I found a thread in the old support forum saying this feature would be introduced in OO4, but it seems that it wasn’t. Here is my use case:
I write academic book/thesis outlines in OO. Usually these outlines start with a “pre” section which isn’t number.
Pre-amble
Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
This requires that either the first row is ignored in the numbering or I can state a start number (such as 0). It is standard practice for the introduction the be the the second section but first numbered section. Not having this option is a little frustrating as I have to manually add my numbering. Which makes the auto numbering a little pointless. Any work around that anyone can think of?
I thought this would be straightforward, but I can’t find a built-in solution, either.
Here is a work-around, although not a good one.
Once everything is written, print it twice. The first time with no numbering on the sections. Use this for the first two sections.
The second time, throw away the Preamble, then turn numbering back on. This will print:
Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 etc.
So throw away the introduction, leavimg you with properly numbered Chapters 2, 3, etc.
Now you have to merge the two documents, making sure the pagination stays the same.
Good luck!
By the way, can I see an example of something you have written in this way? I find OO results are too rough for any final text. If you use it to go straight to finished prose, I’d like to see a sample.
Here, I’ve committed the sin of reviving a zombie thread because I can’t find how to do this in OO5 Pro. This seems easy, and yet it isn’t? (Am I wrong in remembering that you used to be able to do this in OO2?)
It’s a bit of a kludge, but you could create a number column, number the sections in the order you want them to appear, and sort by that column Lowest to Highest. (Remember to remove any sorting from the main column).
Not as elegant as specifying the row start number, but it works.
