Invisible Page Numbers in Word

Anonymous

Hello. I am using Word for Mac 2011, version 14.3.6. I used a Resume template and made a one page resume. I have no page number on it and when I upload it to various employer applications and career websites like Monster or Careerbuilder, there is a "page 2" printed in the right of the header. I do not have any settings to show page numbers anywhere in the template setup. I cannot figure out how to get rid of "page 2" showing up on my document when it's uploaded, there's nothing showing up in Word. Thanks in advance for any help.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

I just downloaded your résumé. It takes just one page. But if I add a couple of Carriage Returns to force the appearance of a second page, the "2" does appear in the footer. So do this: add a couple of extra lines, go to page 2, delete the number, delete the extra lines.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 436K

OK, I've looked at your document & Daniel is on the right track :-) but the issue is a bit different than I understood from your description. I had the impression that it was only a single page, that "page 2" was showing in the Header on that page & that it was displaying only in the submitted document [not in your local (original) copy]. Fortunately, your problem is due to a common cause which is easily corrected...

The main cause is the big gap between the personal info & the Skills heading. It's created by an empty paragraph apparently used for spacing purposes [never a good idea :-)]. That paragraph also has 20 pt Space Before as well as 10 pt Space After attributes applied to it. The 1st page Header also has 24 pt Space After applied to it which further exaggerates the influence on the text flow. That is forcing the last 2 lines onto a 2nd page which -- as Daniel pointed out -- has a different Header definition which includes the page number field.

The cure can be accomplished in either of several ways, but this is what I'd suggest:

With the insertion point at the beginning of the word Skills, press the delete (backspace) key to remove the empty paragraph. That will allow the 2 lines on the 2nd page to be drawn back onto the 1st page.
If you want more space separating Skills from the personal info, click in the Skills paragraph then go to Format> Paragraph to increase the Space Before. Although you may be able to get away with a little more I'd suggest not using any more than 30 pt. -- As Daniel advised, spacing can be influenced by printing devices, installed fonts, etc., so it's best to not push the limits if the document is to display properly on another computer.

In order of increasing complexity, other options include;

Go into the 1st page Header, then go to Format> Paragraph & reduce the Space After to 0, or
Click in the empty paragraph above Skills, then go into Format> Paragraph to remove the Space Before/After. However, that won't be enough. You'll also have to click in the Phone paragraph to remove the 10 pt Space After applied to it, or
Go into the page 2 Header, use Command+A to select the content, then delete it. Note that this still will leave you with a 2 page document with just the same 2 paragraphs on the 2nd page -- it just removes the page numbering, or
Some combination of all the above in order to reduce the overall vertical spacing in the document.

The most likely reason that Option+F9 did not reveal the page number field is that your OS X System Preferences are set not use the "F" keys as standard function keys -- They are set to use specific OS X/Mac features, instead. If your keyboard has a fn key you can use fn+Option+F9 to toggle the Field Codes.

0 comments

7 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-01-18T03:18:29+00:00

That template in particular does define a different format for the first page. This means that pages 2, 3, etc. (if they exist) can have a different header/footer than the first page.

Due to font differences, a document opened in one computer can take up slightly more (or less) space than in another. Thus, if your résumé barely fits on a single page on your screen, it may be slightly less deep on one computer, or overflow onto a second page in another.

The easiest way to correct this is to add a couple of Returns to your résumé, so it will take up more than one page. At that point, you'll be able to see the second header, access it and delete it.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2014-01-18T01:31:53+00:00

Did you use one of the six resume templates supplied with Office 2011? If so, which one? Otherwise, what is the source? Without knowing which specific resume template you used there's no way to be sure.

None of the supplied templates include page numbers on the 1st page. Nor does Word have any capacity to arbitrarily add page numbers. If they actually exist in the document there would be some visual indication.

Do you have the non-printing characters [¶] displayed to help determine what is in the location where the page number is appearing? Have you tried displaying Field Codes [Option+F9] to see if anything shows up in that space?

Also, what is the file type of the document? Are you uploading the actual Word document or some other file type. [If it happens to be a PDF for example, that involves the Print subsystem of OS X. Some printers have a feature that adds page numbers.]

If you'll post a copy of the Word document or a copy of the template on a web server & provide a link to it perhaps we can help figure it out.

BTW, it most likely has no bearing on this issue but I notice that your installation of Office 2011 is behind on updates, 14.3.9 being the current version.

Thanks for the response. I used the "Simple Resume" template. Option+F9 didn't do anything when I tried to display field codes. It is a .docx document. I am uploading the Word document. As a complete novice, I don't understand what you mean about the Print subsystem in OS X (I'm 10.6.8 version) and I just updated to 14.3.9 for the current version.

Here is the link to the file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y444xitm69ip4wz/MT%20RESUME%202014.docx

Thanks!
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 436K Reputation points

2014-01-17T23:27:31+00:00

Did you use one of the six resume templates supplied with Office 2011? If so, which one? Otherwise, what is the source? Without knowing which specific resume template you used there's no way to be sure.

None of the supplied templates include page numbers on the 1st page. Nor does Word have any capacity to arbitrarily add page numbers. If they actually exist in the document there would be some visual indication.

Do you have the non-printing characters [¶] displayed to help determine what is in the location where the page number is appearing? Have you tried displaying Field Codes [Option+F9] to see if anything shows up in that space?

Also, what is the file type of the document? Are you uploading the actual Word document or some other file type. [If it happens to be a PDF for example, that involves the Print subsystem of OS X. Some printers have a feature that adds page numbers.]

If you'll post a copy of the Word document or a copy of the template on a web server & provide a link to it perhaps we can help figure it out.

BTW, it most likely has no bearing on this issue but I notice that your installation of Office 2011 is behind on updates, 14.3.9 being the current version.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments

Share via

Invisible Page Numbers in Word

7 additional answers