Forum Discussion
page numbering a document in word
To find all section breaks in Word, display nonprinting characters and switch to Draft view. That way, you will be able to see the breaks more clearly.
Once you have removed all the section breaks, the Link to Previous (Same as Previous) option is no longer relevant, because the setting applies to header (or footers) in different sections.
Between sections, Word maintains a link for each separate type of header (and each separate type of footer). For example, the odd page header may be linked (or not) to the odd page header in the preceding section.
dear Stefan
Thank you for that explanation. I did not know that links were created between sections. I don’t honestly it get still— but that’s okay. I got help through Microsoft support to get my document paginated today. But let me try asking another few questions.
1. How can I see which entities are linked together?
2. The part I don’t get are page numbers and headers and footers. I am guessing page numbers need to be linked in the background or the program could not number them sequentially. But why isn’t there a way to see these links? That would make it more understandable.
4. Lastly, I never understood what headers and footers are all about. They can be visible or be closed and not visible. I don’t really understand what purpose they serve.
Don’t feel compelled to have to answer all this.
There is no guarantee that I will get it. For me, using Word is often a crap shoot as to whether I can get a document properly formatted or not. Perhaps I should have learned a different and easier publishing software long ago instead of slogging on with this application!
Debbie
See also:
- Page Numbers in Word 2007-2024 (365)
- Quick Reference Card for Headers, Footers and Page Numbers
- Header/Footer Settings Recap
- StyleRef Field and Using StyleRef Fields in Microsoft Word - a Tutorial in the Intermediate Users' Guide to Microsoft Word
Each section, after the first, can have six different Link to Previous settings. They link to the comparable header/footer part in the previous section.
Page numbers can be in one, some, or all, of these parts. All of the page numbers in a particular section will be controlled by the same settings in the Format Page Number dialog.
Headers have been referred to as "running heads." The purpose of headers and footers is to put content in the marginal area of a page that gives information about the page, like the page number or topic. These are generally the same except for the changing information on multiple pages. People will often want somewhat different information on the right-hand and left-hand pages of books or papers.
P.S. The links that Stefan gave you are excellent.
Each section can have up to three different headers (and three different footers); this is the case if both "Different odd and even" and "Different first page" are selected in the Page Setup dialog box.
A header (or footer) link is always between a header (or footer) and its "neighbor" of the same type in the preceding section. After having activated the header/footer view, you can tell if a given header is linked to its corresponding type of header in the preceding section.
You need a section break to restart the page number, for example, but you don't have to unlink headers or footers to accomplish that. Unlinking is required only if you want to modify the content in one header (or footer) in one section.
For more, see http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/HeaderFooterRibbon.htm and http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/FrontMatterRibbon.htm.
Hi Stefan_Blom, I found this tech help discussion because I am having trouble with formatting page numbers in a certain way. I'm working on a Mac laptop and I have to use a web browser for word instead of the app as it's for work. I need to have my page numbers start on the second page but with the number 1, but the option to format page numbers isn't available for some reason. I also tried to put a section break like you suggested, but my only option is a page break and that didn't work. I have tried looking for anything that would allow me to do this because I have done it before, but I'm completely lost. I also looked at the link but it didn't have any useful information for me. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
You should be able to download the Mac desktop application Word. Much of the information for the Windows version applies to the Mac version, but many of the controls are a bit different.
The web app simply does not have many of the controls you need for thorough control of page numbering and sections.
The different programs called Word offered by Microsoft - a pdf
- Oh my gosh. I get it. Thank you for that explanation Stefan. That demystifies much. Very clear. Thanks again! Have a great day!!
