How to number sections in word

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September 23, 2010, 2:41 AM PDT

10 steps to setting up page numbering in Word sections

If you’ve ever been outfoxed by Word’s page numbering options in a multiple-section document, here’s good news: Controlling how the pages in each section are numbered is actually pretty easy. Susan Harkins demystifies this Word feature.

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According to Microsoft, a section is “a portion of a document in which you set certain page formatting options.” It might help to think of sections as rooms in a house. They’re all part of the same dwelling, but each room has its own purpose and décor. This autonomy lends flexibility, but it can lead to questions about numbering pages — where do you start numbering, does each section start over with page 1, and so on.

SEE: Download: Build your Excel skills with these 10 power tips (TechRepublic)

Fortunately, adding sections actually makes complex page numbering schemes easier, not more difficult.

1: Determine page numbering needs for each section

Before you can number anything, you have to discern what each section comprises. The results will be specific to each document. For instance, a book can have several elements, or sections: a title page, a table of contents, numerous chapters, and so on. Sections allow you to treat each of these elements as a single unit.

Once you identify the sections, you must decide how you want to number each one: Where is page 1, will each section begin with page 1, and so on.

2: Create the sections

Figure A

1. Position the insertion point between the two elements. If there’s a page break between them, it’s often easier to insert the section break at the end of the preceding page. Click Show/Hide to display formatting marks, if necessary (in the Paragraph group on the Home tab in Word 2007 and 2010).
2. From the Insert menu, choose Break and choose Next Page in the Section Break Types section, as shown in Figure B. In Word 2007 and 2010, click the Page Layout tab | Breaks in the Page Setup group | Next Page.
3. Click OK.

Figure A

You can treat each of these elements as a section.

Figure B

Enter a section break.

3: Check for extra pages

beforeFigure C

Figure C

Print Preview shows a new blank and unnecessary page between the table of contents and the first page of chapter 1.

This is one time when planning comes in handy. If you know you’re going to divide the document into sections, insert section breaks instead of page breaks. On the other hand, it’s easy to delete the extra pages.

4: Add a header or footer — maybe

Most page numbers appear in a document’s header or footer section (although that’s not strictly necessary). To add a header, choose Header And Footer from the View menu. In Word 2007 and 2010, double-click above the top margin or click the Insert tab | Header (in the Header & Footer group) | Blank.

5: Enable page numbering

As mentioned, page numbering doesn’t always begin with the first page. For instance, in the example book document, you might want to avoid page numbering until the first page of chapter 1. In this case, you’d select the first page of chapter 1 — that’s also the first page of section 2. Then, to enable page numbering for chapter 1 and beyond, you’d open the header (or footer, depending on where you want the page number to appear). On the Header And Footer toolbar (that Word launches when you open a header or footer), click Insert Page Number. In Word 2007 and 2010, click the Design context tab | Page Number (in the Header & Footer group) | Top of Page | Plain Number 1. (The last two options are preferential.)

Figure D

Figure D

By default, page number continuous from section to section.

6: Break the connection

As you just learned in the previous step, page numbering isn’t autonomous in sections by default. You must break the connection between the two sections. To break the connection between the first and second sections, click Link To Previous on the Header And Footer toolbar. (If you closed the header in the last step, reopen it and Word will display the Header And Footer toolbar.) In Word 2007 and 2010, click the Design context tab | Link To Previous (in the Navigation group).

The page number is still 3, but don’t worry.

7: Reset page numbering

Breaking the connection isn’t enough; you must also reset the page numbering option, as follows:

1. On the Header And Footer toolbar, click Format Page Number. In Word 2007 and 2010, click the Design context tab | Page Number (in the Header & Footer group) | Format Page Number.
2. n the resulting dialog box, select the Start At option in the Page Number section. Enter 1, as shown in Figure E.
3. Click OK. As you can see in Figure F, the page number is now 1, even though this page is actually the third page in the document.

Figure E

Reset page number for the current section.

Figure F

After resetting the section’s page number, the first page of the section is 1.

8: Disable page numbering for the title page

Chapter 1 begins with the page number 1 — that’s good. But the first two pages of the document, the title page and table of contents page, still display page numbers 1 and 2, respectively. Fortunately, you can easily inhibit this legacy numbering as follows:

1. Go to the first page and open the header (if necessary).
2. Highlight the page number.
3. Press Delete.

Notice that deleting the page number field on page 1 also deletes the page number field on page 2. That’s because these two pages are both part of the same section.

9: Number the appendix

If you check the appendix page (page 4 in the document), you’ll see that it displays the page number 2. Similarly, the last page, the index, displays the number 3. As far as Word is concerned, the appendix and index pages are part of the second section, which begins with chapter 1. Right now, there’s only one section break in the document.

There’s an easy fix for this situation. Simply add a section break after the chapter 1 section. Position the insertion point at the end of the chapter and repeat the steps in #2. Unlike before, you don’t have to break the connection and reset the page number, because you changed those default settings earlier.

10: Number the index

You’ll probably want the index page to have its own page numbering, similar to the chapter and appendix section. The easy answer is to make a section for the index by repeating the process in #9. Position the insertion point at the end of the appendix and insert a section break.

Also See

• How to highlight rows in Excel with conditional formatting (TechRepublic)
• 10 time-saving tips to speed your work in Excel (TechRepublic)

Multilevel numbering in Word is the #1 headache for many people working with large documents. 

Believe it or not, it’s not complicated. It just takes somebody to lead the way and point out the pitfalls you need to avoid.

Today that pleasure falls to me!

Before I start, grab your free multilevel numbering troubleshooting guide that shows you the steps to get multilevel numbering working properly first time, every time, together with answers to over 20 FAQs and plenty of real client examples constructed step by step to help you fix what isn’t working with your numbering.

1.  Select the text that you want to number (this can be a section of text or the whole document).

4.  You can either select an existing layout from the list to use as a starting point, or you can create a new numbering system from scratch. As you hover over each thumbnail image, Word provides a larger image of the numbering system.

5.  Choose Define New Multilevel List to display the control dialog.

The dialog box can be broken down as follows:

Step #1 Click level to modify

Step #2 Enter formatting for number

Step #3 Include level number from

Step #4 Number style for this level

Each level can have its own number style. It may be a standalone style, e.g. 1, 2, 3 or a, b, c or continue on from a higher level, e.g. 1.1.1 or 1.a.i.

Step #5 Font

Set the font formatting for the selected level, if you want.

Step #6 Position

The next part is where the magic happens …

3. How to Apply Multilevel Numbering

Once you have created your numbering system:

1.  Position the cursor at the beginning of a line.

2.  Press the TAB key to move the text down a level (demote).

3.  Press the SHIFT and TAB keys together to move the text up a level (promote).

If you prefer, you can also click the indent icon to demote and the outdent icon to promote between levels.

4. How to Change Multilevel Settings

Once you have created your numbering system:

1.  Reselect all text that is using the multilevel numbering.

2.  Click the multilevel numbering icon and select Define New Multilevel List (yes, you choose this option even if you are modifying an existing multilevel list).

The original settings that you defined are redisplayed.

5. Linking Multilevel Numbering to Styles

Each level of a multilevel numbering system can be linked to a style. This means that as you apply styles throughout the document, the numbering is applied appropriately and automatically. You can either use the built-in Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 styles or use your own custom styles.

It’s a good idea to create a body text style and apply that where appropriate, so that the body text does not inadvertently get caught up in the multi-level numbering.

6. How to Use Styles to Set Number Levels

1.  Select all the text that you wish to apply the same number level to. Alternatively, if you wish to go line by line, you can place the cursor anywhere in a line of text.

7. Two resources to help you

8. What next?

Contents

• 1 How to Add Line Numbers to an Entire Document in Word
• 2 How to Number Lines in Word for Individual Sections
• 3 How to Remove Word Line Numbers
• 4 How to Change Word Line Number Formatting

Most commonly, users want Word line numbers across their entire document so they can easily reference parts to colleagues or clients. This can be achieved easily through the ribbon.

1. Insert continuous line numbers in Word

   With your Word document open, click the “Layout” tab in the ribbon. On the right-hand side, you’ll see a “Line Numbers” button. Click it, then select “Continuous”.

   Continuous lines will add numbers sequentially across your entire document. If a page has 44 lines, for example, the next page will start on 46. This is the most common use case.

   

2. How to insert line numbers in Word and have them restart each page

   Click the “Line Numbers” button, then select “Restart Each Page”. This will cause the first line on each page to start from 1.

   

3. Make sure you’re on the ‘Print’ view

   If you still don’t seer line numbers, it may be because you’re on the reading or browser layout view for word. Line numbers only show up on Print view. At the bottom of your document, press the page icon in the middle to switch the view.

   

So what if you want your numbers to restart in the middle of the page? You can just do it manually of course, but that takes time and may conflict with existing formatting. Instead, we can use the “Each Section” option under Line Numbers.

1. Select the ‘Restart Each Section’ optionClick the “Layout” tab in your word Ribbon and then “Line Numbers” on the right-hand side. Click “Restart Each Section”.

   
2. Add a section break

   To restart your numbers anywhere on a page, select where you want the break to be. Then, click the “Layout” tab in your Ribbon, followed by “Breaks”, and “Continuous”.

   

3. Make sure your numbers have changed

   You should notice that your line numbers switch back to “1” wherever you put your section break.

   

If you’ve received a document that already has line numbers on, you can perform similar steps to remove them. Handily, you can also remove them for an individual paragraph.

1. How to remove all line numbers in WordTo get rid of all line numbers from a document, click the “Layout” tab, then “Line Numbers” and select “None”.

   

2. How to remove Word line numbers from a single paragraph

   Select the line you want to remove the line number from. Click the “Layout” tab, then “Line Numbers”, and tick “Suppress for Current Paragraph”. The lines underneath should continue the count as if that line doesn’t exist.

   

You may have noticed that the line numbers in Word stand out quite a bit by default. If you don’t want them to distract from your text, you can change their style to suit your preferences. Alternatively, you can make them stand out more if you wish.

1. Open the Styles panelIn the Word ribbon, select the “Home” tab, click the “Styles” button, then press the maximize icon in the bottom right corner of the pop-out.

   

2. Open Styles options

   In the Styles panel, press the “Options…” button at the bottom of the screen.

   

3. Select the option to show ‘All styles’

   Under the “Select styles to show:” header, click the drop-down and click “All styles”. Click “OK”.

   

4. Modify the Word’s Line Number style

   Your styles list should now have an entry called “Line Number”. Find it, right-click it, and press “Modify…”.

   

5. Change font, color, and text size to your liking

   Under the “Formatting” section, you’ll find several options for changing your text. If you’re looking for a more subdued look, try changing the color to light grey. For the sake of this tutorial, we’re going to change ours to a funky blue font so it stands out.

   Once you’re done, press “OK”.

   

6. View your modified line numbers in Word

   Back in your main Word document, your line numbers should have automatically updated with the new style.