A long document is rarely uniform. The title page must not have a page number, the table of contents is numbered in Roman numerals, the body restarts at 1, a wide table needs a landscape page, every chapter would like its own title in the header. Anyone who tries to get all this with tricks, such as white text boxes over the numbers or separate documents merged into a PDF, loses hours at every change.
Word and LibreOffice Writer solve the problem in different ways: Word with sections, Writer with page styles. Understanding each model makes everything much simpler.
Word: section breaks
In Word, margins, orientation, headers, footers and numbering belong to the section. A new document has a single section; to have parts with different settings you insert breaks from Layout › Breaks:
- Next Page: the new section starts on a new page. It is the one used almost always.
- Continuous: the new section starts on the same page; useful for changing the number of columns halfway down a page.
- Even Page and Odd Page: the section starts on the next even or odd page, useful in double-sided printed documents where chapters must start on the right.
To see where the breaks are, turn on formatting marks with the ¶ button.
Link to previous
Each new section inherits its header and footer from the previous one through the Link to Previous option, enabled by default. It is the cause of the most common problem: you change the header of chapter 3 and the header of chapter 2 changes too.
The correct procedure:
- Double-click the header of the section you want to make different.
- On the Header & Footer tab, turn off Link to Previous.
- Only now change the content.
Header and footer have separate links: it must be turned off for each.
Writer: page styles
In Writer every page has a page style, which defines margins, orientation, header and footer. To change settings you change page style, inserting a manual break with Insert › More Breaks › Manual Break and choosing the style of the next page.
Writer already offers styles such as «First Page», «Index», «Landscape». One advantage of this model: pages with the same style automatically share the header, with no links to manage. If you need a different header, create a new page style.
You can also associate a page style with a paragraph style: for example, every «Heading 1» with a page break before it that starts the page with the «Chapter» style.
Practical cases
Title page without a number
- Word: in the header or footer turn on Different First Page. No separate section is needed.
- Writer: apply the «First Page» page style to the title page, which by default has no footer.
Contents in Roman numerals, body from 1
- Separate the title page and contents from the body with a section break (Word) or a page style change (Writer).
- In the opening part set the number format to Roman numerals: in Word with Page Number › Format Page Numbers, in Writer by changing the format in the page number field or in the page style.
- At the start of the body set numbering to restart at 1: in Word with Start at: 1 in the same dialog, in Writer by setting the page number in the paragraph properties, Text Flow tab, breaks section.
A landscape page in the middle
- Word: insert a «Next Page» section break before and after the page, and in that section choose landscape orientation. Remember to turn off Link to Previous if the header has to adapt to the width.
- Writer: insert a manual break with the «Landscape» style and, after the table, another break to return to the previous style.
The chapter title in the header
Instead of typing the title by hand in each section, use a field that reads it from the document:
- Word: Insert › Quick Parts › Field › StyleRef, choosing the «Heading 1» style. The header shows the title of the current chapter, with no need for separate sections.
- Writer: Insert › Field › More Fields › Document › Chapter, at level 1.
Recurring mistakes
| Problem | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Editing one header changes the others too | Link to Previous enabled (Word) | Turn it off before editing |
| Numbering restarts for no reason | Section break with Start at set | Set Continue from previous section |
| An extra blank page | «Odd Page» or even break, or a double break | Change the type or remove the superfluous one |
| Header missing after a landscape page | Page style without a header (Writer) | Enable the header in the style |
In short
- Word manages the parts of a document with sections, Writer with page styles.
- In Word, turn off Link to Previous before changing a header or footer.
- An unnumbered title page comes from Different First Page or the «First Page» style.
- Roman numerals for the opening pages and a restart at 1 are set at the start of each part.
- A field that reads Heading 1 puts the chapter name in the header automatically.
