Chapters vs Sections

[SteveThackery]

I'm new to TextMaker, being a 30-year Word user, and am struggling to get my head around Chapters, which don't exist in Word. How do Chapters differ from Sections? Also, a lot of the features associated with a Section in Word - such as 'Different first page' and 'Different left and right pages', are instead assigned to Chapters in TextMaker.

How can that maintain compatibility with Word, if Word doesn't even have Chapters?

Also, in Word I can insert a 'Section break with new page', but not in TextMaker. How do I achieve that?

If someone could explain the concepts behind TextMaker Chapters, and how they compare with Sections, I would be most grateful!

[SteveThackery]

Wow - 1150 views and not a single offer of assistance!

"If someone could explain the concepts behind TextMaker Chapters, and how they compare with Sections, I would be most grateful!"

[SuperTech]

TextMaker splits what Word calls a "section" into two separate concepts, which is why the options appear in different places.

Chapters control the page layout: paper size, orientation, margins, headers and footers, page numbering, and the options Different first page, Different left and right pages and Chapter starts on. You insert one with Insert | Break | Chapter break, and it always starts a new page. The settings are in Layout | Chapter.

Sections control only the column layout (and the restarting of auto numbering and line numbers). You insert one with Layout | group Page setup | Insert break | Section break. By default, it does not start a new page.

So for what you would do in Word with a "Section break (next page)", use a chapter break in TextMaker. For example, to place a wide table in landscape format, insert a chapter break before the table, set the new chapter to landscape, and insert another chapter break after it to return to portrait.

Further details are in the manual under Dividing a document into chapters, Chapter formatting and What are sections?.

[Woody44]

Word offers three choices for section breaks to begin a new chapter: Left page, right page, or new page (which allows a new chapter to begin on either a left-hand or right-hand page). For a section break that stays on the same page but allows changing, for example, from one coumn to two columns, Word offers Break > Section > Continuous.

I really wish TextMaker would make their section and chapter breaks more like Word. I publish a monthly newsletter in which I used the Break > Section > Continuous function in word to make headline span the page width with the body of the articles formatted in two columns. When I open these Word files in TextMaker, the breaks do NOT translate correctly. I have reported this and, unless I missed an update, SoftMaker has not resolved the issue as yet.

https://forum.softmaker.com/viewtopic.php?t=30624

TextMaker splits what Word calls a "section" into two separate concepts, which is why the options appear in different places.

Respectfully, section breaks are not two separate concepts, and entering breaks should not be bifurcated into different methods that appear in different places. SoftMaker needs to understand that, like it or not, Microsoft Word holds arguably more than 90 percent of the worldwide marketplace for word processing software. Many people are looking to break away from Microsoft Office (and Microsoft Word), but we cannot make a clean break when the available alternates don't allow us to use the alternate software quickly and "intuitively" (which, I fully understand, means that the software basically acts like Word -- whatever you learn first is what is thereafter "intuitive").

The problems I have encountered clearly demonstrate that something about the way TextMaker handles section breaks and chapter breaks is not compatible with the way Word handles section breaks and chapter breaks -- and that's a problem. It means that, even though I purchased SoftMaker Office Professional 2021 and have upgraded to 2024 and then 2026, I have to maintain Microsoft Word 2016 on my system in order to use the template for my newsletter.

It is more of a problem because I do freelance book formatting for authors. ALL my clients use Microsoft Word. That means whatever software I use on my end, when the files go back to my clients they MUST display and print correctly from Microsoft Word. That's simply not negotiable. As they say in Zen, "It is what it is."

[Woody44]

Update: I just did a new test, starting in TextMaker and then opening the file in Word 2016. Again, he files do not transfer properly. This is what I created in TextMaker 2026:

Note that on page two, the two columns are balanced, occupying the top part of the page. The TextMaker file was saved in the .docx file format.

Here is what it looks like when the file is opened in Microsoft Word 2016:

Notice that when the file is opened in Word, the two columns on page two are NOT balanced -- there is only one column.

[SteveThackery]

TextMaker splits what Word calls a "section" into two separate concepts, which is why the options appear in different places.

<BIG SNIP>

Thank you, @SuperTech! That is an extremely helpful reply and I really appreciate it.

I must say that I'm not sure SoftMaker made a good decision here, deliberately making it different from Word, but of course I don't know the full background and the design objectives. At this stage on my learning curve it seems like a significant - and unnecessary - speed bump for people like me, moving over from Word.

Anyway, thanks again for explaining how it works.