continuous pagination in sectioned document

Anonymous
2025-07-14T20:00:14+00:00

Attempting to paginate sectioned document continuously. Choosing "continue from previous section" at start of each section appears to work. But after Save and Close, when document opened each section has reverted to start from page 0. Home Office and Business 2021

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS

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Jay Freedman 208.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2025-07-15T01:18:46+00:00

Please disregard the suggestion to disable "Different First Page" and "Different Odd & Event Pages". Those options affect which headers and footers appear on specified pages, but they have no effect on page numbering.

That the sections "revert to start from page 0" is very odd. Aside from the apparent loss of the continuous numbering, I'd expect a section that doesn't continue page numbering from the previous section to begin at page 1, not page 0.

You should have section breaks only when a change in margins, orientation, page size, or number of columns is necessary, or when you want a different header/footer on the first page of a section (with "Different First Page" enabled). Delete all other section breaks. Instead of a section break to start a new page, you can open the Paragraph dialog for the first paragraph of the new page, go to the dialog's Line and Page Breaks tab, and check "Page break before".

If all else fails, delete the existing section breaks and insert new ones. The page numbering after each new section break should default to "Continue from previous section", and that should be stable through saving, closing, and reopening the document.

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Anonymous
2025-07-15T14:22:14+00:00

I resolved this by stripping out and replacing all section breaks.

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  1. Charles Kenyon 170.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-07-15T17:56:14+00:00

    For future reference, see my Continuous Page Numbering Add-In.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-07-15T14:20:54+00:00

    The sections were required to maintain endnote renumbering at 1 per section. But your final comment did the trick. Stripped out all section breaks, then replaced them and did the necessary reformatting of pages numbers and endnote numbers. I guess section breaks were corrupt. Thank you so much.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-07-15T00:55:34+00:00

    Hi,

    Thanks for posting in the Microsoft Community.

    I understand you're trying to apply continuous page numbering across sections in Word for Mac (Office Home and Business 2021), but after saving and reopening the document, each section resets to start from page 0. That can definitely be frustrating, especially when you've already configured the settings correctly.

    This issue may be caused by a formatting conflict or a bug in how Word for Mac handles section-based pagination.

    Here are the best steps to resolve it:

    1. Reapply Page Numbering for Each Section

    Word for Mac may not retain pagination settings unless manually reapplied.
    >> Click in the header/footer of each section

    >> Go to Insert > Page Numbers > Format 

    >> Select Continue from previous section.

    2. Check and Correct Section Breaks

    Incorrect or corrupted section breaks can cause pagination to reset.
    >> Go to Word > Preferences > View 

    >> Enable Show all formatting marks 

    >> Ensure each section starts with a Section Break (Next Page) or Section Break (Continuous).

    3. Disable “Different First Page” and “Odd/Even Pages”

    These layout options can interfere with consistent page numbering.
    >> Double-click the header/footer

    >> In the ribbon, uncheck Different First Page and Different Odd & Even Pages.

    4. Update Word to the Latest Version

    A known bug may have been fixed in a recent update.
    >> Open Word

    >> Go to Help > Check for Updates 

    >> Install any available updates.

    5. Copy Content into a New Document

    The original file may be corrupted, preventing settings from saving properly.
    >> Create a new Word document

    >> Copy and paste the content section by section

    >> Reapply section breaks and pagination settings.

    Please try these steps and let us know if the issue persists.

    Best wishes,

    Peter | Microsoft Community Support

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