Word page number on first page of

Remove the page number from the first page

1. Go to Insert > Header or Footer > Edit Header or Edit Footer.

2. Select Different First Page.

   Note: 
   Different first page can be applied to the first page of any section in your document, not just the very first page.

3. In the header or footer area, you should see a label on the first page that says First Page Header. Select the page number and press Delete.

4. Select Close Header and Footer or press Esc to exit.

Tip: If you want your second page to start at 1 rather than 2, go to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers, and set Start at under Page Numbering to 0, rather than 1.

Start page numbering on Page 3 — double-sided printing

If the first page of your document is a cover page, the second page is a table of contents, and you want the third page to show “Page 1”, see Start page numbering on Page 3 — double-sided printing.

Choose the scenario that most closely matches what you want to do:

You don’t want a page number to appear on your title page, but you want the second page to show «Page 2.»

Start page numbering on Page 3 — double-sided printing

If the first page of your document is a cover page, the second page is a table of contents, and you want the third page to show “Page 1”, see Start page numbering on Page 3 — double-sided printing.

Despite being a frequent user of Microsoft Word we often get stuck on little but very relevant options like showing the page numbers according to some selected or particular manner. In this guide, you will learn how to add page numbers, start page numbering later in your document like starting page numbering on page 2, page 3 or even on a particular page. You will also see how to change starting page number from one to another value and more.

Page numbers are usually applied to a document using options available under the “Insert” tab. It gives you the option to choose the arrangement of the page number on either footer or the header of the page among other places.

You can insert page numbers at the following page areas:

• Header (top of the page)
• Footer (bottom of the page)
• Page margins (sides)
• Current position (where the cursor is beating)

How to insert page number

Page numbering is an essential part of any Word document. Follow the given steps to add page numbers in a Word document.

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1. Click the “Insert” tab at the top. Then click “Page Number” option in the “Header and Footer” group and then select page format and location. I’m choosing Top of page > Circle.
   
2. See page numbers are added to the header area on each page automatically with the selected style applied. Your cursor is inside the header, to exit from page header and footer setup mode just presses the Esc key on the keyboard. You can hit the “Close Header and Footer” button on the top, or you can even double-click outside header/footer area to get out of editing mode.
   

Hide page number from the first page in MS Word

Usually, the first page of the document is the title pages. For the document title purpose, you might want to hide page number from the first page. If you want to do that follow these steps:

1. Make sure you have already inserted page number in your document using above given steps.
2. Double click the header or footer area where you have added page numbers, to see design options.
   
3. Now, select “Different First Page” option check box. You will see the first page is different from the rest of the document.
   
   Note: If you want to show the number “1” instead of “2” on the second page then you have to use Section Breaks. Continue reading below to learn more about that.

Apply different style to Even and Odd page numbers in Word

If the requirement is to make even pages distinct from the odd number pages, then this option is convenient.

1. When you are modifying header or footer, click the check box that reads “Different Odd and Even Page” under Design tab.
2. Suppose we want to add page numbers in the Footer on all even number pages. Click inside footer on any Even number page and then select “Page Number” > “Bottom of Page” and then select a Style from the list.
3. Here you can see the results.
   

What are section breaks in MS Word?

We use section breaks to select a part of the document where we can apply selective formatting. The type of breaks used for explicit page numbering come under section breaks. As the name indicates, they make sections in the document for unique formatting options. They allow the user to select a particular length regarding pages of a document to apply formatting options like borders, page numbers or header, and footer options.

Start page numbering from a specific page in Word

Showing page numbers starting from a selected page or changing starting page number value might also be a requirement and this usually required when preparing documents with different chapters. You can use Microsoft Word “Breaks” option for this purpose. Follow these steps to perform this task.

Suppose, first two pages are for Document Title and Table of Contents and will be without page numbers. We want to start page numbering from the third page.

Here, we need to create two sections of pages in the document. Adding a Section Break after page 2 can do that. The first section will be page 1 and 2, and the 2nd part will be from page 3 to onward. This way both sections can have their separate page numbering in the Word document.

1. Bring your cursor to the last line of the 2nd page. From the “Layout” tab go to “Breaks,” then further moving into “Section Breaks” select “Next Page.” This will take your pointer to the next page.
   
   NOTE: You can’t see Section Breaks visually until you enable an option in MS Word. Go to Home tab and click on the symbol icon as shown in the screenshot. Now you can see the hidden marking and formatting symbols including page breaks.
   
2. Now move to the page 3 that is going to be the first page of the second section. Double click either on the footer or header area of your document.
   When in editing mode, a “DESIGN” tab under “Header & Footer” section will appear.
   Deselect “Link to Previous” by clicking on it. Doing so will disconnect the page from the previous section (1). Now this section (2) can have page number starting from “1”.
   
3. Now choose the page number option from “Header & Footer” menu group and select the style location of the page numbers you want to add.
   
4. If you want page number starting from some specific number value, then you can select it from “Format Page Numbers” section.
   In “Format Page Numbers” option you can choose the Number format like 1, 2, 3… I, II, III, etc. Include chapter number with a character as a separator or even change the starting value of page numbering in Word.
   
5. Exit the “Header & Footer” menu once you have completed the task with all options selected. See the final results in the screenshot below.
   

Remove page numbers Word file

Double-click on the footer or header area of your Word document where page numbers appear. Click “Page Number” from “Header & Footer” group of options on the top and then select “Remove Page Number” option.

Remember, If you have different Section breaks in your Word file then you have to do this in all sections separately.

Is it possible to add specific page numbers without section breaks?

In formal documents, we need to add page numbers in different parts of the document that are not linking to previous. In such conditions using sections breaks is the most suitable and an easy way to do it. There are methods for adding page numbers on odd pages or even pages etc. but for a precise selection, section breaks seem to be the only viable option.

Apparently, it seems difficult to manage documents with specific page numbers and other selected formatting options. But having the idea from the given guideline would now definitely help you get out of it easily.

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• How to Add Page Numbers in Word (Start from a Specific Page)

By Alisa | Follow |
Last Updated September 16, 2022

You can add page numbers to Word document to better manage your text. This post offers a detailed guide for how to add page numbers in Word, how to insert page numbers starting from a specific page, how to remove page number in Microsoft Word, etc. To recover deleted or lost Word files or any other files, MiniTool Power Data Recovery is professional and easy-to-use.

To better manage pages in Microsoft Word document, you can add page numbers to Word to make it have a sequential order. As for how to add page numbers in Word, how to number pages in Word from a specific page, how to remove page numbers from Word file, you can check the detailed guide below.

Tip: If you mistakenly deleted or unexpectedly lost some Word files, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery – a clean and free data recovery tool – to easily recover deleted or lost files. This software allows you to recover any deleted or lost files from computer, memory card, USB drive, external hard drive, etc.

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How to Add Page Numbers in Word – 3 Steps

Step 1. To insert page numbers in Word document, you can open the target Word file, click Insert tab at the top Ribbon bar. Under Insert column, you can find and click Page Number button in Header & Footer section.

Step 2. A list of options will display that allows you to choose where you want to display the page numbers. You can hover your mouse to a preferred option from the first four options.

• Top of Page
• Bottom of Page
• Page Margins
• Current Position
• Format Page Numbers…
• Remove Page Numbers

After you choose an option, it will show different styles of page number in Word. You can click a preferred style and it will automatically add page numbers to all pages in the Word document. You can see the page numbers are shown in the area you have chosen. And it will open the Header & Footer Tools Design tab.

Step 3. If you don’t want to make any further changes, you can tap Close Header & Footer button on the Ribbon or double-click any area outside of the header or footer area to go back to your document.

How to Add Page Numbers in Word Starting from a Specific Page

What if you don’t want to start numbering from the first page or want to insert page numbers from a specific page like Page 2 or Page 3? Below is the instruction.

1. How to start numbering pages from Page 2 in Word:

Step 1. Put your mouse cursor at the header or footer area in Word document, and double-click mouse to open the Design tab of Header & Footer Tools. Alternatively, you can also click Insert -> Header or Footer -> Edit Header or Editor Footer to open Header & Footer Tools. Click Different First Page in Options section.

This will remove the page number on the first page in Word. You can then type a different text for the header or footer for the first page if you like.

Step 2. Then you can put your mouse to the second page, and click Insert -> Page Number -> Format Page Numbers. Under Page Numbering, you can set Start At to 0. This will add page numbers in Word starting from the second page.

Step 3. Click Page Number, select the location and style of page numbering to add page numbers in Word starting from Page 2.

2. How to insert page numbers starting from Page 3 or any other pages in Word:

Step 1. Go to the target page where you want to start adding page numbers. Click the first word or line to locate your mouse cursor. Then click Page Layout -> Breaks -> Next Page on the Ribbon.

Step 2. Then click the page you want to start to add page number and click Insert -> Page Numbers to choose a page number style.

Step 3. Highlight the page number of the page that you want to start adding page number, and unclick Link to Previous option at the top.

Step 4. Highlight that page number again and click Page Number -> Format Page Numbers. Set 1 at Start At under Page Numbering. And it will add page numbers in Word starting from the specific page and start from 1.

Step 5. At last, you can highlight the page number of the first page in the Word document and delete the page number. Then the page numbers before that specific page will be deleted.

Tip: If you want to number odd and even pages differently, you can click Different Odd & Even Pages option under Header & Footer Tools.

How to Remove Page Numbers in Word

If you want to remove page numbers in Word, you can click Insert -> Page Number -> Remove Page Numbers. If some page numbers are not removed, you can double-click the header or footer area in Word pages and select the page number to delete it.

Bottom Line

If you want to add page numbers in Word, you can follow the guide above. To recover deleted or lost Word files or any other files, you can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

About The Author

Position: Columnist

Alisa is a professional English editor with 4-year experience. She loves writing and focuses on sharing detailed solutions and thoughts for computer problems, data recovery & backup, digital gadgets, tech news, etc. Through her articles, users can always easily get related problems solved and find what they want. In spare time, she likes basketball, badminton, tennis, cycling, running, and singing. She is very funny and energetic in life, and always brings friends lots of laughs.

Is this article up to date?

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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There may be times when you want to start page numbering later in your Word document. Follow the method in this article if you want the actual page numbers to start later.

By default, Word starts page numbers on the first page of the document. However, in some cases, if the first page is a cover page, and the second page is a table of contents or contains some preliminary information, then these pages shouldn’t be labeled. Fortunately, Word gives you quite a lot of flexibility in inserting page numbers. With just a few clicks, you can set Word to start page numbering later. Following this article, you can complete this task in just a few simple steps.

Insert Page Numbers Starting from a Specific Page

To start page numbers later in a document, you first need to divide the document into sections and then unlink them. So that you can change the way in which pages are numbered in the previous section. In this part, we will take it as an example to start page numbers from page 3.

1. On the “Page Layout” tab, click “Breaks”, in the “Page Setup” group.
2. Select “Next page” under “Section Breaks”, and then the cursor will move to the next page automatically.
3. Double click at the footer of page 3 to start editing. Under the “Design” page, click “Link to Previous” to deselect it.
4. On the “Insert” tab, click on “Page number” drop down arrow, and then select “Format Page Numbers”.
5. In the “Format Page Numbers” dialog box, click “Start at” button and select “1”. And then click “OK”.
6. On the “Insert” tab, click “Page number” drop down arrow, and then select “Bottom of Page”, if you want to insert page numbers at the bottom of the pages. Then you can select a pre-defined page number in the list, for example, we choose “Plain Number 2”.
7. Lastly, double click at the header or footer again to stop editing. In this way, we have set up Word to start page numbers on third page.

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All in all, we can change the starting page number for a particular part of the Word document. Also, Word provides us with quite a lot of flexibility in many other aspects. However, despite its advantage, Word is subject to viruses or manmade mis-operations, which can result in loss of data. To retrieve the important Word data you cannot afford to lose, why not opt for an effective external repair tool to recover word data. With advanced technology, this tool is guaranteed to be the best bet to retrieve your lost data.

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Usually, if you number the pages in a Microsoft Word document, you will number each of the pages sequentially starting from one. In some cases, such as long business reports or books with introductions or other special sections, you may want to use different page numbers in Word for different sections. You might also want to leave certain pages unnumbered, such as if you want to start page numbering on Page 3. This is all possible using Word’s built-in numbering feature.

Numbering Pages in Microsoft Word

It’s easy to add page numbers to a document in Microsoft Word. Simply click the «Insert» option on the ribbon menu, then click «Page Number.» Choose from one of the options to position the numbers where you want them, such as on the top or bottom of the page. Click «Page Number» again and click «Format Page Numbers» to choose font, size and other display settings.

Numbers will automatically appear where you placed them on each page.

Start Page Numbers Within Document

If you’re using a desktop edition of Microsoft Word, you can start with a page number other than one and start numbering anywhere in a document or a section.

To simply skip numbering on the first page, click the «Insert» tab in the ribbon menu, then click «Header» and «Edit Header.» In the «Header & Footer Tools» menu that appears, click the «Design» tab and check the box next to «Different First Page.»

If you want to otherwise start page numbering later in the document, you’ll want to insert a section break in the document before the section you want to number. To do this, go to the page where you want numbering to start and click «Layout» then click «Breaks» and «Next Page.» Double-click the header or footer where you want the page numbers to appear, and in the menu that pops up, uncheck the «Link to Previous» button, then click «Page Number» and pick the settings you want.

If you want to number multiple sections independently, create a section break for each one and uncheck «Link to Previous.»

Custom Page Numbers in Word

Once you have page numbers in sections where you want them or in the entire document in the Desktop version of Word, you can customize the numbering. Double click the header or footer where the numbers are, then click «Page Number» and «Format Page Numbers.»

Click the «Start at» drop-down and choose the number you want to start numbering. Repeat this for each section where you wan to customize the numbering.

If you want to delete page numbers for a particular section, double-click them on the header or footer of a page in that section and delete the numbers. The changes will apply to the entire section.

Using Word Online

If you’re using an online version of Word, your page number customization options are somewhat limited. You can skip numbering on the first page, but you can’t otherwise customize where numbering starts or what number comes first. If you need to make such changes, you may want to use a desktop version of Word or ask someone with the program to help you customize your document and send it back to you.

If you want to skip numbering the first page in Word online, click the «Insert» tab on the ribbon menu and then click «Header & Footer.» Click «Options,» then click «Different First Page.» Click the «Options» button again and click «Remove Page Numbers.»

If you need to add the numbers to the rest of the document, click the «Other Pages» button in the «Header & Footer» menu and then click «Insert» and «Page Number.»

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:

How to Format Page Numbers in Word

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

How to Skip the First Page Number in Word

How to Change Types of Page Numbering in Word

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.