Set page number in word

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  1. Select Insert > Page Number, and then choose the location and style you want.

  2. If you don’t want a page number to appear on the first page, select Different First Page.

  3. If you want numbering to start with 1 on the second page, go to Page Number > Format Page Numbers, and set Start at to 0.

  4. When you’re done, select Close Header and Footer or press Esc.

Tip: To get back to a header or footer to make changes, double-click in the header or footer area.

  1. On the Insert tab, click the Page Number icon, and then click Page Number.

  2. Select a location, and then pick an alignment style. Word automatically numbers every page, except designated title pages.

  3. To change the numbering style, select Format and then choose the formatting you want to use.

  4. Select OK twice to close both dialog boxes.


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  • Inserting (PC & Mac)
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Adding page numbers in Microsoft Word is easy! Whether you’re writing a 10-page essay or a thesis paper, there are a variety of ways to customize the page numbers. Use the Insert tab to quickly add page numbers. From there, you can change the formatting and numbering options. This wikiHow guide will show you how to add page numbers to your Microsoft Word document on Windows and macOS, as well as in the Word mobile app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad.

Things You Should Know

  • On desktop or mobile, go to the Insert tab, then select «Page Number» to add page numbers.
  • Double-click the page number to make changes to the font, color, or style.
  • Double-click the header or footer, then go to Page Number > Format Page Numbers for additional options.
  1. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 1

    1

    Click Insert. This is in the tab menu bar at the top of Word. Alternatively, double-click the top or bottom of the page to open the Header or Footer editing menu.

    • Don’t forget to save your work as you go!
  2. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 2

    2

    Click Page Number. This opens a pop-up menu for choosing where to place the page numbers.[1]

    • In the Insert menu, Page Number is near the center.
    • In the Header & Footer design tab, Page Number is on the left.

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  3. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 3

    3

    Choose a page number position. This can be in the header or footer, and located left, center, or right.

    • You can also toggle the option to include the page count in the page numbering (e.g. 1 of 3).
    • Selecting a page number position will open the “Header & Footer” tab.
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  1. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 5

    1

    Double-click a page number. This will select it and show a pop-up menu with options for changing the font, color, and style. This change will edit every page number automatically.

    • You could even cross out the page numbers if that’s your style.
  2. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 5

    2

    Start numbering on the second page. If you want the first page to have no numbering, and start at 1 on the second page, follow these steps:

    • Double-click the header or footer to open the Header & Footer design tab.
    • Check the “Different First Page” checkbox.
    • Click Page Number then Format Page Numbers.
    • Select “Start at” and change it to 0.
  3. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 6

    3

    Restart page numbers by using page breaks. If you want to start a new numbering later in the document, you’ll need to use a page break.

    • Place your cursor at the beginning of the page you want to restart the numbering on.
    • Go to the Layout tab, then click Breaks.
    • Select Next Page in the Breaks options menu.
    • Double-click the header or footer in the second section. This will open the Header & Footer design tab.
    • Click Page Number then Format Page Numbers.
    • Select the radio button labeled «Start At,» then select «1» to restart the page count at 1.
  4. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 8

    4

    Use «Format Page Numbers» for additional changes. This can be located by going to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers. You can change:

    • The number format. You can change this to Roman numerals, letters, or another style.
    • The chapter number.
    • The starting number.
  5. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 8

    5

    Click Close Header and Footer. This will return you to editing the body of the document. Alternatively, press Esc to close the header and footer editor.

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  1. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 9

    1

    Open your Word document on your Android, iPhone, or iPad. It’s easy to use Word on your phone or tablet to insert page numbers into your document.

  2. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 10

    2

    Tap the more button. While in Edit mode in the Word mobile app, tap the more button (three horizontal dots).

  3. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 11

    3

    Tap Home. Then, select Insert to switch to the Insert menu.

  4. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 12

    4

    Choose Page Numbers. Then, select the placement location for the numbers.

  5. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 13

    5

    Format the page number. After selecting the placement, double-click the page number. Then, tap the text edit button (the icon with the letter A and a pen). You can change the font, size, color, and more!

  6. Image titled Insert Page Numbers in Word Step 12

    6

    Go to Headers and Footers. This is in the Insert menu. You can set a different first page, change how odd and even pages look, or remove the page numbers entirely.

    • When working in Online mode, any changes made in the app will appear on your desktop version of Word.
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Add New Question

  • Question

    In the insert box, the page number icon is grayed out and not available for use. How do I activate it?

    Kyle Smith

    Kyle Smith is a wikiHow Technology Writer, learning and sharing information about the latest technology. He has presented his research at multiple engineering conferences and is the writer and editor of hundreds of online electronics repair guides. Kyle received a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

    Kyle Smith

    wikiHow Technology Writer

    Expert Answer

    The page numbering feature isn’t available in certain layouts. Go to View and select Print Layout. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, try restarting and/or updating Microsoft Word.

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  • If you plan on creating a complex header or footer (like your name, or a title), try and add the page numbers first. They will be much easier to work with.

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About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Click Insert.
2. Click Page Number.
3. Select a position.
4. Choose a style.

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Featured - How to Insert Page Numbers in Word

Contents

  • 1 How to Add Page Numbers in Word
  • 2 How to Format Page Numbers in Word
  • 3 How to Start Page Numbers over in Word (Restart Numbering)
  • 4 How to Skip the First Page Number in Word
  • 5 How to Change Types of Page Numbering in Word
  • 6 How to Leave the Header and Footer or Design Bar
  • 7 Extra: How to Add Line Numbers in Word
  • 8 Extra: How to Add a Page Border in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word page numbering

Page numbers in Word are a valuable tool to help you order pages after printing or quickly reference information for other readers. Today, we’re going to show you how to add page numbers in Word, format them, and skip the first page number if necessary.

Inserting page numbers in Word is easy, modifying them not so much

Though inserting page numbers in Word in the base form is quite easy, it gets more complex once you start to modify them to suit your exact needs. Microsoft Word has a variety of styles, placement, and formatting choices that can make things feel a little overwhelming.

Not to worry, though – we’ll be breaking down all the major options so you can quickly get your page numbering in Word looking exactly how you want. Let’s get started:

If you’re wondering how to insert page numbers in Word, the first place you might think to look is the “Page Number” tool. Thankfully, you’d be right. This makes the entire process very simple:

  1. Open the “Insert” tab of the ribbon and press “Page Number > Bottom of Page > Plan Number 2”

    Naturally, you can choose a different style for the page number if you like, such as the accent bar. You can also choose to have the number at the top of the page if you wish.

    Windows 11 - Word - Insert - Page Number - Bottom of Page - Plain Numer 2

How to Format Page Numbers in Word

After inserting page numbers in Word, you may want to format them to match the styling of the rest of your document. You can quickly change aspects such as font, text color, size, center/right/left justification, and more. Here’s how:

  1. Double-click your page number and adjust the formatting options in the fly-out

    You should already be familiar with the options here – they’re the same as they are for any other text. Once you’ve finished modifying the number, you can double-click anywhere that’s not in the footer to return to your document.

    Windows 11 - Word - Edit Page Number

How to Start Page Numbers over in Word (Restart Numbering)

If you want your page numbers restart at a certain point, you need to make use of Word’s section breaks feature. This is a useful tool in many situations, so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with:

  1. Place your cursor at the start of the page you want to restart page numbers on and insert a “Next Page” break

    To do so, open the “Layout” tab of your ribbon, click on “Breaks” below it, then press “Next Page” under the “Section Breaks” heading.

    Windows 11 - Word - Place the Cursor - Layout - Breaks - Next Page

  2. Double-click the page number, then press “Page Number > Format Page Numbers…” in the ribbon

    To clarify, you should double-click the page number of the page you’re planning to restart the page numbers on.

    Windows 11 - Word - Page Number - Format Page Numbers

  3. Tick “Start at” under the page numbering heading select “1”, and press “OK”

    Windows 11 - Word - Page Number - Format Page Numbers - Start at 1 - Accept

How to Skip the First Page Number in Word

In many cases when adding page numbers in Word, you’ll want to skip the first page number. This happens most commonly when you have a cover page or title page. Here’s how to make page numbers start on page 2:

  1. Double-click the first page number and tick “Different First Page” in the ribbon

    The “Different First Page” option can be found in the “Header & Footer” section of the ribbon, which should automatically appear once you double-click your page number.

    Windows 11 - Click on Page Number - Check Different First Page

  2. Delete the first page number

    Due to the “Different First Page” option, deleting the first page number now won’t remove page numbers from the rest of your document.

    Windows 11 - Click on Page Number - Delete it

How to Change Types of Page Numbering in Word

As well as the style, position and starting position of page numbers, you can change the type of page number. For example, whether the numbers take the form of numbers, letters, or Roman numerals, and whether they use dots or dashes:

  1. Double-click your number and press “Page Number > Format Page Numbers…” in the ribbon

    Windows 11 - Word - Page Number - Format Page Numbers

  2. Press the dropdown arrow next to “Number format”, choose an option, and press “OK”

    The changes will automatically apply to all of the page numbers in your Word document.

    Windows 11 - Word - Page Number - Format Page Numbers - Choose One - Accept

How to Leave the Header and Footer or Design Bar

If you find yourself stuck in the Header and Footer or design bar with no way to edit the rest of your document, you can use the following trick:

Press the “Esc” button on your keyboard

This will instantly exit the header and footer bar and bring you back to your normal document view.

Windows 11 - Word - ESC to exit

As well as page numbers, you can add individual line numbers to your document so that you can reference part of it even more easily. Just follow our linked tutorial to do so.

While you’re at it, you can add a page border to your Word document to ensure a clear margin for annotations once it has been printed. You can read our dedicated guide here to learn how to do so.

Windows 10 - Word - Design - Page Borders - Box - Result

Featured Image

Microsoft Word offers an easy way to add different styles of page numbers to your document. If you’ve got a simple document, it works well enough. But if you’ve worked with Word for a while and use it to create more complex documents, you know page numbering can get a little flaky. So let’s take a closer look.

To add page numbers to your Word document, switch over to the “Insert” tab on the Ribbon and then click the “Page Number” button in the “Header & Footer” section.

Page Numbers Microsoft Word

A drop-down menu shows several different options for where you’d like the page numbers to appear—top of the page, bottom of the page, and so on. The last couple of options let you format your page numbers more precisely (something we’ll look at a bit later in this article) or remove page numbers from your document.

Page Number Menu

Hover over one of the first four options and a page number gallery appears. Each option in the gallery gives you a general idea of how the page numbers will look on your page.

Page Number Gallery

Once you find an option you like, go ahead and click it to have Word automatically number all the pages of your document in that style. In this example, we’ve selected the “Accent Bar” style in the “Page X” format.

Accent Bar Page Number

RELATED: How to Insert Page X of Y into a Header or Footer in Word

If you inserted page numbers at the top or bottom of the page, the header or footer area of your document automatically opens up, and you can make any addition you like around your new page numbers. When you’re ready to get back to your document, you can tap the “Close Header & Footer” button on the Ribbon or double-click anywhere in your document outside the header or footer area.

Header and Footer Design Tools

That’s the simple version of adding page numbers, and it works well enough if you’ve got a simple document—one where you want all the pages numbered, and you want them numbered using the same convention.

For some documents, though, you’ll want to get a little fancier. For example, what if you don’t want the page number to appear on the first page of the document (or on the first page of each section)? Or what if you want the page number placement to be different on odd and even pages, the way it is in a book? Or what if you have different sections that you want to be numbered differently—like an introduction or table of contents where you want Roman numerals instead of the Arabic numerals used in the rest of your document?

Well, Word has a way to do all of that.

How to Make Page Numbering Not Appear on the First Page of a Document or Section

When your first page is a title page, you might want to use a different footer or header for it than you use in the rest of your document and you might not want the page number to show up on that page. When you open your header or footer section by double-clicking somewhere in those areas, Word opens a new “Design” tab on the Ribbon in a section named “Header & Footer Tools.”

On that tab, you’ll find a “Different First Page” option.

 

The critical thing to know here is that this option applies to the section of the document where your insertion point is currently placed. If you only have one section in your document, selecting the “Different First Page” option makes the current header and footer disappear from the first page of your document. You can then type in different information for your header or footer on the first page if you want.

If you have multiple sections in your document, you can change the header and footer for the first page of each section. Say you were writing a book with different chapters and you had each chapter set up in its own section. If you didn’t want the regular header and footer (and page numbers) showing up on the first page of each section, you can just place your insertion point somewhere in that section and then enable the “Different First Page” option.

How to Number Odd & Even Pages Differently

You can also set up page numbering so that the position of the page numbers is different on odd and even pages. You’ll find that most books take this approach so that the page number appears toward the left side on the left (even) pages and toward the right side on the right (odd) pages. This prevents the page numbers from being obscured by the book’s binding and makes them easier to see as you flip through pages.

Word also has an option for that. On that same “Design” tab in the “Header & Footer Tools” section of the Ribbon, just click the “Different Odd & Even Pages” option.

Word automatically formats the page numbers to appear the way they would in a book, and you can then make any manual adjustments you want.

How to Add Different Numbers and Formats to Different Sections

Most documents use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) in the main body of the document and some use Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.) for different sections like the table of contents, introduction, and glossary. You can set up your document this way in Word, too.

The first thing you’ll need to do is create different sections in your document for these different parts of your document. So, for example, if you wanted your table of contents and introduction to be numbered differently than the main body of your document, you’d need to create a different section up front to hold those parts.

To do this, place your insertion point at the very beginning of your document (if you haven’t already created that preliminary content) or place it right before the first page of your main content (if you have already created the preliminary content).

Switch over to the “Layout” tab on the Ribbon and click the “Breaks” button.

Page Breaks in Microsoft Word

In the drop-down menu, click the “Next Page” option. As the description says, this creates a section break and starts the new section on the next page.

Next Page Page Break

Now that you’ve created the separate section, you can change the format of the page numbers there. The first thing you’ll want to do is break the link between your new preliminary section and the next section where the main body of your document starts. To do that, open up the header or footer area (wherever you have your page numbers) in the main section of your document. On the “Design” tab in the “Header & Footer Tools” section of the Ribbon, click the “Link to Previous” option to break the link to the previous section’s header and footer.

Unlink Previous Section in Microsoft Word

Now that you’ve broken the link, you can fix the page numbering the way you want it. This takes a few steps.

Start by opening up the header and footer area of any page in that preliminary section. You’ll see that the page numbering persists from before you created the new section break.

Right-click the page number and choose the “Format Page Numbers” command from the context menu.

In the Page Number Format window, select the type of numbers you want to use for the section from the “Number Format” drop-down menu. Here, we’ve gone with standard lowercase Roman numerals. Click “OK” when you’re done.

And you can see that our page numbering in that section has changed to Roman numerals.

There’s one more step you’ll need to take, though. Scroll down to the first page in your next section (the one with the main body of your document). You’ll see that the page numbering likely doesn’t start off at page one. That’s because it maintained the same numbering it had before you created that additional section.

It’s an easy fix, though. Right-click the page number and choose the “Format Page Numbers” command from the context menu.

In the Page Number Format window, select the “Start At” option and then set the box at the right to “1” to start the section off on page one.

That’s all there is to it. Now you should have two sections with different numbers and formats.

Controlling Page Numbers Using Fields

Word numbers all your pages, but those numbers remain hidden unless you tell Word to display them. By inserting a field code anywhere on the page, you can tell Word to reveal the page number. This option gives you fine control over page numbers. It also lets you put numbers anywhere you need and not just in the headers, footers, and margins. For example, you could put them in a text box if you wanted to.

Place your insertion point where you’d like to insert page numbers and then press Ctrl+F9 to insert a pair field brackets, which look like this: { }. Then, type “PAGE” inside the brackets like this:

Controlling Page Numbers Using Fields

You can also use a few switches along with the PAGE command that gives you some control over the style in which your numbers appear. Use one of the codes below to give your numbers the look you need.

{ PAGE * Arabic }
{ PAGE * alphabetic }
{ PAGE * ALPHABETIC }
{ PAGE * roman }
{ PAGE * ROMAN }

To finish, right-click anywhere between the brackets and choose the “Update Field” command from the context menu.

Update Field

Here’s an example of a page number we’ve inserted into a text box at the bottom right of our page.

Fixing Broken Page Numbers

If your page numbers are broken in a document—maybe they appear non-sequentially or restart seemingly at random—it’s almost always because of problems with sections.

For Word, a document isn’t really a thing when it comes to formatting. Word breaks things down into sections, paragraphs, and characters—and that’s it.

To fix broken page numbering, start by identifying the sections in your document. The easiest way to do this is to switch over to the “View” menu on the Ribbon and then click the “Draft” button to enter draft view.

In draft view, Word shows you exactly where section breaks occur and what kinds of breaks they are.

When you’ve identified the location of your section breaks, switch back over to the Print Layout view (so you can see headers and footers easier). This is where you’ll need to start doing some detective work.

Make sure that that the sections where you want continuous page numbering have their headers and footers linked together and that sections where you don’t want continuous numbering have that link broken. You can also use the methods we’ve covered in this article to make sure the page numbering of sections start at the right number

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This tutorial shows how to add page numbers in Microsoft Word. Then, we will format page numbers, remove page numbers from the first page, and start the second page with page number 1.

Table of Contents

  1. How to add page numbers
  2. How to format page numbers
  3. How to remove the page number from the first page
  4. How to start the second page with page number 1

Do you want to start your page numbers on a specific page? Please see “How to Start Page Numbers on a Specific Page in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac).”

This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 200 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps will also work in Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010. However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions of the software.

Are you on a Mac? Please see “How to Add Page Numbers in Word for Mac.”

Important Note: Page numbers added to the top of the page or the bottom of the page will be inserted into the header or footer. The page numbers will replace any existing text placed in the same location within the header or footer. Therefore, you should add page numbers before adding other elements to the header or footer.

  1. Select the Insert tab in the ribbon.

Insert tab in Word 365

Figure 1. Insert tab
  1. Select the Page Number button in the Header & Footer group.

Page Number button in the Insert tab of Word 365

Figure 2. Page Number button
  1. Select a location to insert the page numbers from the drop-down menu:
    • Top of Page (in the header)
    • Bottom of Page (in the footer)
    • Page Margins
    • Current Position

The Current Position option is the current location of your cursor in the header, footer, or body of the text. If the current position is in the body of the text, the page number will only appear on the current page. It won’t appear in the same location on other pages.

Page number menu in Word 365

Figure 3. Page number menu
  1. Select additional location and style options from the submenu. (The options will depend on the selection made in step 3.)

Page number submenu in Word 365

Figure 4. Page number submenu

Your page numbers should appear immediately.

How to Format Page Numbers in Microsoft Word

This section shows how to change the number format, include chapter numbers, and start on a specific page.

  1. Select the Insert tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
  2. Select the Page Number button in the Header & Footer group (see figure 2).
  3. Select Format Page Numbers from the drop-down menu.

Format Page Numbers option in Word 365

Figure 5. Format Page Numbers option
  1. Select the options you want from the Page Number Format dialog box.
    • Number format (e.g., numerals, letters, Roman numerals)
    • Include chapter number (This option only works if you already established heading numbers.)
    • Continue from previous section (When this option is selected, your sections will be number continuously. If you do not want the page numbers to continue from the previous section, select Start at.)
    • Start at (This option will default to page 1. However, if you enter another number, such as 5, the page number 5 will appear on the first page of the document or first page of the section.)

Page Number Format dialog box in Word 365

Figure 6. Page number format options
  1. Select the OK button.

OK button in the Page Number Format dialog box on Word 365

Figure 7. OK button

Your page number formatting should be applied immediately.

How to Remove the Page Number from the First Page in Microsoft Word

You may want to remove the page number from the first page because it is a title page or a cover page.

  1. Select the Insert tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
  2. Select the Header or Footer button in the Header & Footer group. (Choose the location where your page numbers are located.)

Header and Footer buttons in Word 365

Figure 8. Header and Footer buttons
  1. Select Edit Header or Edit Footer from the drop-down menu.

Edit Footer option in Word 365

Figure 9. Edit Footer option
  1. Select Different First Page in the Options group in the Header & Footer tab.

Pro Tip: The Header & Footer tab only appears while you are working in headers or footers.

Different First Page option in Word 365

Figure 10. Different First Page option

The page number on the first page should disappear. If the page number does not disappear, select it and press the Delete key to remove it manually.

How to Start the Second Page with Page Number 1 in Microsoft Word

After removing the page number from the first page, as shown in the previous section, you can force the second page to start with page number 1.

  1. Select the Page Number button in the Header & Footer group.

Page Number button in the Header and Footer tab in Word 365

Figure 11. Page Number button in the Header & Footer tab
  1. Select Format Page Numbers from the drop-down menu (see figure 5).
  2. Enter the number 0 into the Start at menu in the Page Number Format dialog box.

"Start as" page number menu in Word 365

Figure 13. “Start at” menu
  1. Select the OK button (see figure 7).

The page number on the second page should be changed to number 1.

  1. Select the Close Header and Footer button.

Close Header and Footer button in Word 365

Figure 14. Close Header and Footer button

Related Resources

How to Adjust Page Margins in Microsoft Word

How to Adjust Line Spacing in Microsoft Word

How to Insert Page Breaks in Microsoft Word

How to Use the Editor in Word for Microsoft 365 (Spelling & Grammar Check)

Updated April 05, 2023

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