Please help Paris train station confusion

Give some specifics please. What station, where are you going?

Download and use the Bonjour RATP app.

Where, exactly are you having problems? Metro stations? RER stations? Train (SNCF) stations?
Why are you paying to go through multiple barriers on any given trip? Please don't exaggerate. It doesn't help clarify your problems.

Try slowly reading and absorbing the information here for the basics: https://parisbytrain.com/
Inside the stations use the maps and available signage. Know the end station for the train you want to take, to help know which platform to go to.

First, follow the instructions to download the app. Next, figure out where you are starting and where you want to go. Each metro line has a number and and on the metro map they are color coded. Each line has 2 final stations. The final station will determine which platform you want.

Spend some time at home with the map so you can familiarize yourself with various stops on the lines you use. This helps when you’re getting swept along on in a busy metro tunnel.

If you are, let's say, directionally challenged, it is best to avoid the most complicated metro stations: Châtelet/Les Halles, Opéra/Auber, Montparnasse-Bienvenue are the worst three in my opinion.

Mainline train stations should not be that complicated, there are huge boards on the concourse telling you which track to use, and the tracks are numbered in order.

zoe,

In addition to the comprehensive Paris By Train website mentioned above, you may find this helpful - https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/le-metro-de-paris .

As you're now living there, I'm sure you'll get used to the Metro and RER very quickly. I find that it's helpful to work out the route, stations and ticket specifics before starting each trip. I often confirm the route with the maps in the stations. As mentioned in a previous post, there are lots of signs that indicate the direction to each platform.

Bonne Chance!

When you are looking up a route always try to memorize the name of the transfer station, the line and, importantly the line endpoint in the direction you are travelling.
When taking the RER, take a note of the 4 letter train code the train planning app gives you, as that way you can make sure you are on the correct service.

" Everything that could go wrong always seems to go wrong...."

First of all, this sort of thinking I reject totally....not possible I would suggest to disregard this view.....basically , chuck it.

I follow the signs and make a note of them...paying attention and what's around the immediate vicinity. I make it point to learn by heart some of the local language, ie, directional French. Don't just rely on English.

French train stations and the Metro system are much easier to use, tackle, navigate now than they were in the past, say 40-50 years ago...very daunting and confusing then.

Learn which train station departs for where, eg, St Lazare to Normandy, Nord to northern France and Belgium and to that part of Germany,

Learn which Metro stations are the junction points. Which Metro lines and RER lines converge in which train station? There have been a zillion times I've gotten lost trying to navigate myself out of a station, sometimes only to be lost even more....but then, so what? I also relying on the bus system in Paris to get around city, not merely the Metro.

With the exception of Gare St Lazare, there is one bus that connects all the other train stations...bus # 91....... most convenient and handy.