Section Manager loses functionality with increased pages.

[Omitade]

build ..1781

I am using the section manager to organize a planner. It worked without a hitch up to section 6. I reached section 7 which should begin on page 44 and the page number will not be accepted. I can type in 44 in the box, hit enter and it goes back to 37. If I use the radio button to restart numbering instead of continue numbering, you can see the result. I am unable to continue with the Section Setup. I have not attempted to reproduce this result in a new document.

 

I am using Windows 11 (latest updates) desktop Acer  computer i5 with 12GB ram.

[MikeTO]

Hi, it would be helpful if you could resize the section manager taller so we could see all of the sections from 7 to the end and their page numbers.

Publisher doesn't allow you to set a page number higher than the number of pages in the document. I assume that when you're trying to set section 7 to start on page 44 that with all of the remaining pages and the values you've already entered that it would bump the page numbers past the total number of pages. When that happens Publisher resets the value in the text field back to the previous value.

[walt.farrell]

Given that Section 6 ended on page 36, why do you say that section 7 should begin on 44? What happened to pages 37-43?

[Omitade]

Reply to both: Mike TO. here is the full sections. Walt. farrell. I wanted section 8 to begin on 44 section 7 was pages 37-43. I was trying to get the manager to "unstick", if you will.

[walt.farrell]

48 minutes ago, Omitade said:

section 7 was pages 37-43

No, Section 7 is only one page, page 39. You'll need to fix that first. Once you've set it correctly, you can work on Section 8, then 9, etc.

[Omitade]

Hopefully not to continue being too dim, what I am saying is that at this point that in the section manager where it says start  on page number, I enter the number, it automatically gives one page ie., 39-39, What I had been doing previously is going to the next section and entering the start on page number for that section, ie. 48 and the section before (39-39) would correct to be 39-47. The program is not allowing me to change the "start on page number" away from what IT has already determined. I have added 100 extra pages but that makes no difference. If I go to enter a new number, it simply does not change. so please tell me how I am to fix it? It does not ask for the ending page unless I am not seeing it or I don't understand that there is another place to set up the sections before the section manager performs.

[walt.farrell]

You may need to start deleting the bad sections you have now. For example, where happens if you delete section 8? Or prepared of you delete section 16. 

One of those should give you a clue to what you need to do, for a start.

[Old Bruce]

I think you need to be adding the sections one at a time, not adding 7 sections and then setting the start pages. The way I have worked with sections is to use it in conjunction with the Pages panel. I go the page I want a new section then I add the section. Later on I can add sections between the existing sections by going to the page I want a section to start and add a section there.

[Omitade]

Thanks everyone for your help. I did not know that it was my problem. I thought it was a glitch in the software. Actually, how it makes no sense to me so I will not be using it again. I was using Section Manager to help with organizing. From what I understand now, it is not for that purpose.

I followed Walt's advice of deleting bad sections and the program crashed and for some odd reason, I lost all of my text styles, they simply disappeared and it went back to default. So I have lost a lot of work and a lot of time. My approach will be different to save myself and I won't be worrying about beta bugs again.

Once again, thanks for the help.

[Old Bruce]

13 hours ago, Omitade said:

Actually, how it makes no sense to me ...

I will admit that I never thought to work as you did. But having said that I think that your method is a valid way of working and I would have thought that we could do so. So I am not sure if this is a bug or by design. If the latter then it is a rather odd design choice to exclude a sensible, to me, way of working.

[walt.farrell]

59 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

But having said that I think that your method is a valid way of working

I'll disagree.

To me, sections must be non-overlapping, and it seems that @Omitade has a structure where they are trying to overlap the sections. That cannot work.

Clearly the program should not crash when trying to delete sections, so there is a bug.

[Old Bruce]

31 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

it seems that @Omitade has a structure where they are trying to overlap the sections.

I look at it as having a forty page document and you know you want 5 sections. So you add five sections, then start at the top and set the start number for section one to page 1, choose section two and set its start page to page 3 instead of page 2. Sections three, four and five should adjust their start pages accordingly.

Have you ever added a section to a document with several sections already defined? It is quite easy, no need to delete already existing sections.