Page Numbers From Page 3

Do you need to format a university assignment with a cover page and a contents page? The subsequent body pages will need page numbering starting from 1. In LibreOffice Writer, this is achieved by putting the front matter in an unnumbered page style.

LibreOffice Writer page numbering

First give the cover and contents pages their own page style. Click on the cover page, press F11 to open Styles, click the Page Styles icon and double-click Index. Then put the cursor at the start of the first body page and choose Insert > More Breaks > Manual Break. Select Page break, set the page style to Default Page Style, tick Change page number, enter 1 and click OK.

Now add the numbers to the body pages only: choose Insert > Header and Footer > Footer > Default Page Style, and with the cursor in the new footer choose Insert > Field > Page Number. The Index-style front pages have no footer, so they stay unnumbered.

Microsoft Word section breaks

Microsoft’s approach puts your content pages in a new section of the text, splitting the document. To access sectioning, put the cursor at the end of the last unnumbered page, and on the Layout tab select Breaks > Section Breaks > Next Page (delete any manual page break there first, or a blank page appears). A new section now divides the document.

Double-click in the footer of the first page of the new section. On the Header & Footer tab, click Link to Previous so that it is switched off; otherwise the numbers also appear in the first section.

With the cursor still in that footer, choose Page Number > Bottom of Page > Plain Number 2.

Then choose Page Number > Format Page Numbers, select Start at, type 1 and click OK. The body now starts at page 1.

If a number still shows on the cover or contents page, click in that footer, select the number and press Delete. Because the sections are unlinked, the body numbers stay.

What not to mix up

In Writer, where elements live in a certain page style, the cover elements stay in one style, and the numbered pages switch to the latter. Writer’s flexibility allows for multiple page styles.

Linking and unlinking is the Word device to navigate sections and stick elements to them, or their previous section. This is done on the mainstream page, not from a floating dialog.

Start by creating the break

When you have formatted your front elements (title pages, contents pages, whatever comes before your numbered content), put your cursor at the very beginning of the body. In Writer, turn to the break tool, and start your next page.

Wherever you’re working, you have now marked off the front from the numbering in a way that’s rigorous enough for academic standards, Set the formatting of your footer as relevant, and begin your academic writing.