Unable to make Word autofill page numbers

Question

Unable to make Word autofill page numbers

Mick B 20

Several MS agents were unable to help. In my Word Doc, I want to number the pages, starting with the first page, after a section break. I've tried many ways, but it won't fill in page numbers on all the remaining pages.

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Answer accepted by question author

Stefan Blom 352.1K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Each Word document has three footers (and three headers) per section. These are all available if you have selected both "Different first page" and "Different odd and even" in Page Setup (or the corresponding options on the Header & Footer Tools ribbon tab).

Linking (or unlinking) applies between sections and it applies per footer type (and similarly for headers, but you can ignore those for now, assuming that you want the page numbers in the footer only). For example, the first page footer of section 1 can be linked to (or unlinked from) the first page footer of section 2.

If all of your footers are unlinked, then you need to add the page number three times per section.

Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-30T02:58:08.86+00:00

I've tried variations of what you suggested, but linking only duplicates the footer it's linked to. Not sure what I'm missing.
Stefan Blom 352.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-30T23:47:00.3+00:00

I've tried variations of what you suggested, but linking only duplicates the footer it's linked to.

Yes, linking or unlinking affects all content in the footer (or header), not just the page number.

Instead of using the link/unlink option ("Same as Previous"), manually add the page number as required. It will be fast using the shortcut Alt+Shift+P once you have activated the header/footer view, for example by double-clicking the header.
Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-31T10:03:09.8533333+00:00

Stefan,

Thank you very much. Others have told me the same, but the page numbering never expanded to the other pages; I'm just not sure why.
Stefan Blom 352.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-31T15:18:00.83+00:00

You have marked my reply as an Accepted Answer. Does that mean that the problem is now sorted?

7 additional answers

Your answer

Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-30T02:58:08.86+00:00

I've tried variations of what you suggested, but linking only duplicates the footer it's linked to. Not sure what I'm missing.
Stefan Blom 352.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-30T23:47:00.3+00:00

I've tried variations of what you suggested, but linking only duplicates the footer it's linked to.

Yes, linking or unlinking affects all content in the footer (or header), not just the page number.

Instead of using the link/unlink option ("Same as Previous"), manually add the page number as required. It will be fast using the shortcut Alt+Shift+P once you have activated the header/footer view, for example by double-clicking the header.
Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-31T10:03:09.8533333+00:00

Stefan,

Thank you very much. Others have told me the same, but the page numbering never expanded to the other pages; I'm just not sure why.
Stefan Blom 352.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-31T15:18:00.83+00:00

You have marked my reply as an Accepted Answer. Does that mean that the problem is now sorted?

Answer 1

Hendrix-C 19,990 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Mick,

Please notify me if I have misunderstood anything about your situation.

For a standard method to add page numbers into a multi-section document:

Go to the first page after the section break
Double click the header or footer depends on which is the place you want to add page numbers
Deleting any existing page number
In the Header & Footer tab, ensure Link to Previous, Different First Page and Different Off & Even Pages are all Off, unless you want a specific first page or some even pages
Insert page number again and go to Format Page Numbers > set Start at 1
Then check later sections and ensure all sections from section 2 or later are set with Link to Previous (normally this option is set as ON when you create a new section)
You can quick jump to later sections' first page using Ctrl + G > choose Section > press Next to jump through each section

You can give it a try and let me know whether it works. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out again in the comments on this post. I'm happy to assist you further

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I'm looking forward to your reply.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-28T23:02:51.7933333+00:00

Thank you very much. I've tried this before and every variation I can think of, but inserting a page number using Format Page Number does nothing. The only way I can make it display a number (on the first page only) is by selecting Page Number > Bottom of page, or one of the other options, but it doesn't autofill the doc. Below is the page setup.
Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T05:10:14.5466667+00:00

The Format Page Numbers dialog does not insert page numbers. It controls the format of page numbers in a section and following sections unless used again in the following sections.

Answer 2

John Korchok 236K Volunteer Moderator

Click in a section that does not display the numbers, then double-click on the header or footer area of the page to open the Header & Footer tab. Click on the Link to Previous button to link to the page numbering of the previous section.

If you are using Different first page or Different odd & even, you may have up to 3 different headers and footers per section. Each different header or footer must be set to Link to Previous.

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Answer 4

John Korchok 236K Volunteer Moderator

As noted in my previous reply, if you are using both Different first page and Different odd and even options (you are using both), you have three different headers and footers in each section. In each section, you must use the Link to Previous command to continue the page numbers for each of those three headers or footers. Using Continuous Section Breaks can make it difficult to link sections. If a given section is so short that it doesn't display at least three pages, you will have to temporarily add dummy pages so that you can link to the previous section for each page.

Please post more details about your problem. Does the page number appear only on page 1, or does it appear on other pages in the document? Where does the numbering stop? Feel free to post a screen shot showing the problem.

Or better yet, upload a sample document to a cloud service, then post a password-free share link here. That is the guaranteed route to a solution.

Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T00:31:41.1733333+00:00

Thanks. I only have one section break in the whole doc, and it's on the page above, where I want to start numbering. I don't want to link to previous pages since I don't want page numbers on those. When I get a page number to appear, it's only on the first page, none others.

I guess I don't understand how I have three different headers and footers in each section if I only have one section.

Using the below method does nothing.

This way inserts a single page #.
Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T00:39:30.4+00:00

By the way, if I use ALT SHFT P in each footer, it adds the page numbers correctly but there has to be a better way. I have 340 pages.
John Korchok 236K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T01:05:18.0766667+00:00

There is a better way: using the Link to Previous option I've mentioned in 2 replies.
Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:34:31.62+00:00

Yes, but I was told to turn it off. When I click it, it wants me to link to the header/foot in the previous section, which I don't want to do since those are blank and there are no page numbers in them. Maybe I'm not understanding something.
Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T11:48:31.0733333+00:00

You don't have to add the page number on every page, just the first page of the section. If this is a First Page Footer, then you will also need to add the page number in the default Footer, which will be the next page unless you have enabled Different Odd and Even. In that case, you will also have to add it in the Even Page Footer and Odd Page Footer. Just once for each of these three footers. Provided you don't have any additional section breaks, this should do it for the whole book. For more, see http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/FrontMatterRibbon.htm
Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T17:34:15.29+00:00

Suzanne, my book has a few page breaks in the beginning, then one section break for the actual book content. Are you saying I need to add another section?

My book is mirrored with odd/even page numbering. These are my current settings for the first page in the section break; the remainder of the footers are linked to the previous.
Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-30T00:18:50.9466667+00:00

Did you look at the referenced article, which addresses you situation exactly?
Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-30T03:02:13.81+00:00

Yes. Thanks for the links. Somehow it doesn't work for my brain.
Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-30T03:41:56.7833333+00:00

By the way, if I use ALT SHFT P in each footer, it adds the page numbers correctly but there has to be a better way. I have 340 pages.

You need page number fields in each footer, not each page.

How many footers you have is a matter for guessing, from here.

Every section of a Word document has three footers, not all of which need be shown, but still there.

If you link to previous, then you only need the page number in the footer being linked to.

Here is my recap of header footer settings which has been previously linked: https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#Recap_of_Header/Footer_settings

Have you read Suzanne's article on Numbering Front Matter? http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/FrontMatterRibbon.htm