More complex variations
There are a lot of interesting variations that you can apply without further knowledge of page styles. Here are some suggestions:
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Right-align the header to make the page number appear on the top-right:
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Add (type) the word page so the header reads page 1, page 2, and so on. This also requires using the Page Number field, discussed earlier (page 157).
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Add the document title so the header reads, for example: Joe's favourite poems, left justified, and page x with right justification, where x is the value of the Page Number field. Consider using a tab to separate the title from the page number.
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OOo also has a Page Count field (Insert > Fields > Page Count). Using it, you could, for example, have a header that reads page 2 of 12.
These variations are all illustrated in Figure 183.
Many more variations are possible. For example, you can use a footer instead of a header to make the page number appear at the bottom of the page.
Example: Restart page numbering: a preface
Some times you want to reset the page number back to 1. A typical example is the preface for a book. A standard preface has the following properties:
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Page numbers are displayed in Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, …).
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After the preface, the document starts on a Default page.
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The page number resets to 1, and the number format becomes Arabic (1, 2, 3, 4, …).
Resetting the page number requires page breaks.
First, let’s get the preliminary work done for the Preface style:
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Create a new page style and name it Preface.
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Set its Next Style to Preface because a preface could span multiple pages.
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Add a header to Preface and insert the Page Number field. Make the page numbers display as Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, …):
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Open the page style window for Preface (if not already open) and click the Header tab. Check Header on under Header.
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Click the Page tab. Under Layout settings, in the Format drop-down list, set the format to i, ii, iii, …. (See Figure 184.) Click OK to close the dialog box.
After the preface is written, we are ready to restart the page numbering in the main body of the document to Arabic numerals. Follow these steps:
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Make an empty paragraph at the very end of the preface.
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Put the cursor on the blank line.
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Choose Insert > Manual Break.
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Select Page break and choose the Default style.
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Select the Change page number check box and set the new value to 1. Click OK to close the dialog box.
These settings are shown in Figure 185.
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Note
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You cannot assign an odd page number to a left page or an even page number to a right page. OOo strongly adheres to the convention that odd page numbers go on right-hand pages and even page numbers on left-hand pages.
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This change is also reflected on the status bar. The Page section of the status bar now includes both the total page count and the entry of the page number field (Figure 186).
Example: Different headers on right and left pages
When you insert a header on a page style set up for mirrored pages or right-and-left pages, you can have the contents of the header be the same on all pages or be different on the right and left pages.
To allow different content in headers, clear the Same content left/right check box in the Header area on the Header page of the Page Style dialog box (Figure 187).
Now, you can put the page number on the left-hand edge of the left pages and on the right-hand edge of the right pages, put the document title on the right-hand page only, or make other changes. Figure 188 shows an example.
