Inserting page numbers in a WORD document.

Thanks. I will just start a Header (not first page header) on the second page, and I'm sure that will work. I want the first page (title page) unnumbered anyway, so I'm sure this will work.

Yes, that is the idea behind the first-page header/footer setting.

You do not need to create or start a header on the second page.

It should already be there. It is part of the document structure.

At some point, in addition to the other links I've posted, you may want to look at Numbering Front Matter by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

   None of that can be the case. I have now numbered five unnumbered 

documents using the same sequence I outlined above. Every document showed the numbers. I would be happy to try some other method, but you say ” Place your cursor where you want the page number.” How? 

There is no way of “placing a cursor. I double clicked to open the header. Now I have a fixed blinking cursor. I cannot move it or position it. I tried tab but all that did was vertically 

enlarge the header. Then I typed in the number One at the blinking 

cursor, tabbed it all the way to the right – perfect position, but all pages were then numbered one. 

I just figured out what’s wrong, but I don’t know why it’s wrong the way it’s wrong, nor how to fix it. When I go to Insert, etc on this main document it gives me “First Page Header, so naturally all succeeding pages are blank. But all the test docs I did that worked, simply said “Header.” So the question is why am I getting First Page Header on this document. I think if I could just get “Header” it would work – as it does on the other docs.

The Different First Page setting in the Header/Footer tab determines this.

This gives you a different header (and footer) on the first page of the section.

Simply go to the header on the next page and insert your page number there as well.

Resources:

• Different First Page
• Header/Footer Settings Recap
• How can I get a different header/footer on the second page?
• Page Numbers in Word 2007-2021 (365)

You can uncheck this setting and you will no longer see the First-Page header/footer.

You cannot simply type a number for page numbering, unless you want that same number on every page.

Alt+Shift+P gives you a page number field, which will change as your pagination changes.

Could you give us an example of how the document is skewed when you reopen it? A screen shot might be helpful. If you want to, you can share a representative sample document with the forum.

See:

• Page numbering / header / footer problems Word 2007 - Word 2021! (365)
• Page Numbers in Word 2007-2021 (365)
• Page Number Galleries

When you say no page numbers show up in the document, what happens when you print or convert to pdf? Do you see them then?

Page numbers are generally fields in a header or footer. If you are not seeing those, see Elusive White Space by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP.

Are you saying that the built-in page number galleries are missing at Insert tab > Header & Footer group > Insert Page Number > Bottom of Page (for example)? In that case, you can usually fix the problem as follows: Exit Word and then delete the Built-in Building Blocks.dotx template in your Windows user profile path.

Note that if you activate the header/footer view, for example by double-clicking the header, you can click where you want the page number and then insert it at the insertion point using the shortcut Alt+Shift+P.