've been given. I honestly have a hard time even understanding some of the direction I've been given, as I'm relatively new to this program and don't know how to do a lot of the things that may be very simple for all of you. This is very important to me as I am trying to publish a book so I appreciate all of your help and I will continue to try the suggestions I've been given when I have the time. Thank you again.

[brigitte.e]

I'm trying to save this file while using blocks (rectangles) to protect my content

I'm not sure what you mean by using blocks, but see How to anonymise your document if it contains confidential information for simple ways to do so.

As I mentioned in my original post, I have no actual text in my files, only images of text I created in photoshop. I have tried using the paint tool and other "rectangle" tools and such to block out my content but when I save the file after using the paint/rectangle tool and open it to view it, the paint/rectangle blocking I did is not there.

[Bill]

I have tried using the paint tool and other "rectangle" tools and such to block out my content...

If you don't want your images to be seen, then you should create a sample document and replace the images in the sample document before uploading. If you're trying to add "blocks" to cover the images, the images will still be in the document and can be extracted from the document.

[RoryOF]

Or make a short sample file with stock images, using the same techniques. We cannot diagnose your problem without hands-on of a file.

[Lupp]

To help understand the situation I would emphasize:
-1-
There is no direct formatting concerning any attributes settable for page styles. Any editing insofar, even if done using a shortcut or a special menu item, goes to the named page style assigned to the current position (insertion cursor).
-2-
Visible pages never are persistent objects. Because there are no page objects, the style of the visible pages is represented by attributes for each paragraph.
-3-
Hard page breaks are represented by combinations of paragraph attributes. A last and a first paragraph may both be afflicted.
-4-
Trying to delete a page you actually delete a final paragraph break.
This appends the content of the next paragraph - originally on the next page - to the last paragraph of the page you tried to delete. In fact the page with its final paragraph (probably originally empty, but now "enriched" by the appended content) still exists and still has its unchanged page style. The appended content and the paragraphs below therefore also are now rendered regarding the page style assigned to the page you tried to delete.
-5-
The behaviour of image shapes (and any shapes) under such an operation will depend on the type of anchoring and on the alignment attributes / way of positioning.

Try the steps I previously suggested. Sorry. I think it "simply isn't simpler".

Also:
For documents where no editable text at all is contained, Writer is not the appropriate tool.

[steven8]

I'd agree with Lupp. For a document containing only images, I'd suggest Scribus: https://www.scribus.net/

[RoryOF]

Impress would be quite good to assemble a document of Images and titles/short texts; one can change the format from slides to various paper/page sizes.

[brigitte.e]

Okay I finally was able to upload the sample file. Let me know if this works. Again thank you so much for the help, I am really stuck here.

I used Tinyupload. If there is a better file hosting service to use, please let me know, thanks!

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fi ... 4415712323

[MrProgrammer]

Okay I finally was able to upload the sample file.

I found the attachment helpful in understanding the situation.

In your attachment, if I select the first picture, Format → Anchor shows To Page. If I select the second picture, Format → Anchor shows To Character. I do very little with Writer and even less with pictures in Writer, however given that you have no text, only pictures, I think you will want all images anchored As Character. I believe this treats them as very large characters, so only one will fit on a page.

I have no experience with the Pictool for Writer extension, however the documentation I see suggests that you can use it to change the anchor for all pictures at once. Naturally you will want to experiment on a copy of your document until you are sure the result is what you want. Perhaps the extension will also help you set the positioning of all the images so they are consistent.

If you need help with the extension, I'd suggest that you create a new topic with "PicTool" in the title so the author and others who have used the extension will notice the post.

Writer Guide: Working with Graphics
Writer for Students

Because when I upload my manuscript to the POD printing service I'm using (creating a book) …

I think Writer is not a good tool for organizing a large set of images into pages. If your "POD" printing service supports the desktop publishing tool Scribus mentioned earlier with a link to the software, that is what I would recommend. It is supported on Macs. You'll need to spend some time learning how to use it, of course, but end end result may be better than "trying to figure this out for days" with Writer. I will note that this topic has more than 20 posts and has been open for more than a week.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[Bill]

The problem is caused by mixing images anchored to pages (To page) with images anchored to text (As character). Images anchored "To page" don't move when text is removed. "To page" images can only be moved to a different page by moving the image's anchor to the different page.

If the first image in the original document is anchored "To page" and the rest of the images are anchored "As character", then it may be possible to move the images without changing the anchors. Using a copy of the original document, reduce the zoom so two columns of pages are displayed. Select the first image so its anchor is displayed. Drag the anchor from the second page to the first page. Now click in the empty second page and select Backspace.

[Villeroy]

A text processor can be seen as a sequence of paragraphs with rectangular objects attached to these paragraphs or characters. The print pages are constantly recalculated whenever text or objects change. Page layout is floating as you edit text and objects attached to text.
If your document is a sequence of objects (pictures), you must not use a text processor. Use the Draw component. A Draw document consists of pages with rectangular objects. Any text is embedded in objects.

[RoryOF]

I still suggest using Impress, as there is no flow problem from page to page. It is possible to define a slide (= Page) size as one wishes (A4 and US Letter are predefined, and can be selected in portrait or horizontal), insert the graphics and add simple titles if required.

To avoid the "missing pictures" problem in OO, I have found that if one unchecks /Tools /Options /Load-Save /General : "Save autorecovery every ... minutes" the missing pictures problem does not occur.

[brigitte.e]

Okay I finally was able to upload the sample file.

I found the attachment helpful in understanding the situation.

In your attachment, if I select the first picture, Format → Anchor shows To Page. If I select the second picture, Format → Anchor shows To Character. I do very little with Writer and even less with pictures in Writer, however given that you have no text, only pictures, I think you will want all images anchored As Character. I believe this treats them as very large characters, so only one will fit on a page.

I have no experience with the Pictool for Writer extension, however the documentation I see suggests that you can use it to change the anchor for all pictures at once. Naturally you will want to experiment on a copy of your document until you are sure the result is what you want. Perhaps the extension will also help you set the positioning of all the images so they are consistent.

If you need help with the extension, I'd suggest that you create a new topic with "PicTool" in the title so the author and others who have used the extension will notice the post.

Writer Guide: Working with Graphics
Writer for Students

Because when I upload my manuscript to the POD printing service I'm using (creating a book) …

I think Writer is not a good tool for organizing a large set of images into pages. If your "POD" printing service supports the desktop publishing tool Scribus mentioned earlier with a link to the software, that is what I would recommend. It is supported on Macs. You'll need to spend some time learning how to use it, of course, but end end result may be better than "trying to figure this out for days" with Writer. I will note that this topic has more than 20 posts and has been open for more than a week.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

Thank you very much for your response and input. I am doing what everyone is advising, but still having the same problem where once I delete a page, the rest get totally thrown off.

[brigitte.e]

The problem is caused by mixing images anchored to pages (To page) with images anchored to text (As character). Images anchored "To page" don't move when text is removed. "To page" images can only be moved to a different page by moving the image's anchor to the different page.

If the first image in the original document is anchored "To page" and the rest of the images are anchored "As character", then it may be possible to move the images without changing the anchors. Using a copy of the original document, reduce the zoom so two columns of pages are displayed. Select the first image so its anchor is displayed. Drag the anchor from the second page to the first page. Now click in the empty second page and select Backspace.

Thank you for your advice, I did as you advised but as soon as I backspace and delete the empty page, the formatting on the rest of my pages gets completely messed up.

A text processor can be seen as a sequence of paragraphs with rectangular objects attached to these paragraphs or characters. The print pages are constantly recalculated whenever text or objects change. Page layout is floating as you edit text and objects attached to text.
If your document is a sequence of objects (pictures), you must not use a text processor. Use the Draw component. A Draw document consists of pages with rectangular objects. Any text is embedded in objects.

Thanks for your response. I don't believe I will be able to upload a draw document to my POD, though.

[RoryOF]

Try my suggestion: use Impress, /Format /Page to your desired page size, and try inserting two or three images.

Edit: If that works, you can then /File /Export as PDF and send that to your printer.

[Villeroy]

Thanks for your response. I don't believe I will be able to upload a draw document to my POD, though.

There is always PDF for anything printable, i.e. anything having a page layout.

[MrProgrammer]

I'm using KDP

Create a Paperback PDF File says "for best results" you should upload a PDF to KDP. Don't struggle with trying to reformat the Writer document to eliminate the empty page. Take your document which has the initial empty page and export it as PDF. [Tutorial] Mac FAQ Q36/A36 gives you two methods. You can skip the first page when creating the PDF.

Or if you export/print everything so the PDF contains the empty page you can remove the first page with PDF tools, say Preview or Ghostscript or PDFBox. The first two are pre-installed on Macs. Preview should be in the dock and has a standard Mac user interface. Ghostscript is a command line tool, used with the Terminal application:

/usr/local/bin/gs-noX11 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER
                        -dFirstPage=2 -sOutputFile=OUT.pdf IN.pdf

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.