When I get to the end of the page and open office creates a new one using the background picture of a template i downloaded it doesn’t add the table layout of the template.
The template is for an ebook and includes a placement for chapter title, sub heading and then the main body of text.
When I get to the bottom of the text box I hit return a few times to get a new page to open but its simply a continuation of the main text box from the previous page. All other place holders are gone.
I’m new to Open Office and I keep thinking I need to be using a forced ‘page break’ command as in word but I don’t see one anywhere.
Thanks Jallan, the manual break did it.
You are right I don’t know what I am doing but I’m getting there.
Posted in Ebook Templates | 
Tags: Background Picture, Continuation, Ebook, Heading, Office Templates, Office Writer, Open Office, Page Break, Place Holders, Table Layout
It is not clear to me what your problem is exactly. You refer to things like “main text box” and “place holders” which don’t make sense without more details. Are you just using the page background to type on, or have you placed a frame on the page with Insert → Frame…? A frame is what some word processors call a “text box”.
“I hit return a few times to get a new page too open” indicates you really don’t know what you are doing. If you want a new page to open, press Ctrl-Enter (or select the menu item Insert → Manual break… and select “Page Break” from the dialog box that pops up). This is the “forced ‘page break’ command as in word” that you were looking for.
Blank lines should hardly ever be used in any word processor. They tend to mess you up.
I suggest you at least scan quickly through the manuals at and use for any manual not yet available for version 3 of OpenOffice.org. The guide books may answer your question.
Note that OpenOffice.org is not a clone of Microsoft Office and is not intended to be a clone of Microsoft Office. It does some things exactly the same, but some things very differently, on purpose. For one thing, it is far more style-oriented, which I think is a good thing. But you will need to learn how to use it.
If you still cannot figure the problem out, then ask at either or which allow for continuous discussion. Be sure to tell what your operating system is and what version of OpenOffice.org you are using.
And ignore the fellow who wants you to jump to Microsoft Office. I’ve been using OpenOffice.org both at home and at work for many years of mostly hassle-free work. And I’ve also had my share of hassles with Microsoft Office. But with OpenOffice.org, I don’t pay anything. But one always finds people who are absolutely certain that whatever software they are using must be superior to anything else, even products they have never tried, like fundamentalists outside a movie theatre protesting against a film which none of them have seen.