Word documents page numbers

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In this chapter, we will discuss how to add page numbers in MS Word. Microsoft Word automatically assigns page numbers on the pages of your document.

Typically, page numbers are printed either in the header or footer, but you have the option of displaying the page number in the left or right margin at the top or bottom of a page. To learn more about header and footer, see our previous tutorial.

A page number is the particular page number within a document, often abbreviated as page no. The document may be printed or electronic, such as a Microsoft Word document or an e-book.

Furthermore, they came in many different ways to show numbers and changed them to fit your needs. Page numbering lets you start over with page numbering if you need to number some pages differently.

In addition, you can automatically number each page of your document using page numbers. They are available in a variety of numerical formats, and they could be done to your specifications.

Page numbers typically appear in the header, footer, or side margin. Read our article to learn more about header and footer and how to adjust the page margin. 

What is the purpose of page number?

The purpose of page numbers is it helps you keep your document organized, makes it easy to refer back to specific parts of your paper, and make things look more professional and well-done.

So, if you want your table of contents and introduction to be numbered differently than the main body of your document, you would have to put them in a separate section at the beginning.

Moreover, most documents use Arabic numerals in the main body, but some use Roman numerals for different parts like the table of contents, introduction, and glossary. Word also lets you set up your document this way.

How to Simply Insert Page Number

How to Add Different Page Number

In adding Different Page Number in MS Word, you will need to divide your document into distinct sections for each component.

To do this, put your insertion point at the very beginning of your document or right before the first page of your main content if you haven’t already made that preliminary content.

1. Start on the Ribbon, click the “Breaks” button on the “Layout” tab.
2. Then, click “Next Page” in the drops down menu. This makes a new section start on the next page.
3. Break the link between your new introduction and the main body of your work. To do so, open your document’s header or footer where page numbers reside.
4. On the Ribbon’s “Header and Footer” tab, Click “Link to Previous” to break the link to the previous section’s header and footer.
5. Now that you’ve broken the link, you can change the page numbers to how you want them.
6. Next, open the header and footer area of any page in that first section. You’ll see the same page numbers before you made the new section break.
7. Right-click on the page number and select “Format Page Numbers” from the menu that appears.
8. In the Page Number Format window, use the “Number Format” drop-down menu to choose the type of numbers you want to use for the section.
9. Here, we’ve used standard Roman numerals with lowercase letters. When you’re done, click “OK.”
10. As you can see that the Roman numerals have been used to number the pages in that section.
11. Next page below you’ll notice that page numbering doesn’t start at 1. It kept the same numbering before you added the section.
12. But it’s easy to fix. Right-click on the page number and select “Format Page Numbers” from the menu.
13. Select “Start At” in the Page Number Format window and type “1” in the box to the right to start the section on page one.

That concludes the discussion. You should now have two parts with distinct numbering and formatting.

Steps to Hide the Page number on the first Page

In some documents, you may not want the first page to show the page number. You can hide the first page number without affecting the rest of the pages. Here are the steps to do it.

1. Double-click the header or footer to unlock it.
2. From the header and footer tab, place a checkmark next to Different First Page. The header and footer will disappear from the first page. If you want, you can type something new in the header or footer, which will only affect the first page.

If you’re unable to select Different First Page, it may be because an object within the header or footer is selected. Click an empty area within the header or footer.

If you already have a header or footer and you want to add a page number to it, Word has an option to automatically insert the page number into the existing header or footer. In our example, we’ll add page numbering to our document’s header.

1. Double-click anywhere on the header or footer to unlock it.
2. On the Header and Footer tab, click the Page Number command. In the menu that appears, hover the mouse over Current Position and select the desired page numbering style.
3. Page numbering will appear.
4. When you’re finished, press the Esc key.

How to Insert page number from Current Position

Step-by-Step Instructions:

• Go to the first page for which you want to have numbered pages.  
• At the top of the page, before the first line/word, click on the document to place your curser.
• Then choose Layout from the top menu.  Next select Breaks – Next Page.
• Now choose Insert from the top menu and then select Page Numbers and then choose how you want them to appear in the document.
• Now highlight the page number at which you want to start the numbering. From the Header & Footer Tools menu, unclick Link to Previous.
• With the number still highlighted, choose Page Number from the top menu, then select Format Page Numbers. Under Page Numbering, choose Start At and then select a starting number.
• The last step is to go to the top of the document and click on the first page number, and then hit delete. This will remove the beginning numbering sequence, and you will be left with the numbering sequence you created later in the document.

Summary

In summary, we’ve learned how to add page numbers in a word document as well as what those terms mean. In addition, we know why we need a page number in our document to look presentable and creative. Furthermore, we have many options to apply for page numbers in different ways.

Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about formatting text, see the previous tutorial on how to add header and footer and how to adjust page margin in Microsoft Word, which are still part of formatting your documents. You can browse those guides if you are having a hard time exploring your documents.

We hope this tutorial helps you as you format your documents in MS Word.

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How to Add Page Numbers in Word

Create page numbers in Word 2013, 2016, 2019 and Microsoft 365

Updated on October 16, 2020

What to Know

• Go to the Insert tab > Page Number > Page Number > Top of Page (Header) or Bottom of Page (Footer).
• Under Alignment, select Left, Right, or Center > OK.
• To format the page numbering, click Header or Footer > Format > choose format. Double-click anywhere in the document.

This article explains how to add pages numbers to documents in Word 2019, 2016, 2013, and Word for Microsoft 365.

If your Microsoft Word document is long (or book-length), you might want to add page numbers to the header or footer. When you print a document, the headers and footers can be printed as well.

The steps for adding pages numbers is basically the same for Word 2019, 2016, 2013, and Word for Microsoft 365.

1. Place your cursor at the first page of your document or where you want page numbers to begin.

2. Select the Insert tab.

3. Select Page Number in the Header & Footer group.

4. Select Page Number again from a drop-down menu.

5. Under Position, select Top of Page (Header) or Bottom of Page (Footer) to indicate where to place the numbers on the page.

   Under Alignment, select Left, Right, or Center.

   Select OK to save the selections and exit the menu.

6. Select Header or Footer on the toolbar to format the page numbering. 

7. Select a format from the menu options.

8. Double-click anywhere in the document to hide the header and footer areas.

Customize Headers and Footers

You can also customize the headers and footers in all versions of Microsoft Word. You do that from the same area where you added page numbers.

To begin, select Header or Footer to see your options.

In recent editions of Word, you can also get additional header and footer styles online from Office.com.

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Add Page Numbers in Word Documents using Headers or Footers

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated November 15, 2022

Applies to: Microsoft^® Word^® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can add page numbers in Word documents at the top or bottom of pages using headers or footers. When you insert page numbers in headers and footers, they should be inserted as fields so that they will automatically update as the document is edited. In this article, we’ll review page numbering in simple and more complex Word documents.

Recommended article: How to Add or Remove Page Breaks in Microsoft Word

Note: Some Ribbon tabs may appear with slightly different names if you are working on Word 365 and have a smaller screen or different display settings. Buttons on the Ribbon may appear as icons only and are also affected by screen size and display settings. The Header & Footer tab may appear as Header & Footer Tools Design if you are working on an older version of Word.

Add page numbers in a one section document

By default, Microsoft Word documents contain one section.

To insert page numbers in a one section document:

1. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Header & Footer group, click Header or Footer. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Click Edit Header or Edit Footer (although you can select one of the building blocks that appear, you will have more control over your header or footer if you edit it yourself). Word displays the document in Header / Footer mode. A Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab appears in the Ribbon.
4. Click in the header or footer.
5. If you would like text to appear (such as the word Page), type it.
6. In the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab, click Page Number. A drop-down menu appears.
7. Select Current Position and then Plain Number. A page number field is added to the header or footer.
8. You can select the page number field by dragging over it and then apply formatting such as font size or alignment (on the Home tab in the Ribbon).
9. To return to the document, double-click anywhere in the document area. You can also click Close in the Header & Footer Tools Design tab. To easily return to Header / Footer mode, double-click in the header or footer area.

The following Header & Footer Tools Design tab appears in the Ribbon when you are in Header / Footer mode:

You can also press Alt + Shift + P to insert the page number field.

Turn off the display of page numbers on the first page in a one section document

Some users may want to turn off the display of page numbers on the first page of a document.

To turn off the display of page numbers on the first page in a one section Word document:

1. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Header & Footer group, click Header or Footer. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Select Edit Header or Edit Footer. Alternatively, you can double-click in the header or footer area.
4. In the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab, check Different First Page in the Options group. Word creates a different header and footer for the first page of the document and a regular header and footer for all other pages. You can now enter page numbers, text or images in the First Page Header and / or First Page Footer if you’d like.
5. To return to the document, double-click anywhere in the document area. You can also click Close in the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab. To return to Header / Footer mode, double-click in the header or footer area.

Below is the Different First Page check box in the Header & Footer Tools Design tab:

Understand page numbers and sections

You can add different page numbers in sections in a Word document. Each section can have a different starting page number, a different numbering style (such as roman numeral) or no numbering at all. For example, you could create a document with three sections with a section for a title page with no numbering, a section for a table of contents page with roman numeral numbering that starts with (i) and another section for the main document that starts with Page 1.

Add different types of page numbers using sections

If you want to have different numbering in parts of a document (such as restarting numbering after a table of contents or using roman numeral numbering), you’ll first need to create sections.

To create a section in a Word document:

1. Click in the document where you want to insert a section break.
2. Click the Layout or Page Layout tab in the Ribbon and click Breaks. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Select a type of section break (normally Next Page under Section Breaks).

Breaks appears in the Page Setup group:

View section breaks

It’s a good idea to click Show/Hide ¶ in the Paragraph group on the Home tab in the Ribbon so you will be able to see where section breaks have been inserted in your document:

With Show/Hide ¶ on, section breaks normally appear as follows:

You can also view section breaks by clicking the View tab in the Ribbon and selecting Draft in the Views group. To return to the default view, click the View tab in the Ribbon and select Print Layout in the Views group:

Insert page numbers in a section and change numbering

If you want to change numbering in different parts of a Word document, you will need to separate your document into sections and create different headers and footers in the sections.

Typically, you will want to ensure that the header and footer in the section are not linked to the previous section’s header and footer. For example, if you have two sections, one for a table of contents and a second section for the main document, click in the second section and unlink the header and footer with the previous section’s header and footer.

It’s best not to add any text, images or page numbers in the headers or footers before you unlink the headers and footers.

To set up page numbering in a section and then change numbering:

1. Add section breaks where necessary.
2. Click anywhere in the section in which you want to add page numbers and restart page numbering.
3. Double-click in the header or click the Insert tab and the Ribbon, select Header and then Edit Header.
4. In the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab in the Ribbon, click Link to Previous to deselect it (to break the link with the header from the previous section).
5. Click in the footer.
6. In the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab, click Link to Previous to deselect it (to break the link with the footer from the previous section).
7. Click in the header or footer and in Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab, click Page Number in the Header & Footer group. A drop-down menu appears.
8. Choose Current Position and then Plain Number. A page number field is inserted.
9. Drag over the page number field to select it.
10. To change the page numbering in the section, click Page Number in the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab and click Format Page Numbers. A dialog box appears.
11. Enter a number beside Start at if you want to restart numbering (such as 1).
12. If you would like a different numbering style (such as roman numerals), select a style from the Number format drop-down menu.
13. Click OK.
14. To return to the document, double-click in the middle of the document.

The following dialog box appears when you select Page Number and then Format Page Numbers in the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab:

You can also right-click a page number field and select Format Page Numbers from the drop-down menu to access the Page Number Format dialog box:

Similar to a one section document, you can select Different First Page for specific sections if you’d like. Click in the section, double-click in the header or footer and select Different First Page on the Header & Footer or Header & Footer Tools Design tab. You can also select Different Odd & Even Pages.

Be very careful when deleting section breaks. If you delete a section break, the current section takes on the section settings from the following section and your headers, footers, page numbering, orientation and margins could change.

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