Writer Guide

4

ChapterFormatting Pages
Using Page Styles, Tables, Frames,
Columns, and Sections
This PDF is designed to be read onscreen, two pages at atime. If you want to print a copy, your PDF viewer shouldhave an option for printing two pages on one sheet ofpaper, but you may need to start with page 2 to get it toprint facing pages correctly. (Print this cover page
separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors
Agnes Belzunce
Daniel Carrera
Lou IorioPeter Kupfer
Iain Roberts
Janet Swisher
Claire WoodKen Byars
Peter Hillier-Brook
Sigrid Kronenberger
Ian Laurenson
Gary Schnabl
Jean Hollis Weber
Michele Zarri

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
Portions of the section on frames are taken from an article written by
Bruce Byfield and originally published in Linux Journal.

Publication date and software version
Published 7 March 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2
Introduction........................................................................................... 6
Choosing a layout method......................................................................6
Setting up basic page layout using styles..............................................8
Inserting a page break without switching the style............................8Defining a different first page for a document....................................9
Changing page orientation within a document.................................11
Setting up a landscape page style.................................................11
Inserting a landscape page into a portrait document....................12
Changing page margins.......................................................................13
Using columns to define the page layout.............................................14
Defining the columns on a page........................................................14
Specifying the number of columns.................................................15
Formatting column width and spacing...........................................16
Formatting separator lines............................................................16
Reverting to a single-column layout..............................................16
Changing the number of columns for existing text...........................16
Distributing text across columns......................................................17
Using frames for page layout...............................................................18
Creating frames................................................................................19
Moving, resizing, and changing frame attributes.............................20
Anchoring frames.............................................................................. 22
Linking frames.................................................................................. 23
Using tables for page layout................................................................25
Example: Creating sideheads using tables........................................25
Using sections for page layout.............................................................28
Creating sections..............................................................................28
Naming sections............................................................................29
Linking sections............................................................................. 29
Write-protecting sections...............................................................30
Password-protecting sections........................................................30
Formatting Pages

3

Hiding sections.............................................................................. 31
Formatting a section into columns.................................................32
Indenting the section from margins...............................................32
Changing the background of the section.......................................32
Customizing footnotes and endnotes in a section..........................32
Saving a new section........................................................................34
Editing and deleting sections............................................................34
Deleting sections...........................................................................35
Editing section attributes..............................................................35
Editing the format of a section......................................................36
Updating links...................................................................................... 36
Updating links automatically............................................................36
Updating links manually...................................................................37
Creating headers and footers...............................................................38
Formatting headers and footers........................................................39
Portrait headers on landscape pages................................................39
Numbering pages................................................................................. 42
Preliminaries: fields..........................................................................42
Preliminaries: insert and format a header........................................43
Simple page numbering....................................................................43
Combining header text and page number.........................................43
Changing the number format............................................................44
Numbering the first page something other than 1............................45
Numbering pages by chapter............................................................46
Restarting page numbering..............................................................47
Example: Restart page numbering: a preface................................48
Problems with restarting page numbering.......................................50
Solving the page count problem....................................................51
Numbering portrait and landscape pages.........................................53
Defining borders and backgrounds......................................................53
Adding a border................................................................................ 53
Adding color to the background........................................................54
4

Formatting Pages

Adding a graphic to the background.................................................55
Deleting color or graphics from the background..............................56

Formatting Pages

5

Introduction
Writer provides several ways for you to control page layouts:• Page styles• Columns• Frames• Tables• Sections
This chapter describes these methods and some associated things:• Headers and footers• Numbering pages• Changing page margins

Tip

Page layout is usually easier if you select the options to show
text, object, table, and section boundaries in Tools > Options> OpenOffice.org > Appearance and if you select the options
for paragraph ends, tabs, breaks, and other items in Tools >Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Formatting Aids.

Choosing a layout method
The best layout method depends on what the final document shouldlook like and what sort of information will be in the document. Hereare some examples. Do not worry if all this does not mean much to you
now. The techniques mentioned are all described in this chapter.
For a book similar to this user
guide with one column of text,
some figures without text besidethem, and some other figures withdescriptive text, use page styles forbasic layout, and use tables toplace figures beside descriptive
text, where necessary.

6

Formatting Pages

Use page styles (with two columns)
for an index or other documentwith two columns of text where thetext continues from the left-handcolumn to the right-hand column
and then to the next page, all insequence (also known as snaking
columns of text). If the title of the
document (on the first page) is fullpage width, put it in a singlecolumn section.

For a newsletter with a complex
layout, two or three columns on thepage, and some articles that
continue from one page to someplace several pages later, use pagestyles for basic layout. Place
articles in linked frames andanchor graphics to fixed positions
on the page, if necessary.

For a document with terms andtranslations to appear side-by-side
in what appear to be columns, usea table to keep items lined up so
you can type in both “columns”.

Choosing a layout method

7

Setting up basic page layout using styles
In Writer, page styles define the basic layout of all pages, including
page size, margins, the placement of headers and footers, borders andbackgrounds, number of columns, and so on.
Writer comes with several page styles, which you can build on or
modify, and you can define new (custom) page styles. You can have one
or many page styles in a single document.
Note

All pages in a Writer document are based on styles. If you do
not specify a page style, Writer uses the Default page style.

To change the layout of individual pages, either define a new pagestyle or use one of the techniques (sections, frames, or tables)
described later in this chapter.
This chapter describes some uses of page styles. Some other uses are
discussed in Chapter 6 (Introduction to Styles). The Page Style dialog
box is covered in detail in Chapter 7 (Working with Styles).

Tip

Any modifications of page styles, including the Default pagestyle, apply only to the document you are working on. If you
want the changes to be the default for all documents, you needto put the changes into a template and make that template thedefault template. See Chapter 10 (Working with Templates) for
details.

Inserting a page break without switching the style
In many documents (for example, a multi-page report), you may want
the text to flow from one page to the next as you add or delete
information. Writer does this automatically, unless you override thetext flow using one of the techniques described earlier.
If you do want a page break in a particular place, for example, to put aheading at the top of a new page, here is how to do it:1) Position the cursor in the paragraph you want to be at the start of
the next page. Right-click and choose Paragraph in the pop-up
menu.
2) On the Text Flow page of the Paragraph dialog box (Figure 1), in
the Breaks section, select Insert. Do not select With Page Style.
3) Click OK to position the paragraph at the start of the next page.

8

Formatting Pages

Figure 1: Inserting a manual page breakDefining a different first page for a document
Many documents, such as letters and reports, have a first page that isdifferent from the other pages in the document. For example, the firstpage of a letterhead typically has a different header, as shown in
Figure 2, or the first page of a report might have no header or footer,
while the other pages do. With Writer, you can define the style for the
first page and specify the style for the following page to be applied
automatically.

Figure 2: Letterhead with different page styles for first andfollowing pages
As an example, we can use the First Page and Default page styles thatcome with Writer. Figure 3 shows what we want to happen: the firstpage is to be followed by the default page, and all the following pages
are to be in the Default page style.

Setting up basic page layout using styles

9Figure 3: Flow of page styles
To set up this sequence:
1) Open the Styles and Formatting window. (Do one of the following:click the Styles and Formatting icon
located at the left-handend of the object bar, choose Format > Styles and Formatting,or press F11.)
2) On the Styles and Formatting window, click on the Page Styles
icon
to display a list of page styles.
3) Right-click on First Page and select Modify from the pop-up
menu.
4) On the Organizer page of the Page Style dialog box, look at the
Next Style property. This property defines what the page style forthe next page will be. It should be set to Default, but if it is not,you can change the next style by clicking on the drop-down
button and choosing Default from the list of page styles.

Figure 4: Setting the Next Style property for a page style5) On the other pages of this dialog box, you can turn on or off theheader and footer for the first page and define othercharacteristics, such as columns, a page border, or a page
background. For more information, see Chapter 7 (Working with
Styles).
6) Click OK to save the changes.
10

Formatting Pages

Note

You can override the Next Style property by manually insertinga page break and specifying a page style or by starting a page
with a paragraph or table that has its own page style property
defined. These techniques are described in “Inserting alandscape page into a portrait document” on page 12.

Changing page orientation within a document
A document can contain pages in more than one orientation. A
common scenario is to have a landscape page in the middle of adocument, whereas the other pages are in a portrait orientation. Hereare the steps to achieve it.

Setting up a landscape page style1) Note the page style that is current and the margin settings. (Youcan find the margin settings on the Page page of the Page Style
dialog box, as shown in Figure 6.)2) Create a new style. (Right-click on the current page style in the
Styles and Formatting window and choose New from the pop-up
menu)3) On the Organizer page of the Page Style dialog box (Figure 5),name (by typing in the Name field) this new style Landscape andset the Next Style property to Landscape (to allow for having
more than one sequential landscape page).

Figure 5: Naming the new style and setting the next
page style to Landscape4) On the Page page of the Page Style dialog box (Figure 6), set theOrientation to Landscape. The width and height attributes of thepage will automatically change.
5) Change the margins so that they correspond with the margins of
the portrait page. That is, the portrait top margin becomes thelandscape left margin, and so on.
Setting up basic page layout using styles

116) Click OK to save the changes.

Figure 6: Setting orientation and margins for a landscape page

Inserting a landscape page into a portrait document
Now that you have defined the Landscape page style, here is how toapply it.
1) Position the cursor in the paragraph or table at the start of thepage that is to be set to landscape. Right-click and choose
Paragraph or Table, respectively, in the pop-up menu.
2) On the Text Flow page of the Paragraph dialog box (Figure 7) or
the Table Format dialog box (Figure 8), select Insert (or Breakfor a table) and With Page Style. Set the Page Style property toLandscape. Click OK to close the dialog box and to apply the
new page style.
3) Position the cursor in the paragraph or table where the page is toreturn to portrait orientation and change the properties of thatparagraph or table properties so that With Page Style is theportrait page style that was used before the Landscape pagestyle.
4) Click OK to return to the previous portrait page style.

12

Formatting Pages

Figure 7: Specifying a page break before a paragraph

Figure 8: Specifying a page break before a tableTip

If you need the headers or footers on the landscape pages to bein portrait orientation, see “Portrait headers on landscapepages” on page 39.

Changing page margins
You can change page margins in two ways:• Using the page rulers—quick and easy, but does not have finecontrol.
• Using the Page Style dialog box—can specify margins to two(fractional) decimal places.
Note

If you change the margins using the rulers, the new margins
affect the page style and will be shown in the Page Style dialog
box the next time you open it.

Changing page margins

13

To change margins using the rulers:
1) The shaded sections of the rulers are the margins (see Figure 9).
Put the mouse cursor over the line between the gray and white
sections. The pointer turns into a double-headed arrow.
2) Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to move themargin.

Tip

The small arrows on the ruler are used for indenting
paragraphs. They are often in the same place as the pagemargins, so you need to be careful to move the margin marker,
not the arrows. Place the mouse pointer between the arrows
and, when the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow, you
can move the margin (the indent arrows will move with it).

Figure 9: Moving the margins
To change margins using the Page Style dialog box (Figure 6):1) Right-click anywhere on the page and select Page from the popup menu.
2) On the Page page of the dialog box, type the required distances in
the Margins boxes.

Using columns to define the page layout
You can use columns for page layout in these ways:• Define the number of columns and their layout on a page, using
page styles.
• Change the number of columns for existing text.

Defining the columns on a page
It is a good idea to define your basic page style (such as Default) withthe most common layout to be used in your document, either singlecolumn or multiple-column. You can then either define extra pagestyles for pages with different numbers of columns or use sections
14

Formatting Pages

(described in “Using sections for page layout” starting on page 28) for
pages or parts of pages with different numbers of columns.
To define the number of columns on a page:1) Choose Format > Columns or go to the Columns page of the
Page Style dialog box.
2) In the Settings area, choose the number of columns and specify
any spacing between the columns and whether you want avertical separator line to appear between the columns. You can
use one of Writer’s predefined column layouts, or you can create acustomized column layout. The preview box, located to the rightof the Settings area, shows how the column layout will look.
3) Notice the Apply to box on the right-hand side of the dialog box.
In this case, the changes are being applied to the Default pagestyle.
4) Click OK to save the changes.

Figure 10: Defining the number of columns on a page

Specifying the number of columns
The Settings area displays five predefined column layouts. To use oneof them, click the desired layout.
If you prefer to create a customized column layout, you must specify
the number of columns that you want by entering the desired numberin the Columns box.

Using columns to define the page layout

15Formatting column width and spacing
To create evenly-spaced columns that are all the same width, select the
AutoWidth option in the Width and spacing area.
To customize the width and spacing of the columns, follow these steps:
1) In the Width and spacing area, deselect the AutoWidth option.
2) On the Width line, enter a width for each column.
3) On the Spacing line, enter the amount of space that you want
between each pair of columns.
If you specify more than three columns, use the arrow keys on the
Column line to scroll among the columns.

Formatting separator lines
To display separator lines between the columns:
1) Eighteen separator line options exist: None or various lines ofthicknesses which range from 0.05 to 9 pt). From the Line dropdown list in the Separator line area, select the type of line thatyou want. (1 pt = 1 point = 1/12 pica = 1/72 inch = 127/360 mm= 0.3527 mm.)2) The default format is for the separator lines to have the sameheight as the columns. If you want the separator lines to be
shorter than the columns, use the Height box to enter the heightof the separator lines as a percentage of the height of thecolumns. For example, if you enter 50%, the separator lines will
be half as high as the columns.
3) If you entered a height of less than 100%, use the Position dropdown list to select a vertical alignment for the separator lines.
The vertical-positioning options are: Top, Centered, or Bottom.

Reverting to a single-column layout
To revert to a single-column layout for the page style, go to the
Settings area and either reset the number in the Columns box to 1 orclick the single-column layout icon.

Changing the number of columns for existing text
You might want some parts of a page to have one column and otherparts of the page to have two or more columns. For example, you might
have a page-width headline over a three-column news story.

16

Formatting Pages

You can create columns and then type or paste text into them, or you
can select some existing text and change the number of columns fordisplaying it.
When you select text and change the number of columns for that text,
Writer turns the selected text into a section, as described in “Using
sections for page layout” on page 28.

Tip

You cannot select text on a two-column page and change it to asingle column using this method. Instead, you need to define asingle-column page and then select the text you want to be in a
two-column section.

Figure 11 shows the Columns dialog box for a selection. Notice that
the Apply to box on the right-hand side has Selection highlighted andan extra option (Evenly distribute contents to all columns) appears
in the upper left-hand part of the dialog box.

Figure 11: Specifying columns for a selection

Distributing text across columns
As you add text to the section, you will see that the text flows from one
column to the next. You can distribute text across the columns in one of
two ways, as shown in Figure 12:• Evenly—Writer adjusts the length of the columns to the amountof text, so that all the columns are approximately the same height.
As you add or delete text, the columns readjust.

Using columns to define the page layout

17• Newspaper-style—Writer fills the columns one at a time,

beginning with the first column. The last column may be shorter
than the others.

Figure 12: (Left) Evenly distributed columns; (Right) Newspaperstyle columns.
To distribute text evenly, select the Evenly distribute contents to allcolumns option in the Settings area. Deselect this option if you want
to distribute text newspaper-style.

Tip

Choose View > Nonprinting Characters (or press Ctrl+F10)
to display end of paragraph markers (¶). Often, unexpectedbehavior of columns is due to extra paragraphs that arenormally invisible to the user but are taking up space.

Using frames for page layout
Frames can be very useful when producing a newsletter or otherlayout-intensive documents. Frames can contain text, tables, multiple
columns, pictures, and other objects.
Use frames when you need to:• Position something in a particular place on a page, for example, alogo or a “stop press” news box in one corner of a page.

18

Formatting Pages

• Allow text on one page to continue on another page, somewheremore distant than the next one, by linking the content of one
frame to another so the contents flow between them as you edit
the text.
• Wrap text around an object, such as a photograph.
Because OpenOffice.org does not allow you to define page styles withrecurring frames, consider doing some quick sketches of the basic
page layouts you need, indicating the approximate positions ofdifferent frames and their purposes. Try to keep the number ofdifferent page layouts as low as possible in order to avoid chaos in yourdesign.
Pay special attention to the positioning of frames. Many of thepredefined styles default to a center alignment. Although centering all
frames looks reasonably good in most cases but is rarely the best
choice.
One of the most visually effective ways to position a frame is to alignits left margin with that of the paragraph above it. To achieve thiseffect, insert the frame in a blank paragraph of the same style as theparagraph above. Then, select Insert > Frame > Type > Position >Horizontal > From Left to position the frame exactly where you wantit.
You also should think about the type of wrap and the spacing between
the frame and text. Instead of cramming a frame close to the text, use
the Wrap tab to place some white space between them.
You can format frames individually or define and apply frame styles—
see Chapter 7 (Working with Styles).
Example: Using a frame to center text on a page
Although you can center text horizontally as part of a paragraph style
or by using manual formatting, those methods do not work for verticalcentering. To center text vertically, you need to place the text in aframe, anchor the frame to a page or a paragraph, and then center theframe vertically on the page. See “Anchoring frames” on page 22.

Creating frames
You can create a frame in several ways, depending on your needs.
• Choose Insert > Frame) to create an empty frame. The Frame
dialog box (Figure 14) appears. You can click OK and come backto customize it later, or you can set the frame’s characteristics at
this stage.
Using frames for page layout

19• Select text or a graphic, choose Insert > Frame, and click OK tocreate a frame containing the selection. The selected text is
automatically deleted from the normal text flow and inserted into
the frame, and the Frame dialog box appears.
• Insert a picture or other object by selecting Insert > Picture >From file or Insert > Object to start the process to insert apicture or object. The item inserted automatically appears in aframe, but the Frame dialog box does not appear.
• Use the Insert Frame Manually

button on the Insert
toolbar (go to View > Toolbars > Insert to display it), select the
number of frames in the drop-down menu, and drag the mouse to
draw the frame.

Figure 13: Using an icon on the Insert toolbar to create a frame
When you release the mouse button, a box appears
where the cursor is located in the document. This box
represents the frame: an area isolated from the main
document.
To add content to a frame, first deselect the frame by clicking
somewhere else on the page. Then, click inside the frame so that the
cursor shifts its focus there. Now add content just like you would on
the main page. When you are done, deselect the frame.

Moving, resizing, and changing frame attributes
When an object is added to Writer, it is automatically enclosed in aframe of a predetermined type. The frame sets how the object is placedon the page, as well as how it interacts with other elements in the
document. You can edit the frame by modifying the frame style it uses
or by using a manual override when a frame is added to the document.
Frame styles are discussed in Chapter 7 (Working with Styles).
To change the size or location of a frame, first select the frame, thenuse either the mouse or the Frame dialog box (Figure 14). Using themouse is faster but less accurate. You might use the mouse for grosslayout and the dialog box for fine-tuning.
20

Formatting Pages

You can resize the frame manually (by clicking on the green squares
and dragging to the appropriate size) or start adding content to it (theframe will resize automatically if, for example, you add a large picture
to it) or go back to the Frame dialog box and set the size and othercharacteristics.
To change the location of the frame using the mouse, drag and drop
one of the edges or put the cursor anywhere within the frame. (The Ibar cursor changes to a four-headed arrow when properly positioned
for a drag-and-drop move.)
To change the size of the frame, drag one of the handles. Drag a handle
on one of the sides to enlarge or reduce the text frame in one
dimension only; drag a corner handle to enlarge or reduce it in bothdimensions.
These resizing actions distort the proportions of the frame. Holding
down the Shift key while dragging one of the handles makes the frame
keep the same proportions.
You can open the Frame dialog box at any time by selecting the frame,
right-clicking, and choosing Frame from the pop-up menu.

Figure 14: Frame dialog box

Using frames for page layout21

To remove the default border on a newly created frame, open the
Frame dialog box, go to the Borders page, and under Line Style, selectNone. Alternatively, you can assign a borderless style to the frame;
see the Chapter 7 (Working with Styles) for information on framestyles.
Tip

Do not confuse a frame’s border with the text boundaries thatare made visible using the View menu (by selecting View >Text Boundaries).

Figure 15: Removing the border from a frame

Anchoring frames
Using the Frame dialog box (or by right-clicking and pointing to
Anchor), you can anchor a frame to a page, paragraph, or character,or you can anchor it as a character.
To Page
The frame keeps the same position in relation to the page margins.
It does not move as you add or delete text. This method is usefulwhen the frame does not need to be visually associated with aparticular piece of text. It is often used when producing newslettersor other documents that are very layout-intensive. This method is
also used to center text on a page.
To Paragraph
The frame is associated with a paragraph and moves with theparagraph. It may be placed in the margin or another location. Thismethod is useful as an alternative to a table for placing icons besideparagraphs. It is also used to center text on a page in documents
which will be used in a master document (frames anchored to pages
will disappear from the master document).

22

Formatting Pages

To Character
The frame is associated with a character but is not in the text
sequence. It moves with the paragraph but may be placed in themargin or another location. This method is similar to anchoring to aparagraph.
As Character
The frame is placed in the document like any other character and,
therefore, affects the height of the text line and the line break. The
frame moves with the paragraph as you add or delete text before theparagraph. This method is useful for adding a small icon in sequencein a sentence. It is also the best method for anchoring a graphic toan empty paragraph so it does not move around the page in
unexpected ways.

Linking frames
You can link frames to each other even when they are on different
pages of a document. The contents will automatically flow from one to
the next. This technique is very useful when designing newsletters,
where articles may need to be continued on a different page.
Note

You cannot link from a frame to more than one other frame.

To link one frame to another:
1) Select the frame to be linked from.
2) Click the Link Frames iconon the object bar.

3) Click the next frame in the series (which must be empty).
When a linked frame is selected, any existing links are indicated by afaint connecting line, as shown in Figure 16. Note that any framelinking line will not be as clear as illustrated in the figure.

Figure 16: Linked frames
The height of a frame that is being linked from is fixed; you can change
this height manually or by using the Frame dialog box, but it does not
Using frames for page layout

23automatically adjust to the size of the contents (that is, the AutoHeight
attribute is disabled). Only the last frame of a chain can adapt its
height to the content.
The Options page of the Frame dialog box shows the names of theselected frame and any frames it is linked to or from. You can change
this information here. On this page, you can also select options toprotect the contents, position, and size of the frame.

Figure 17: Options page of the Frame dialog box
On the Hyperlink page, you can specify the file for the hyperlink to
open. This file can be on your machine, a network, or the Internet.

Figure 18: Hyperlink page of the Frame dialog box
The Wrap, Borders, Background, Columns, and Macro pages of the
Frame dialog box are the same as those for frame styles. Refer to the
Chapter 7 (Working with Styles) for details.

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Formatting Pages

Using tables for page layout
Writer’s tables can serve several purposes, such as holding data as you
might see it in a spreadsheet, lining up material, and creating more
complex page layouts. For information about using tables of data, see
Chapter 9 (Working with Tables).
This topic describes how to achieve some common layouts by using
tables.

Example: Creating sideheads using tables
Sideheads and marginal notes are commonly used in documents fromresumes to computer user guides. The main body of the text is offset toleave white space (usually on the left-hand side) in which the sideheads
or notes are placed. The first paragraph is aligned beside the sidehead,as in Figure 19.
Example of asideheadIn some cases you may want to put only one or two paragraphs inthe table itself and the rest of the text and graphics in ordinary
paragraphs (formatted to line up with the paragraphs in thetable) so that text and graphics will flow more easily from one
page to another when you add or delete material.
In other cases, you might put each paragraph in a separate row of
the table and allow the table to break between pages.

Figure 19: Example of a sidehead
Note

Sideheads can also be created by placing text in a frame using
the Marginalia frame style, as described in the Chapter 7(Working with Styles).

To create a table for use with a sidehead:
1) Place the cursor where you want the table to appear and choose
Insert > Table (Ctrl+F12).
2) In the Insert Table dialog box, define a one-row, two-column tablewith no border and no heading. Click OK to create the table.

Using tables for page layout

25

Figure 20: Defining a two-column borderless table withno header
3) Right-click on the table and choose Table from the pop-up menu.
On the Columns page of the Table Format dialog box, make thecolumns the required width.

Figure 21: Defining a two-column table to line up withtext offset at 1.2 inches
4) On the Table page of the Table Format dialog box (Figure 22), in
the Spacing section, make the Above and Below values the sameas the Top and Bottom spacing you have defined for ordinary
paragraphs of text. Click OK to save your settings.

26

Formatting Pages

Figure 22: Defining the space above and below a table

Tip

To check the top and bottom spacing for ordinary paragraphs:
1) Position the cursor in a paragraph and press F11 (unless the
Styles and Formatting window is already open). Check that
the Styles and Formatting window shows paragraph styles(top left button).
2) The current style should be highlighted. If no paragraphstyle is highlighted, select All Styles in the bottom dropdown list. Right-click on it and select Modify from the popup list.
3) Go to the Indents & Spacing page and look in the Spacingarea for the values in Above paragraph and Below
paragraph.

You may also want to turn off number recognition so that Writer will
not try to format numbers if you want them to be plain text. To turnnumber recognition off:
1) Right-click in the table and then click Number Format on the
pop-up menu.
2) On the Number Format dialog box, make sure the Category is set
to Text. Click OK.
Tip

If you use this table format often, you may want to save it as
AutoText, as described in Chapter 3 (Working with Text).
Select the table (not just the contents) to assign the shortcut.

Using tables for page layout

27

Figure 23: Setting number format to Text

Using sections for page layout
A section is a block of text that has special attributes and formatting.
You can use sections to:• Write-protect text
• Hide text
• Dynamically insert the contents of another document• Add columns, margin indents, a background color, or abackground graphic to a portion of your document• Customize the footnotes and endnotes for a portion of yourdocument

Creating sections
To create a section:
1) Place the cursor at the point in your document where you want toinsert the new section. Or, select the text that you want to placein the new section.
2) From the main menu, choose Insert > Section. The Insert
Section dialog box opens.
3) Click the Section tab, if it is not already displayed.
The Insert Section dialog box has five tabbed pages:• Use the Section page to set the section’s attributes.
• Use the Columns page to format the section into columns.
• Use the Indents page to set indents in the right and left marginsof the section.
• Use the Background page to add color or a graphic to thesection’s background.
• Use the Footnotes/Endnotes page to customize the section’sfootnotes and endnotes.
28

Formatting Pages

At any time, you can reset a tabbed page to its default settings byclicking the Reset button. (Note, however, that you cannot reset theSection page. If you wish to undo changes to the Section page, youmust do so manually.)
Use the Section page to set the attributes of the current section.

Figure 24: Inserting a section using the Insert Section
dialog box

Naming sections
Writer automatically enters a name for the current section in the top
box of the New section area. To change the name, select it and typeover it. The name is displayed in the Sections category of theNavigator window. If you give your sections meaningful names, you cannavigate to them more easily.

Linking sections
You can insert the contents of another document into the current
section and then have Writer update the section whenever the otherdocument is updated. This is called linking the section to the otherdocument.
To link the current section to another document, follow these steps:
1) In the Link area, select the Link option.
Using sections for page layout

29

Figure 25: Linking sections
2) Click the (...) button to the right of the File name field. The Insert
dialog box opens.
3) Find and select the document you want to insert and then click
the Insert button. The Insert dialog box closes and the name ofthe selected document appears in the File name field.
4) If you want to insert only a section of the selected document,
select the desired section from the Section drop-down list.
Note

The section must already exist in the selected document. You
cannot create a section in the selected document at this point.

You can update links automatically or manually. See “Updating links”
on page 36.

Write-protecting sections
To write-protect the current section so that its contents cannot beedited, select the Protect option in the Write protection area.

Figure 26: Write-protecting sections
Note

Write-protection protects only the section’s contents, not its
attributes or format.

Password-protecting sections
To prevent others from editing the section’s attributes or format,
protect the section with a password, as follows:
1) Select the With password option. The Enter Password dialog box
opens.
2) Type a password in the Password field and then confirm thepassword by typing it again in the Confirm field.

30

Formatting Pages

3) Click OK. The Enter Password dialog box closes. Anyone whotries to edit the section’s attributes or format will be prompted toenter the password.

Figure 27: Password-protecting a section
Note

Passwords must contain at least five characters. The OK
button remains inactive until you have typed five characters.

Hiding sections
You can hide the current section so that it will not be displayed on thescreen or printed. You can also specify conditions for hiding thesection. For example, you can hide the section only from certain users.
Note

You cannot hide a section if it is the only content on the pageor if the section is in a header, footer, footnote, endnote, frame,or table cell.

To hide a section, select the Hide option in the Hide area.

Figure 28: Hiding sections
To hide the section only under certain conditions, enter the desiredconditions in the With Condition field. The syntax and operators thatyou use to enter conditions are the same ones that you use to enter
formulas. For syntax and a list of operators, see Writer’s online help
under conditions.
If the section is write-protected with a password, the password must beentered to hide or reveal the text.

Note

Hiding text is not a secure way to stop someone else reading
it. It will stop the casual reader but will not prevent someone
who actively wants to find out what you have hidden―even if it
is password protected.

Using sections for page layout

31Formatting a section into columns
Use the Columns page of the Insert Section dialog box to format thecurrent section into columns. This page is very similar to the Columns
dialog box shown in Figure 11 on page 17. Please refer to that topic fordetails.

Indenting the section from margins
Use the Indents page, pictured in Figure 29, to set indents in the rightand left margins of the current section. Enter the desired left-marginindent in the Before section box. Enter the desired right-margin indent
in the After section box. The preview box on the right-hand side of thepage shows you how the section will look with the indents applied.

Figure 29: Indenting sections

Changing the background of the section
Use the Background page to add color or a graphic to the backgroundof the current section. This page is similar to the Background pages forparagraphs, frames, tables, and other objects in OOo. For more
information, refer to Chapter 7 (Working with Styles).

Customizing footnotes and endnotes in a section
Use the Footnotes/Endnotes page, pictured in Figure 30, to customize
the current section’s footnotes and endnotes.
Customizing footnotes
If you want the current section’s footnotes to appear separately fromthe other footnotes in the document, select the Collect at end of text
option in the Footnotes area.

32

Formatting Pages

To number the current section’s footnotes separately from the otherfootnotes in the document, follow these steps:
1) In the Footnotes area, make sure that the Collect at end of text
option is selected.
2) Select the Restart numbering option.
3) If you want the section’s footnotes to start at a number other than1, enter the desired starting number in the Start at spin box.

Figure 30: Setting footnotes and endnotes for sections
To edit the format of the section’s footnotes, follow these steps:
1) In the Footnotes area, make sure that the Collect at end of text
and Restart numbering options are selected.
2) Select the Custom format option.
3) From the drop-down list under and to the right of the Custom
format option, select a numbering format for the footnotes.
4) To add text to the selected numbering format, use the Before andAfter fields. For example, if you want the footnote numbers to bepreceded by the word “Note” and followed by a colon, fill the
Before and After fields like this:Using sections for page layout

33

Figure 31: Numbering footnotes for sections
Customizing endnotes
If you want the current section’s endnotes to appear at the end of thesection rather than at the end of the document, select the Collect at
end of section option in the Endnotes area.
To number the current section’s endnotes separately from the otherendnotes in the document, follow these steps:
1) In the Endnotes area, make sure that the Collect at end ofsection option is selected.
2) Select the Restart numbering option.
3) If you want the section’s endnotes to start at a number other than1, enter the desired starting number in the Start at spin box.
To edit the format of the section’s endnotes, follow these steps:
1) In the Endnotes area, make sure that the Collect at end ofsection and Restart numbering options are selected.
2) Select the Custom format option.
3) From the drop-down list under and to the right of the Custom
format option, select a numbering format for the endnotes.
4) To add text to the selected numbering format, use the Before andAfter fields, as shown above for footnotes (Figure 31).

Saving a new section
To save a new section so that it appears in your document, click theInsert button. The Insert Section dialog box closes and the newsection appears in your document.

Editing and deleting sections
You can edit a section’s attributes and formatting, and you can alsodelete sections by using Format > Sections.

34

Formatting Pages

To select the section that you want to edit or delete, follow these steps:
1) From the main menu, choose Format > Sections. The Edit
Sections dialog box opens.
2) The name of the current section appears in the Section area, inthe field above the list box. If you want to edit or delete a
different section, click the name of the desired section in the list.
The selected section becomes the current section, and its nameappears in the field above the list box.

Figure 32: Edit Sections dialog box

Deleting sections
To delete the current section, click the Remove button.
Note

Writer will not prompt you to confirm the delete! To undo adelete, click the Cancel button.

Editing section attributes
To rename the current section, simply type over its name in the
Section area.
From the Edit Sections dialog box, you can also edit the current
section’s link, write-protect, and hide attributes. To learn how to edit
these attributes, see:
“Linking sections” on page 29.
“Write-protecting sections” on page 30.
“Hiding sections” on page 31.
Using sections for page layout

35

Editing the format of a section
To edit the format of the current section, click the Options button. The
Options dialog box opens.
The Options dialog box has four tabbed pages: Columns, Indents,
Background, and Footnotes/Endnotes. The use of these pages is
described earlier in this topic.
To reset a page to its most recently saved settings, click the Resetbutton.
To save your Options settings and return to the Edit Sections dialog
box, click OK.

Figure 33: Options dialog box for sections

Updating links
You can set Writer to update linked sections automatically, and you canalso update links manually.

Updating links automatically
To set Writer to update links without prompting you, or to turn off
automatic updating, follow these steps:
1) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > General.
The dialog box displays general text document settings.

36

Formatting Pages

2) In the Update area, under Update links when loading, select oneof the following three options:•••

Select Always if you want Writer to update links
automatically, without prompting you, whenever you open adocument that contains links.
Select On request if you want Writer to prompt you before
updating links.
Select Never if you do not want Writer to update links.

3) Click OK to save your settings. The Options dialog box closes.

Updating links manually
To update a link manually:
1) Open the document that contains the link.
2) Choose Edit > Links. The Edit Links dialog box opens.

Figure 34: Edit Links dialog box3) The list in the Edit Links dialog box displays the names of all thefiles that are linked to the current document. Click the file that
corresponds to the link that you want to update.

Updating links

374) Click the Update button. The most recently saved contents of thelinked file appear in the current document.
5) To close the Edit Links dialog box, click Close.

Creating headers and footers
Headers are portions of a document that always appear at the top of apage; footers appear at the bottom of a page. Typically, headers display
the title or chapter name of a document.
In OOo, headers are specified by page styles; therefore, when inserted,
all the pages with the same page style will display the same header.
Chapter 7 describes how to format a header as part of the page styleformatting. For the purpose of this example, we will insert a header inthe Default pages using manual formatting.
Select from the main menu Insert > Header > [Page Style]. The
submenu lists the page styles used in your document. In addition, thesubmenu includes the entry All, which activates headers on all thepages of the document regardless of their page style.
For our example, select the Default menu item to activate the headers
only on the pages that use the Default page style. Similarly, to insert afooter, choose Insert > Footer.
CautionThe Insert Menu can also be used for deleting a preexistingheader or footer for a page style. If that page style has a check
mark in front of it, clicking on it opens an OOo dialog box
warning about this and asking whether you want to delete theheader or footer for that particular page style.

Depending on which option you choose, an area will appear at the top
or bottom of the page. In this area you can enter text and graphics thatwill appear on every page.

Figure 35. A page with a page header

38

Formatting Pages

Items such as document titles, chapter titles, and page numbers, which
often go into headers and footers, are best added as fields. That way, if
something changes, the headers and footers are all updated
automatically.
Fields are covered in Chapter 14 (Working with Fields), but one
example here may be useful. To insert the document title into theheader:1) Select File > Properties > Description, enter a title for yourdocument in the Title area, and click OK to close the dialog box.
2) Add a header (Insert > Header > Default).
3) Place the cursor in the header part of the page.
4) Select Insert > Fields > Title. The title should appear on a graybackground (which does not show when printed and can beturned off).
5) To change the title for the whole document, choose File >Properties > Description.

Formatting headers and footers
In Writer headers and footers are considered paragraphs and therefore
you can format the header or footer text using the same techniques
you use for formatting text in the main body of the document.

Tip

You can define styles for headers and footers so that you canquickly obtain a consistent formatting in case you use several
page styles. Writer includes three predefined header styles andthree footer styles: generic ones, for left pages, and for rightpages. You can also add custom header and footer styles.

Portrait headers on landscape pages
When you define a header and footer on a landscape page, they will bealigned with the long side of the page. If your landscape pages aregoing to be inserted between portrait pages, you might want theheaders and footers to be on the short sides of the landscape pages, so
the final printed product looks like the contents of the landscape pages
have been rotated 90 degrees on portrait pages.
You can set up portrait headers and footers on landscape pages byusing a trick involving frames. These are a bit tedious to set up, but
once you have done so, you can copy and paste them to otherlandscape pages. There does not appear to be a way to make this partof the landscape page style.
Creating headers and footers39

To set up portrait headers and footers on landscape pages:
1) Calculate the required margins so the text area of the landscape
page is the same size as the text area on the portrait pages,
taking into account the space for headers and footers on the
portrait pages. For example, consider a book which uses themargins shown in the following table. The landscape right and left
margins are 1 cm larger than the portrait top and bottom
margins, respectively. This difference accounts for the extra spaceused by the portrait header and footer (0.5 cm for the height of
the header or footer and a 0.5 cm gap between the header orfooter and the main text).
Portrait page (right page)

Landscape page (right page)Top margin

1.5 cmRight margin

2.5 cm

Bottom margin

1.5 cmLeft margin

2.5 cmLeft (inner) margin

2.8 cmTop margin

2.8 cmRight (outer) margin

1.8 cm

Bottom margin

1.8 cm2) Create the Landscape page style.
3) Measure the distance from the upper and left edges of the page tothe upper left-hand corner of the space where you want the footer
to appear. Measure the width and length of the space the footer
will occupy (to match footers on portrait pages).

Figure 36: Measuring the location and size of the footer frame
40

Formatting Pages

4) In a blank paragraph in the text, type the footer text or insert
fields such as the page number or the chapter number and name—to match the footer text and fields on the portrait pages. Assign
the Footer style to this paragraph so the typeface, font size, andtab settings match those of the footers on the portrait pages.
5) Select the text (including the fields) you just entered. Choose
Format > Character. On the Character dialog box, choose thePosition tab and set Rotation / scaling to 270 degrees(counterclockwise). Click OK.

Figure 37: Rotating the footer text 270 degrees6) With the text still selected, choose Insert > Frame. In the Frame
dialog box, choose the Type tab and enter the width, height, andhorizontal and vertical position for the footer.

Figure 38: Defining the size and position of the footer frame

Creating headers and footers417) If your footer has a line above the text, as in this book, on the
Borders page, select a right border and specify the line width andspacing to the frame’s contents.

Figure 39: Specifying the border position, line width,and spacing to contents
8) Click OK to save these settings. The footer should now appear in
the required position and orientation.
Repeat these steps (using appropriate measurements) to set up a
portrait header on the landscape page.

Numbering pages
This section describes techniques to insert page numbers and related
information in a document. Some basic knowledge of page styles,
which are fully described in chapters 6 and 7, may be needed to follow
some of the examples given.

Preliminaries: fields
OpenOffice.org uses fields to manage page numbers. To insert a page
number field, position the cursor where you want to insert the number
and choose Insert > Fields > Page Number. The page number
appears with a gray background. The gray background denotes a field.
Note

42

The gray background is simply there to denote a field. Thisbackground is not printed. If you wish to turn this feature off,choose View > Field Shadings (or press Ctrl+F8.

Formatting Pages

The page number field always displays the page number for the page
where it is placed. If you see the words “Page number” instead of anumber, press Ctrl+F9. This shortcut key toggles OOo between
displaying the field’s contents (what the field is for) and the field’s
results (what the field creates).
Note

For a full introduction to fields, see Chapter 14 (Working withFields).

Preliminaries: insert and format a header
For the purpose of this example, we will insert a header in the Default
page style pages using manual formatting. See “Creating headers andfooters” on page 38.

Simple page numbering
The simplest case is to have the page number at the top of every pageand nothing more. To do this, put the cursor on the header and selectInsert > Fields > Page Number.

Figure 40: Page number inserted in the header
Now the correct page number appears on every page.

Combining header text and page number
There are a lot of interesting variations that you can apply without
further knowledge of page styles. Here are some suggestions:• Right-align the header to make the page number appear on the
top-right.
• Type the word page before the page number field so the header
reads page 1, page 2, and so on. This also requires using thePage Number field, discussed earlier (page 42).
Numbering pages

43• Add the document title so the header reads, for example: Peter's

favourite poems, left justified, and page x with rightjustification, where x is the value of the Page Number field.
Consider using a (right-aligned) tab to separate the title from thepage number.
• 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 41.

Figure 41: Variations on the simple page numbering method

Changing the number format
Many more variations are possible. For example, you can set the page
number to display in Roman numerals. To do that, you could doubleclick on the page number and select the desired format; however, abetter choice is to specify the format of numbers in the page style as
explained here.
In the Styles and Formatting window (press F11 if not alreadydisplayed) select the Page Styles icon and right-click on thehighlighted entry for the current style. Select Modify, which opens the
Page Style dialog box.
On the Page page of the Page Style dialog box, in the Layout settings
section, select i, ii, iii, ... from the Format drop-down list.

44

Formatting Pages

Figure 42: Changing format of page numbers

Numbering the first page something other than 1
Sometimes you may want to start a document with a page number
greater than 1. For example, you may be writing a book, with eachchapter in a separate file. Chapter 1 may start with page 1, but
Chapter 2 could begin with page 25 and Chapter 3 with page 51.
Follow these instructions to start the page numbering in a document at
a number greater than 1. (These instructions are for a page number ina footer, but you could use a header instead.)Tip

Do not set a starting page number that is an even number
because you will end up with a blank page before the firstpage when you print the file or export it as a PDF.

1) Choose Insert > Footer > [page style] to activate the footer. (Ifthe page style is already selected in the Footer menu, point to it
and click OK in the OpenOffice.org 2.0 dialog box that appears.
Then point to that page style again to select it.)2) The cursor is now in the footer. To insert the page number, choose
Insert > Fields > Page Number. The page number will be 1.
3) Click in the first paragraph in the text area or type a paragraph oftext.
4) Choose Format > Paragraph (or right-click and choose
Paragraph from the pop-up menu) to display the Paragraphdialog box.
5) On the Text Flow page, in the Breaks section, select Insert andselect Page in the Type drop-down list. Select With Page Styleand the page style you are using for the first page of the
document.
6) The Page number field is now active. Type the page number you
want to start with. Click OK to close the Paragraph dialog box.

Numbering pages

45

Numbering pages by chapter
Technical documents often include the chapter number with the page
number in the header or footer. For example, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, ...; 2-1, 2-2,
2-3, ...
To set up this type of page numbering in OOo, you need to do three
things:1) Ensure that your chapter titles are all identified by the same
paragraph style, for example, the Heading1 style.
2) Use Tools > Outline Numbering to tell OOo what paragraphstyle you are using for Level 1 in your outline, and specify “1,2,3”
in the Number box.

Figure 43: Specifying paragraph style and numbering
for chapter titles
3) Insert the chapter number in your document. To do this:a) Place the cursor in the header or footer just before the page
number you inserted earlier, and choose Insert > Fields >Other from the menu bar.
b) On the Fields dialog, go to the Document page. SelectChapter in the Type list, Chapter number in the Format list,and 1 in the Layer box. Click Insert.
c) Type a hyphen or other punctuation between the chapter
number and the page number.

46

Formatting Pages

For more information, see “Choosing paragraph styles for outline
levels” and “Including chapter or section information in page headers”
in Chapter 7 (Working with Styles).

Figure 44: Inserting a chapter number field

Restarting page numbering
Often you will want to restart the page numbering at 1, for example, on
the page following a title page or a table of contents. In addition, many
documents have the front matter (such as the table of contents)
numbered with Roman numerals and the main body of the document
numbered in Arabic numerals, starting with 1.
You can restart page numbering in two ways.
Method 1:
1) Place the cursor in the first paragraph of the new page.
2) Choose Format > Paragraph.
3) On the Text Flow page of the Paragraph dialog box (Figure 7 on
page 13), select Insert in the Breaks area.
4) In the Type drop-down list, select Page.

Numbering pages

475) In the Position drop-down list, select Before or After to position
where you want to insert the page break.
6) Select With Page Style and specify the page style to use.
7) Specify the page number to start from and then click OK.
Method 2:
1) Place the cursor in the first paragraph of the new page.
2) Choose Insert > Manual break.
3) Page break is the default selected on the Insert Break dialog
box.

Figure 45: Restarting page numbering
after a manual page break4) Choose the required page in the Style drop-down list.
5) Select Change page number.
6) Specify the page number to start from and then click OK.

Example: Restart page numbering: a preface
A standard preface has the following properties:• Page numbers are displayed in Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, …).
• After the preface, the document starts on a Default page.
• The page number resets to 1, and the number format becomesArabic (1, 2, 3, 4, …).
Resetting the page number requires page breaks.
First, let’s get the preliminary work done for the Preface style:
1) Create a new page style and name it Preface.
2) Set its Next Style to Preface because a preface could span
multiple pages.

48

Formatting Pages

3) Add a header to Preface and insert the Page Number field. Make
the page numbers display as Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, …):a) Open the page style window for Preface (if not already open)
and click the Header tab. Select Header on under Header.
b) Click the Page tab. Under Layout settings, in the Format
drop-down list, set the format to i, ii, iii, …. Click OK to closethe dialog box.

Figure 46. Set page number format to Roman numerals.
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:
1) Make an empty paragraph at the very end of the preface.
2) Put the cursor on the blank line.
3) Choose Insert > Manual Break.
4) Select Page break and choose the Default style.
5) Select the Change page number option and set the new value to
1. Click OK to close the dialog box.
These settings are shown in Figure 47.

Numbering pages

49

Figure 47: Set the new page number to
1 and the page style to Default.

Note

You cannot assign an odd page number to a left page or aneven page number to a right page. OOo strongly adheres tothe convention that odd page numbers go on right-hand pages
and even page numbers on left-hand pages.

This change is also reflected on the status bar. The Page section of thestatus bar now includes both the total page count and the entry of thepage number field.

Figure 48: Page number in the status bar

Problems with restarting page numbering
Restarting page numbering may lead to two problems.
• The Statistics page in the document’s Properties (File >Properties) always displays the total number of pages in the
document, which may not be what you want to appear in the Page
Count field.
• When page numbering is restarted, OOo always makes oddnumbered pages to be on the right and even-numbered pages tobe on the left. It does this by inserting a blank page, if necessary.
Sometimes this blank page is not desired, particularly whencreating PDFs or when printing single sided.
50

Formatting Pages

Solving the page count problem
Suppose you know exactly how many pages are not to be included in
the page count. (You want one page to be excluded in the page countfor the following example.)
Instead of inserting a Page Count field, you can do the following:
1) Position the cursor where you want the page count to appear.
2) Press F2 to open the formula bar, just above the horizontal ruler
in the main Writer window (see Figure 49).
3) After the equal sign, type page –1. If you want to exclude several
pages, substitute the number of excluded pages for 1 in theformula.
4) Press Enter to close the formula bar and insert the resulting field
into the document.

Figure 49: Formula bar
If you do not know the total number of pages in advance, then one
approach is to create a bookmark on the last page and then insert across reference to it.
To create a bookmark on the last page:
1) Go to the last page (Ctrl+End).
2) Choose Insert > Bookmark.
3) In the Insert Bookmark dialog box, type a name for the bookmark,for example LastPage. Click OK.

Figure 50: Inserting a bookmark.

Numbering pages51

To insert a cross-reference to the last page in the header or footer
where you want to refer to the total number of pages:
1) Position the cursor at the desired location—for example after the
space added after of in the header or footer, as in page xx of yy.
2) Choose Insert > Cross-reference.
3) On the Cross-references page of the Fields dialog box, selectBookmarks in the Type column and LastPage in the Selection
column. LastPage now appears in the Name box.
4) In the Insert Reference to box, select As page style. Click Insert.

Note

Do not delete the bookmark at the end of the document. If you
do, the cross-reference will not work.
If a field, such as a cross-reference, does not automatically
update, select the text containing the field and press F9.

Figure 51: Inserting a cross-reference to a bookmarkon the last page of a document52

Formatting Pages

Numbering portrait and landscape pages
To create page numbers on portrait and landscape pages in the sameplace and orientation:
1) Refer to “Portrait headers on landscape pages” on page 39 tocreate a landscape page style and landscape header or footer
styles. When creating the page style, select the Use dynamic
spacing option in the Spacing area in the Header or Footer pagesof the Page Style dialog box.
2) Insert the page break and choose the landscape page style; do notchange the page numbering.
3) In the relevant header or footer, insert the page number field(Insert > Fields > Page Number).

Defining borders and backgrounds
You can apply borders and backgrounds to many elements in Writer.
Paragraphs, pages, frames, sections, page styles, paragraph styles, andframe styles can include both borders and backgrounds; characterstyles, tables of contents, and indexes can include backgrounds only.
The dialog box pages for borders and backgrounds are similar in eachcase. To illustrate their use, we will define a border and backgroundfor a text frame.

Tip

Page backgrounds fill only the area within the margins,
including the header or footer (if any). To extend the backgroundcolor or graphic into the margins, you need to define a frame of
appropriate size and position, anchor it to the page or aparagraph, and send it to the background. For more aboutanchoring frames, see Chapter 8 (Working with Graphics).

Adding a border
To begin, select the frame, right-click, and choose Frame from the popup menu. Choose the Borders tab.
Borders have three components: where they go, what they look like,and how much space is left around them.
• Line arrangement specifies where the borders go. Writer provides
five default arrangements but you can just as easily click on theline you want to customize in the User-defined area to get exactly
what you want. Each line can be individually formatted.
Defining borders and backgrounds

53Figure 52: Frame dialog box: Borders page
• Line specifies what the border looks like: the style and color.

There are a number of different styles and colors to choose from.
The Line Style and Color will apply to those borders highlighted
by a pair of black arrows in the User-defined map on the left handside of the dialog box.
• Spacing to contents specifies how much space to leave between
the border and the contents of the element. Spaces can be
specified to the left, right, above, and below. Check Synchronize
to have the same spacing for all four sides. This spacing is like a
padding and it is not factored in when calculating the text
measurements.
• Shadow style properties always apply to the whole element. A
shadow has three components: where it is, how far from theelement it is cast, and what color it is.

Adding color to the backgroundIn the Frame dialog box, choose the Background page. Here you can
add color or a graphic.
To add color to the background, select from the color grid. You canadjust the transparency of the color to make any text easier to read.

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Formatting Pages

Figure 53: Frame dialog box: Background page showing
color choices

Adding a graphic to the backgroundTo add a graphic to the background:
1) From the As drop-down list on the Background page, selectGraphic. The page now displays the graphics options, as shownin Figure 53.
2) Click the Browse button. The Find Graphics dialog box opens.
3) Find the file you want and then click the Open button. The Find
Graphics dialog box closes and the selected graphic appears in
the preview box on the right-hand side of the Background tab. (Ifyou do not see the graphic, select the Preview option.)
4) To embed the graphic in your document, deselect Link. To link
the graphic to the document but not embed it, select Link. For
more about linking graphics, see Chapter 8 (Working with
Graphics).
5) In the Type area, choose how you want the background graphic toappear:•To position the graphic in a specific location, select Position
and then click the desired location in the position grid.

Defining borders and backgrounds

55

•
•

To stretch the graphic to fill the entire background area,
select Area.
To repeat the graphic across the entire background area,
select Tile.

6) In the Transparency area, you can adjust the transparency of thegraphic. This adjustment is often necessary to make any text
easier to read.

Figure 54: Graphic options on the Background page of the
Frame dialog box

Deleting color or graphics from the backgroundTo delete color or graphics from the background:
1) From the As drop-down list, select Color.
2) Click No Fill on the color grid.

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Formatting Pages