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[Tutorial] Numbering chapters on Writer

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:49 pm
by RGB
To the new users, the Writer's most confusing feature is perhaps the automatic numbering of chapters. There are two ways to accomplish it:
Outline numbering. This is by far the simplest way, and I recommend it when possible. With this you can obtain a chapter numbering structure like this one:
1
1.1
1.2
1.2.1
2
2.1
2.2
...
which is appropriate to write technical books or papers.

Numbered styles. This way is more tricky. With it you can obtain the following structure
1
1.1
1.2
2
2.3
2.4
...
which is more appropriate to write a novel.

Let's see both now.

Outline numbering

The different parts of your document (chapter, sections...) must be separated with proper “titles”. Let's say that you are using the default structure of Heading 1 to Heading 10 paragraph styles for that (for example, for the title of your chapters you use Heading 1, for the title of your sections Heading 2, Heading 3 for sub-sections and so on), then, you only need to go to Tools -> Outline numbering, Numbering tab, and associate to each “level” of your document (chapters are more important than sections, and these more important than sub-sections) the paragraph styles you choose to identify them. In this dialogue you can set your document's numbering structure, ad a word before the number... I'll let you play with all that.
Outline Numbering
Outline Numbering
The most important thing is that the automatically generated table of content -TOC, from now- (Insert -> Indexes and tables -> Indexes and tables) will include all the styles you set on Outline numbering.

Re: Numbering chapters on Writer

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:58 pm
by RGB
Numbered styles

Breath deeply... Done? OK, all this needs some introduction...
By opening the stylists (F11) you will see the “List Styles” (the fifth button from left to right). This styles define different combinations of numbering and bullets that can be used to create lists. It is very unlikely you need them directly: the Writer's numbering and bullets tool is quite good in making lists, so you may wonder why they exists. OK, return to the paragraph styles (the first button from left to right on the stylist) and edit the Heading 1 style (right click -> modify); now, go to the Numbering tab: you will find a drop-down menu that allows you to select a style from the List Styles! This apply the selected list style (let's say, Numbering 1) to the paragraph style: Every instance of Heading 1 will be from now automatically numbered.
Select numbering style
Select numbering style
Now, edit the Heading 2 style to use the Numbering 2 style in order to have independent numberings... just the way novels are numbered.
Easy? Well, NUMBERED STYLES ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE OUTLINE NUMBERING.
How to build a TOC then?
Go to Insert -> Indexes and tables -> Indexes and tables (or edit an existing TOC by right clicking on it -> Edit Index/Table). On the dialogue you will see, under “Create from” un-check “Outline”, check “Additional styles” and click on the button to the right of the “Additional styles” check-box: now, you can select the styles you need to include on the TOC and move them to the “level” that corresponds to each one using the arrows on the bottom left side of the window.
Edit TOC
Edit TOC
Build TOC
Build TOC
One more tip: if you want to automatically include the word “chapter” before your Heading 1 style's number, you will need to edit the Numbering 1 style on the “options” tab.

Happy numbering!

NOTE: I don't recommend it, but Outline numbering and numbered styles can be mixed to obtain particularly complex layouts. If your heart is strong enough, go and try some combinations!

Re: [Tutorial] Numbering chapters on Writer

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:38 pm
by Hagar Delest
Beware that the Additional styles feature is not yet compatible with the hyperlinks in the TOC. An enhancement request has been filed here : Issue 3356 - Additional styles not included in hyperlinking from TOC. Now fixed.

NB: I've made a sticky of this thread.

Re: [Tutorial] Numbering chapters on Writer

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:34 pm
by foxcole
I do not recommend using numbered list styles on chapter headings. That means, do not assign numbered styles to heading paragraphs! Those styles are designed for numbered lists in the document body. Assigning a numbering style in the heading paragraph style just causes confusion and problems with outline numbering.

Outline numbering provides structure to the document. It allows you to use the Navigator's category "Headings" to view and rearrange your chapters and their contents, similar to Word's document map, using drag and drop. It also makes use of the default settings for the table of contents (TOC) and indexes, so you actually don't need to do anything special to create a TOC from the heading styles unless you want them to be different from the default settings.

You can apply outline levels to any paragraph styles you want, but it's best to use the already-created Heading paragraph styles. Use the Outline Numbering dialog itself to create and control your heading numbers.

In the Numbering tab of the Outline Numbering dialog, choose the heading paragraph style (e.g., for level 1, choose Heading 1). If needed, select a number scheme (1,2,3; A,B,C; etc.) for each heading. If you want lower-level headings to show the outline level (chapter 1, 1.1, 1.1.1, etc.) then set the "Show sublevels" value appropriately on each outline level.

If you want a character (or characters) before or after the number, type those into the appropriate Separator boxes on the Numbering tab.

If you want the number to look different from the rest of the heading paragraph, choose a character style in that drop-down list. You can create your own character style in the Stylist (the Styles and Formatting toolbar) if you want, and it will appear in this drop-down list.

Set indentation, if desired, on the Position tab, and set the distance between the number and the heading text.

If you save your document as a template (you can delete all the content; a template only needs styles) and make that template your new default template, these settings will be used by default for each new document.

Re: [Tutorial] Numbering chapters on Writer

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:13 pm
by RGB
As stated on the first post, I also recommend the use of Outline Numbering, BUT, as also stated there, this system have its limitations. You can see the second method as a "work-around" to obtain the numbering structure of a literary work.

UPDATE to the second method

If your book needs to be separated on "Parts" and then on "chapters", and you need to not restart the chapter numbers on a new part, note that you can also use a modified version of method 2 above (mixing it with the recommended method), in which you use a numbered style only for the "Part", and Outline numbering for the chapters. In this way, the chapters will display on the navigator and you will be able to move them if needed. "Parts" will not be present on the navigator, but after all I never see a book with too many of them. You know, even Tolkien used only six parts... ;)