How can I add non-standard page numbers in Word, using data from an Excel list

Question

I am trying to add mayan numerals as page numbers in a Word document. I have my list of the numerals 1 - 1200 in a separate Excel document with one column having all the numerals and another column having the words written out. I would like the footer of my Word document (approximately 600 pages) to have the pages numbered with each mayan numeral as well as with the word written out. It seems that there must be some way to do this with fields, mail merge, or at least with VBA. How can I make custom page numbers like this by pulling the information from my list in Excel?

Answer 1

While I do not have a great solution, the one offered by AI is nonsense. Mail merge is not a suitable method for having something different on each page as a page number.

If you can find a font that has the Mayan numbers in it on a one-for-one basis, you could format your page numbers to use that font by changing the Page Number style. This assumes that the numbering is base 10.

Otherwise, you would need to have your page numbers not in the header or footer but in each document page and do a massive Replace on the final document replacing Page fields on each page with the fixed numbers. This would require a macro that is beyond my skill.

Answer 2

Good day to you! Word can’t generate custom page numbers by itself, so using your Excel list is the right direction. The earlier answer was fine, but it missed a few things that actually matter when you’re working with a long document like yours.

1. Mail Merge only works if every page has a matching record.

You need an Excel column with the numbers 1 to 600. Word won’t link its PAGE field to your Excel automatically. Mail Merge treats each page as a separate “letter,” so if the layout changes later, you must redo the merge.

2. If your document is still being edited, Mail Merge will cause headaches

In that case, VBA is the better option. A short macro can read the real Word page number, go to the matching row in Excel, and place the correct Mayan numeral plus the written-out text into the footer. If the page order changes later, you just run the macro again.

3. Word fields alone can’t pull values from Excel

There’s no built-in field that can say “PAGE = 57, fetch the Mayan symbol for 57.” This is why most power users depend on either Merge or VBA for custom numbering systems.

What most people choose

If the document is finished: Mail Merge
If you expect changes: VBA

Extra help for you

If you want, just tell me:

1. The exact columns in your Excel file
2. Your Word footer layout
3. Whether you have section breaks

I can give you a ready-to-paste macro or step-by-step instructions tailored to your setup, so you don’t have to experiment or guess.

Answer 3

Thank you for your helpful ideas. AI recommended a mail merge, but either I didn't understand the instructions correctly, or the idea was completely nonsense. I thought I followed the instructions closely, but the result I got had only the first number in my list on all pages instead of a proper sequence.

I am still experimenting. I am trying to help with a dictionary in a Mayan language, but it may be several months till I am ready to print it, so I am so far just trying to understand my options for adding these page numbers. I can wait to add the page numbers until the last step before printing, if that would allow me to use Mail Merge, or I can try some VBA code if that is better. I use Word almost every day. I think I have a good grasp of its basic abilities, but mail merge and fields is an unfamiliar aspect to me, and VBA is definitely beyond my understanding. However, my brother has used some VBA in Access, and might be able to help me adapt code to the specific need if somewhere I could find something close.

So I am not sure about my exact formatting yet for this dictionary, but I am attaching a sample document with the page number in numeral and written out form Sample Mayan numeral page number try.pdf. Unfortunately I can't attach a Word document, so it's only in .pdf. I put the correct numeral and word for page 507 and 508 into the footer. Of course, since it's in the footer, you'll see those two numbers on all the pages. Note that the numeral needs to be in a small text box, so that the horizontal digits display in vertical format like they need to.

Also, here is a screen snip of my my Excel list of the numerals and words 1 - 1200. Mayan numerals screenshot.png Column B is the numeral, Column C is the word written out, Column A is the corresponding Arabic numeral.

Please note that you will need the "Noto Sans Mayan Numerals" font to properly display the numerals.

Thank you for your help.

Answer 4

Unfortunately I can't attach a Word document

You can include a share link to a document saved on OneDrive or Dropbox.https://addbalance.com/articles/Why%20a%20sample%20file%20is%20important%20for%20troubleshooting.%20How%20to%20do%20it.htm

You need to really understand how headers/footers and page numbers work.

Here is a link to Microsoft's old Quick Reference Guide to Headers, Footers and Page Numbers.

https://www.addbalance.com/word/download.htm#hfQuickReference

Here is my writing on Page Numbers: https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#PageNumbers

The thing is that page numbers in Word are fields, not numbers. The field will reflect the number of the page on which it appears. When in a header or footer, it will change on each page. However, if you change it from a field to a number, it will stay the same on every page on which the header or footer appears. For it to not be generated by the field, you would need to actually have it on the page and not in the header or footer.

This means putting the field on the page, then converting it from a field to a number, and then replacing the number with your Mayan numbering without changing any non-page numbers in your document. Thus, it is something that would need to be done at the end of the editing process. Further, if the Mayan numbers are of a different size on the page, that might cause repagination putting other numbers on different pages.

I would recommend putting the page numbers in a Frame that is aligned to the page rather than the text. https://addbalance.com/word/frames_textboxes.htm#sidebars

Answer 5

I think I understand the basic concept of headers/footers and page numbers. What we need is a field that, instead of displaying the number of the current page, instead displays a sequence pulled in from my Excel list.

I only added a sampling of the numeral and word number as plain text (not field) so you could see the approximate format.

Here is a link to the Word and Excel sample files Mayan page number samples. It is necessary to put the Mayan numerals in a text box (or frame) so that they display properly in vertical format. Are you saying that that frame/text box cannot be in the footer? If I put it in the margin, but not in the footer, the anchor has to be anchored to other text on the page, right? That's a frustrating limitation of Word, (as compared to Publisher), that everything is text based instead of page based.