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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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?

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T00:30:47.5+00:00

In the Header or Footer (wherever you want the page number), press Alt+Shift+P. If you have enabled either Different First Page or Different Odd and Even, you will have to do this more than once to include all the headers/footers in the section.
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Mick B 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T00:44:01.4633333+00:00

Thank you, but there has to be a better way. I have 340 pages. Someone else was able to do it on my first book.

Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T05:22:24.1566667+00:00

See the links I have given you (repeated below).

This is relatively easy, especially if you do it as you get to the section where you want the numbering to start. However, when you want complex, you need to know what you are doing.

From my writing on headers and footers linked earlier:

This is confusing. This is because it really is complex to allow users the flexibility they need. If you don't need that complexity, probably you will never see it. To understand what is happening in headers and footers you need to know about Sections and Section breaks. Header and footer coding is stored in the Section break that follows the Section.

See Word MVP Suzanne Barnhill's page on Numbering Front matter: [http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/FrontMatterRibbon.htm]

To understand what happens you need a feel for sections and headers and footers.

References:

Quick Reference Card for Headers, Footers and Page Numbers (pdf) https://www.addbalance.com/word/download.htm#hfQuickReference

Page Numbers in Microsoft Word https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#PageNumbers

Header Footer Settings Recap https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#Recap_of_Header/Footer_settings
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John Korchok 236K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T01:03:53.69+00:00

Your screen shot shows "Even Page Header - Section 3". This means you definitely have more than 1 section break, or you could not have Section 3.

With the options you are using, there is one header and one footer for the Different first page option. Then there are 2 more headers and footer, one each for Even pages and another pair for Odd pages. This is why you have 3 headers or footers to edit for each section.

We could get this solved a lot faster if you could upload a sample document to a cloud service, then post a share link here.
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Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-29T05:15:12.8166667+00:00
See Word MVP Suzanne Barnhill's page on Numbering Front matter: http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/FrontMatterRibbon.htm

To understand what happens you need a feel for sections and headers and footers.

References:
- Quick Reference Card for Headers, Footers and Page Numbers (pdf) https://www.addbalance.com/word/download.htm#hfQuickReference
- Page Numbers in Microsoft Word https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#PageNumbers
- Header Footer Settings Recap https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#Recap_of_Header/Footer_settings
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Unable to make Word autofill page numbers

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