When FORMATTING a HEADER with a PAGE NUMBER, it always starts at 1. I'm using "Insert - Fields - Page Number." "Format - Paragraph - Text flow" only works in the main body NOT in the header. Double clicking on the page number and editing offset makes the numbers go backward. I've been all over the help menus. How can I start a chapter on a page number that can be greater than 1 and have it automatically increment each page thereafter. I'm writing a book with chapters such that each chapter is an individual file. I've recently switched from Microsoft Word 2000. It had no problem such as this in Word.
Here is bug tracker where one should post with a definite conclusion about a bug, and with a LO version where it happens. User questions should be posted on ask.libreoffice.org. If the answer is something rather simple such as: Insert - Manual Break, please close this bug as Invalid.
Yep, let's wait for the sages of http://ask.libreoffice.org/ to answer before deciding. Setting to NEEDINFO.
LibreOffice 4.4.3.2. (Writer) (Fedora 21, Gnome 3.14.) I have noticed this buggy behavior for some time. (Note: I insert page offset values using: Insert Field->More Fields->Page-> entering value Offset window. That is the only way I know how to do it.) In a newly created document inserting page numbers using an offset value doesn't work (it inserts a blank space) unless I insert a Page Break with manually changed page number (any value): at this point I may use offset page values in ALL pages (including the first one without manually changed page number). Deleting the newly created page with the manually changed page number deletes all offset page numbering values in the first page (e.g. returns to the previous state). In other words: the offset page numbering value works ONLY if there is in a document at least one page with manually changed page number. Same results when inserting it in Header, Footer or on the body of a page.
1. New Text Document. 2. Right click first paragraph → Paragraph → Text Flow → under Breaks, check Insert, check With page style and change page number to “1” and OK. Result: Status Bar shows Page 1 of 1 and you can have a field in the header with an offset. Or you can set the page number to "5" and the Status Bar will show Page 1 of 1 (Page 5). From the Help: If you want, you can enter an Offset for the displayed page number. With an Offset value of 1, the field will display a number that is 1 more than the current page number, but only if a page with that number exists. On the last page of the document, this same field will be empty. If you want to change the actual page number and not the displayed number, do not use the Offset value. To change page numbers, read the Page Numbers guide. Windows Vista 64 Version: 4.4.3.2 Build ID: 88805f81e9fe61362df02b9941de8e38a9b5fd16