Start Numbering on a Different Page

[msolbelle]

Microsoft Word Designers: Today, we are going to teach you how to start numbering Word documents on a page other than the first page.

User: Wait, you can't just go to the page where you want to start numbering and click an option that says something like "start numbering here" or "make this the first page?"

Designers: No.

User: What if I delete the previous page numbers? Won't that start the numbering on the current page? That seems pretty intuitive. Or hell, how about I just turn off the auto numbering altogether, decouple the footers, then type in the numbers myself. Most documents I create aren't more than a few pages anyways.

Designers: No. We're overgrown children and like to play games with people instead of implementing simple, intuitive features. Please allow us to have our fun. We need to make up for all of the times we got rejected by girls in high school. Now, allow us to tell you about this really cool "break" feature that we have changed multiple times across Word editions. Someone thought this up while he was locked in his locker.

[#2]

@msolbelle 

I do not think you are asking a question. This is not a place to give feedback to Microsoft. If you do have a question about how to do this, the second link gives instructions.

• Giving Feedback on Microsoft Word or other Microsoft Products
• Numbering Front Matter by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

[#3]

@Charles_Kenyon 

I apologize; you are right. Will Microsoft designers ever ask themselves, hey, so, how do normal people want to use our programs? Or will they keep changing everything constantly, coming up with unnecessarily complex ways of doing simple things that satisfy their fragile man-child egos?

That's technically two questions.

[#4]

@msolbelle 

Nobody here have any insights into the decision making process at Microsoft. 🙂  Most contributors are volunteers. To suggest changes in Word, you have to post feedback. For example, go to the feedback portal at https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472.

Traditionally, word processors, such as Word, are very different from page layout software, such as Publisher. Word relies on section breaks when you want to make layout changes, while page layout software use other methods.