Microsoft Word blank document open on a Mac.
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Nigh longer Microsoft Word documents have folio numbers, but not all of them beginning page numbering on the outset page. That first folio might be a cover letter or a championship page. In addition, later that offset page, the certificate might comprise a table of contents or some other front matter that you don't desire numbered. Starting a Word document'southward folio numbering scheme after the first few pages isn't difficult but yous must insert a section break. In this Microsoft Word tutorial, I'll show yous how to efficiently commencement page numbers somewhere later the first few pages.

I'm using Microsoft 365 on a Windows 10 64-bit arrangement, but you tin can apply an before version. I recommend that yous concord off on upgrading to Windows 11 until all the kinks are worked out. For your convenience, yous can download the demonstration .docx and .doc files. You tin't insert section breaks in Word for the web, so y'all'll want to utilize Discussion desktop. We'll exist working with Word headers, simply everything is the same in the footer.

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Review your needs

If you're lucky, y'all'll be working with a new Give-and-take certificate; if not, you'll need to carefully review the existing page numbering scheme, considering it's piece of cake to delete a setting that confuses the entire work. Unfortunately, in that location's no silvery bullet for existing page numbers, but the post-obit should exist comprehensive enough to get you close:

  • Bank check headers and footers for the unnumbered pages in the front matter. About likely you volition find no page numbering settings but bank check anyway.
  • Cheque headers and footers for the first page in each chapter.
  • Check headers and footers on the terminal page.
  • Check headers and footers in all referencing segments: table of contents, table of figures, index and and so on.

Once yous know what yous take, you can decide what to go along and what to remove. This is a situation where an commodity isn't going to aid you. If you're working with a new document, such equally the four-page certificate shown in Effigy A, the planning stage is much simpler. Specifically, we don't desire a page number on the title page or the table of contents, pages 1 and 2, respectively.

Four page word document with title page and TOC.
Figure A: We don't desire folio numbers on pages 1 and 2.

Ane more piece of advice. If you're working with forced folio breaks and sections, turning on Bear witness/Hide will assistance because it shows page and section break codes. To enable this feature, click the Bear witness/Hide option in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Click again to plough it off.

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Step one: Section breaks

When you don't want to show pages numbers on the first few pages, yous must use department breaks. There's no way around it. Inserting department breaks allows y'all to set different formatting for different sections. Information technology'south the backbone of a busy document with lots of formatting requirements.

Reviewing our document's numbering requirements, nosotros want to start page numbers on page 3. To accomplish this, insert a section break to the bottom of page two every bit follows:

  1. Select the hard page pause on page ii, as shown in Figure B. This is where having Evidence/Hibernate enabled helps. The section break we'll insert includes a page break, and so you don't need the hard break currently there.
  2. Click the Layout tab.
  3. In the Page Setup group, click the Breaks option.
  4. From the dropdown choose Next Folio from the Section Breaks section (Effigy B).
Breaks section of a Microsoft Word doc highlighting Next Page
Figure B: Insert a Adjacent Page department pause.

Figure C shows the new section intermission. As you can see, the forced hard page break has been replaced with a section break, and the text still starts on page three. If the forced page break shows up at the elevation of folio three, select it and delete it.

Microsoft Word Section Break insertion.
Figure C: Insert a section pause after the tabular array of contents on page 2.

With the section break in place, you're ready to start numbering pages at page 3.

Footstep two: Folio numbers

With the section break in place, y'all tin can enable page numbering as follows:

  1. Go to page three or four.
  2. Double-click the header area to open up it in edit style.
  3. On the contextual Header & Footer tab, click Folio Number in the Header & Footer group.
  4. Choose Top of Folio from the resulting dropdown and and then cull Plain Number 1 (Figure D). You can select something else but keep things every bit uncomplicated as possible.
Microsoft Word page number menu.
Figure D: Insert the folio numbering scheme.

Turning on page numbering, turns it on for pages 3 and four, but also folio two, which we don't desire. To disable page numbering for folio two, we need to unlink the headers between sections 1 and 2. To that end, click the header tab on page ii—the ane right under the header that displays "Header-Section 2-." Then, click the Link to Previous pick shown in Figure Eastward in the Navigation grouping. Doing so unlinks the ii sections. Equally yous tin see in Effigy F, page 2's number is gone. Page number at present start on page iii.

Screenshot of Microsoft Word Document when you are unlinking to sections in a document.
Figure East: Unlink the sections.
Screenshot of Microsoft Word doc with unlinked sections.
Figure F: Unlinking the two sections, removes the folio number from folio 2.

In that location'due south i more than footstep that you might want to take—but it isn't necessary.

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Step three: Change outset page number

When you lot plough off page numbering for front end affair such as our title page and table of contents, you might want to modify the offset displayed page number to 1. In our case, it's really page 3, but that's inclusive of the forepart thing. To start page number with folio i, practice the following:

  1. With the header open, select page 3 on page 3.
  2. Click Folio Number in the Header & Footer group.
  3. Select Format Folio Numbers.
  4. In the Page Numbering section of the resulting dialog, select the Beginning At selection and enter i, as shown in Effigy G.
  5. Click OK.
Microsoft Word doc screenshot of page number format menu.
Figure K: Restart page numbering.

Equally you can run into in Figure H, folio number now starts at 1 instead of three. This is a step you don't have to take, but it'due south adept to know that you can.

Word doc screenshot with page numbers in place.
Figure H: Folio numbers start with 1 at present.

It'due south a elementary exercise, but it's piece of cake to get confused if y'all insert page numbers earlier inserting the appropriate section breaks. If you outset with the page numbering first, y'all might go around and around trying to make it all piece of work. If you're turning off only the first page, use the Different Starting time Folio choice instead of inserting a section break.