Page numbers can be used to automatically number each page in your document.
They come in a wide range of number formats and can even be customized to suit your needs.
Page numbers are usually placed in your document's header or footer—so before you get started,
you might want to check out our separate Headers and Footers video.
To begin, navigate to the Insert tab... then click the Page Number command.
You'll find a few different options designed to help you with different types of documents.
To add page numbers to an existing header or footer, use the Current Position command.
Otherwise, choose one of these three options to create page numbers from scratch.
No matter what you select, Word gives you several different numbering styles to choose
from.
All you have to do is click the one you want... and it will be added to your document.
As you can see, the Design tab appears any time your header or footer is open, making
it easy to customize your page numbers.
For instance, if you want to remove them from page 1 (then resume on page 2), you can check
the box next to Different First Page.
To close your header or footer, click this button here, or press Esc on your keyboard.
To open it again, simply double-click the margin to unlock it.
Scrolling down our document, we can see that each page is numbered consistently and correctly.
However, there's a separate section towards the end where I'd like to start the numbering
over.
There is a way to do this.
You can even apply different styles to each section.
All you have to do is insert a section break first.
In this example, I want to restart the numbering at page 1 for the Works Cited.
So I'm going to place my cursor at the beginning of the section... and then go to the Layout
tab.
From here, click the Breaks command.
You'll see a few different types of section breaks, but the one we want is Next Page.
Now we can adjust our page numbering by following these steps.
First, double-click the header or footer to unlock it.
Then click the Page Number command... and choose Format Page Numbers from the menu.
A dialog box will appear where you can change the number format, add chapters to your page
numbering, and much more.
However, to restart your numbering, all you have to do is select the field that says Start
at:.
By default, Word will set it to restart at 1.
But you can enter any number here, depending on what you need.
When you're done, click OK... and you'll see the change immediately.
There are lots of things you can do once you've created different sections.
For instance, if you deselect Link to Previous... you can freely edit or even delete the numbers
in a section without affecting the rest of your document.
See how the first section remains unchanged?
Page numbers are one of Word's most useful features, whether you're working on a simple
business document or a large, important file.
They can make your work easier to navigate and also add a nice professional touch.