I have been busy working on the layout of Shaped in Life’s Quarry. I had to put all the book on 6×9 paper. I really wrestled with Microsoft Word over page numbering. Each section of the book had its own section in Word.
The front part had small Roman numerals for page numbers (i, ii, iii, etc. ). From Introduction on to the end had Aramaic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc). The headers were set to print on odd numbered or even numbered pages so that when the book was opened, the far left side would have the title of the book and the far right side would have my name.
OK, I’ll get a little geeky here but maybe there is someone out there fighting with these page numbers so I’ll tell you how to do it. This is probably the last place someone will look for a fix to a pesky problem. If Google brings you to this page, then what I’m about to show you is worth a lot, so buy one of my books.
First, for page numbers in the bottom paragraph and a top margin with different odd and even page numbered headers, do this for the footer page numbers. You will begin at a different section. Uncheck the different first page box. (Just stay with me, the order you do things is important)
Second click in the bottom margin of the document and then click on Insert Page Numbers, bottom center. This will give you a page number on the 1st page.
Third, now, you check the box for different for first page. The page number showing on page # 1 of the section will disappear – but trust me, it’s still there.
Fourth, scroll down to page 2 and you will see that there is no page # there. You are doing it right so don’t panic.
Fifth put your cursor in the bottom margin and click insert page number, then take the option to insert page numbers in the bottom center of the page. You should see then the page number immediately following the number that you saw on page 1.
Why did you have to put a page number again on the 2nd page? If you have the odd/even option taken, Word assumes that you want a footer different too so you must put the page number at the bottom of page 2, the even page to go along with the page number you entered on page 1, the odd page.
The key is to do it in order as set it out above. Checking that Different on first page AFTER you insert the page number on page 1 of the section is the important thing to remember. I fought with Word for hours before I finally figured that out.
I even had to tell Microsoft Co-Pilot, the AI assistant for Microsoft how to do it. They owe me big time.
I got the book laid out and added a section for Acknowledgement. I also added Scripture index and the story index using Google’s Gemini AI for assistance. Gemini seemed to be faster and more accurate.
So, I am waiting on just one piece to insert before publishing. I hope to get it this coming week.
That’s my update for now. I’ll write more next week.
