Magic to Add different page numbers or number formats to different sections

Creating a well-structured document often involves dividing it into sections, each with its own unique content and formatting requirements. In these instances, it’s crucial to control how to add different page numbers are displayed or even employ distinct numbering formats for each section. Whether you’re working on a research paper, a thesis, a complex report, or any document with multiple parts, Microsoft Word provides powerful tools to help you manage this complexity.

This guide will unveil the techniques to add different page numbers or number formats to different sections of your document. You’ll discover how to tailor your page numbering to suit the specific needs of each section, be it Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, custom formats, or no page numbers at all. With this skill in your toolkit, you’ll be able to produce professional documents that are not only well-organized but also visually polished, ensuring that your content shines through seamlessly.

Join us as we delve into the world of section-specific page numbering and unleash the full potential of Microsoft Word for your document formatting needs.

For Microsoft Word – Add different page numbers or number formats to different sections

To use different page numbers or formats in different sections, create Page breaks and set page number for each.

The following shows an intro with lower case Roman numerals. You can use any other format instead.

1. Select between the intro and the body of the document and go to Layout > Breaks > Next Page.Tip: To see section breaks and other formatting marks, go to Home and select Show/Hide (¶) to turn on the display of formatting marks.
2. In the header for the body section, deselect Link to Previous. If Link to Previous is dimmed, check to make sure a section break was created.
3. In the intro section select Page Number and choose a location and style. If your change only affects the first page of your section, make sure Different First Page is not selected.
4. To choose a format or to control the starting number, select Page Number > Format Page Numbers.
5. Do either or both of the following:
   • Select Number format to select the format for the numbering, such as a, b, c or i, ii, iii for the intro.
   • Under Page numbering, choose Start at and type a number that you want to start the section with. For example, restart numbering at the beginning of the body section.
6. Select Close Header and Footer, or double-click anywhere outside the header or footer area to exit.

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For Open Office – Add different page numbers or number formats to different sections

To insert a page number field, position the cursor where you want to insert the number and choose Insert > Fields > Page Number. The page number appears with a gray background. The gray background denotes a field.

The page number field always displays the page number for the page where it is placed. If you see the words “Page number” instead of a number, press Ctrl+F9. This shortcut key toggles OOo between displaying the field’s contents (what the field is for) and the field’s results (what the field creates).

Changing the number format

Many more variations are possible. For example, you can set the page number to display in Roman numerals. To do that, you could double-click on the page number and select the desired format; however, a better choice is to specify the format of numbers in the page style as explained here.

In the Styles and Formatting window (press F11 if not already displayed) select the Page Styles icon and right-click on the highlighted entry for the current style. Select Modify, which opens the Page Style dialog box.

On the Page page of the Page Style dialog box, in the Layout settings section, select i, ii, iii, … from the Format drop-down list.

Numbering the first page something other than 1

Sometimes you may want to start a document with a page number greater than 1. For example, you may be writing a book, with each chapter in a separate file. Chapter 1 may start with page 1, but Chapter 2 could begin with page 25 and Chapter 3 with page 51.

Follow these instructions to start the page numbering in a document at a number greater than 1. (These instructions are for a page number in a footer, but you could use a header instead.)

Note: Do not set a starting page number that is an even number because you will end up with a blank page before the first page when you print the file or export it as a PDF.

1. Choose Insert > Footer > [page style] to activate the footer. (If the page style is already checked in the Footer menu, point to it and click OK in the dialog box that appears. Then point to that page style again to select it.)
2. The cursor is now in the footer. To insert the page number, choose Insert > Fields > Page Number. The page number will be 1.
3. Click in the first paragraph in the text area or type a paragraph of text.
4. Choose Format > Paragraph (or right-click and choose Paragraph from the pop-up menu) to display the Paragraph dialog box.
5. On the Text Flow page, in the Breaks section, select Insert and select Page in the Type drop-down list. Select With Page Style and the page style you are using for the first page of the document.
6. The Page number field is now active. Type the page number you want to start with. Click OK to close the Paragraph dialog box.

Numbering pages by chapter

Technical documents often include the chapter number with the page number in the header or footer. For example, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, …; 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, …

To set up this type of page numbering in OOo, you need to do three things:

1. Ensure that your chapter titles are all identified by the same paragraph style, for example, the Heading1 style.
2. Use Tools > Outline Numbering to tell OOo what paragraph style you are using for Level 1 in your outline, and specify “1,2,3″ in the Number box.
3. Insert the chapter number in your document. To do this:
   • Place the cursor in the header or footer just before the page number you inserted earlier, and choose Insert > Fields > Other from the menu bar.
   • On the Fields dialog, go to the Document page. Select Chapter in the Type list, Chapter number in the Format list, and 1 in the Layer box. Click Insert.
   • Type a hyphen or other punctuation between the chapter number and the page number.

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