Using Sections to Change Page Numbering in a Word Document

By default, all pages in a Microsoft Word document are numbered sequentially. However, there are times when we want to change the numbering sequence or style assigned to particular sections.

For example, in a book or a manual:

• Cover page and the page after it have no numbers
• The Table of Contents uses roman numerals as page numbers and is numbered from 1
• The first page of the first chapter has numbers starting from 1
• The index uses roman numerals as page numbers and is numbered from 1

If you want to change the numbering style or format or the numbering sequence, you have to use sections. Each part of the document that has a unique numbering style or sequence will be in a section by itself.

You can read more about the overall use of sections at Complex Document Layouts with Sections in Microsoft Word and Using Sections to Change Page Layout in a Word Document.

The Tutorial

Download the sample file Sample_Doc_Changing_Numbering_v1.docx. We will be using this file as the sample in this tutorial.

What We Will Be Doing in This Tutorial

We will create three (3) sections:

1. The first section will be the Table of Contents that will use roman numerals and will start at 1.
2. The second section will the main content of the document that will use decimal numbers starting at 1.
3. The third section will be the

In addition, observe that in any book or manual, the Table of Contents or chapters are always start on the right page or the odd page. When we create sections, we will ensure that our Table of Contents and Content pages start of the right page (odd page) as well.

The First Steps

1. Open Sample_Doc_Changing_Numbering_v1.docx.
2. Observe that:
   1. Table of Contents is page 1
   2. Contents start from page 2
   3. Index starts from page 13

Now we want to create 3 sections containing:

1. The Table of Contents
2. The Main Content
3. The Index 

Creating Sections

To designate a part of the document as a section, we need to insert section breaks to mark the start and at the end of the section. 

Note that:

• the Table of Contents starts on the first page of the document, so we do not have to give a section break to indicate where it starts.
• the index is at the end of the document, so we do not have to give a section break to indicate where it ends.

1. First let us separate the Table of Contents into a separate section:
   1. On page 2, click before the U of Using AutoText Effectively.
   2. On the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Breaks, and in the displayed list, click Odd Page. We are using an odd page section break because we want the new section (the contents) to start on an odd page.
2. Observe that:
   1. document contents start from page 3
   2. Index starts on page 14
3. To separate the index into a separate section:
   1. On page 14, click before the I of Index.
   2. On the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Breaks, and in the displayed list, click Odd Page. We are using an odd page section break because we want the index to start on an odd page.

After these two section breaks:

• The Table of Contents in now in section 1
• The main body of the document is section 2
• The index is section 3 

Changing the Numbering Sequence

1. To start the numbering for the Table of Contents from 1 and display page numbers as roman numerals:
   1. Double-click the footer area. The footer now becomes editable.
   2. Click in the footer area of Section 2. This section contains the Table of Contents.
   3. On the Header & Footer tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Page Number, and from the displayed menu, select Format Page Numbers.
      
   4. In the Page Number Format:
      1. From the Number format list, select i, ii, iii….
      2. Under the Page numbering group, select Start at and type 1.
         
         
   5. Click OK. The page number for the table of contents page changes to i.

      
      

2. To start the numbering for the main part of the document from 1:
   1. Ensure that the footer is editable.
   2. Click in the footer area of Section 3. This section contains contents of the document.
   3. On the Header & Footer tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Page Number, and from the displayed menu, select Format Page Numbers.
   4. In the Page Number Format, under the Page numbering group, select Start at and type 1.
   5. Click OK. The page number for the main part of the document changes to 1.
      
3. To start the numbering for the index from 1 and use the roman numeral format:
   1. Double-click the footer area. The footer now becomes editable.
   2. Click in the footer area of Section 3. This section contains the Table of Contents.
   3. On the Header & Footer tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Page Number, and from the displayed menu, select Format Page Numbers.
   4. In the Page Number Format:
      1. From the Number format list, select i, ii, iii….
      2. Under the Page numbering group, select Start at and type 1.
         
   5. Click OK. The page number for the index page changes to i.
4. Update the Table of Contents. The page numbers are now updated to reflect the new numbering.
   

Download the formatted document Sample_Doc_Changing_Numbering_v1_Solution with sections and numbering as explained in the tutorial.