[Solved] Applying Page Style to Current Page Applies to All

[cthorne44]

In a document of multiple pages, when I apply a page style to the current page, the page style is applied to all pages in the document. I am a new user. I have just installed v3.2.0 and was going through the tutorials available at OpenOffice.org. One of the tutorials shows how to create different page styles & then apply different page styles to different pages within the same document. It failed big time! I created the different page styles, but when I apply any page style to the current page either through the pop-up menu from the page style at the bottom of the window or through double-clicking on the page style in the Styles & Formatting dialog, the page style is applied to every page of the document.

This seems like it should be a fundamental usage of page styles & it should work. Otherwise, page styles are basically useless...

[floris v]

Page styles don't work on single pages but on sets of pages separated by manual page breaks.
If you want pages 1-20 of your document to have page style default and pages 21-50 page style "something else" then do as follows:
Put the cursor at the end of page 20. Apply Insert - Manual break - Page, fill out the page style for the next page.
And so on for each break between pages styles.

If this solves your problem, please edit the first post in this thread and add [Solved] to the title bar.

[RGB]

Remember also that you can set the "next style" property on the "Organizer" tab when you edit a page style. This is helpful if you need, for example the first page of each chapter to be different: just change to that page style with a page break, as floris told you, and then let that the "following style" change automatically to the style for the other pages.

[cthorne44]

The answer sounds like the solution, except that I created the multiple pages in my document by inserting manual page breaks per the tutorial. Following the tutorial, I created a new text document, then created 3 additional pages by inserting manual page breaks. So, according to the replies, a page style should only apply to the current page. Nope, if I apply a page style, it changes the page style of ALL pages in the document. Sorry I wasn't clear on that. Wish that were the solution, but I have done what was suggested and the behaviour persists.

[Bill]

The answer sounds like the solution, except that I created the multiple pages in my document by inserting manual page breaks per the tutorial. Following the tutorial, I created a new text document, then created 3 additional pages by inserting manual page breaks. So, according to the replies, a page style should only apply to the current page. Nope, if I apply a page style, it changes the page style of ALL pages in the document. Sorry I wasn't clear on that. Wish that were the solution, but I have done what was suggested and the behaviour persists.

When you insert the page break, you also have to put a page style in the Style box on the Insert Break dialog. Leaving the Style box blank means that the page style on both sides of the break must be the same. If you later come back and change the style on one side of the break, the style also changes on the other side of the break.

[RGB]

For existing page breaks without page style change, go to the first paragraph on the second page -> right click -> paragraph -> Text flow tab. Under "Breaks" you can enable "With Page Style"

[cthorne44]

The last two replies solved the problem. I'm not familiar with this feature in MS Word. Is this the same behavior as MS Word? It seems non-intuitive. But it behaves per the replies. Maybe someone should revise the tutorial to follow the actual behavior & convey the valid steps it takes to apply page styles. I'm curious about whether this behavior has changed & the tutorial may have worked before it changed. Seems unlikely that a tutorial would have been published to demonstrate a technique that does not work...

[cthorne44]

OOPS! In re-reading the tutorial, it is I who made a mistake... I did not follow the key step in the tutorial by selecting the page style in the break dialog box. I thought it was talking about the page syle at the bottom of the window. Bummer when you are the one who made the mistake... Sorry, I'll try to be better next time. However, this exercise helped me understand page styles, which I was unable to find in MSWord XP. Either it's unique to OpenOffice or a feature in a newer version of MS Word than the one I have...

Thanks for your help to get back on track. I appreciate the assistance and really like OpenOffice. So far...

[floris v]

Don't be too hard on yourself over this. This is a highly confusing and counter intuitive part of OOo. And kudos for admitting your mistake.