How to keep page numbering continuous ignoring page [Section] breaks?

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How to keep page numbering continuous ignoring page [Section] breaks?

Giang Pham 70

Word 365 default allows page numbering restart whenever we add a page break. What should I do to change this default option to continuous page numbering ignoring a new page break I may create?

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Answer 1

Charles Kenyon 166.2K Volunteer Moderator

Stefan and Bob have given you good answers.

There is a huge difference between a Next Page Section Break and a Manual Page Break. The Section Break starts a new section. If you restart numbering in any section and then start a new section from within that, the new section will by default restart page numbering. You can reset that at any time with the Format Page Numbers dialog.

Like Bob, I seldom use Manual page breaks. Formatting the paragraph to start the new page with Page Break Before formatting is preferable and is easy to do if I use a heading style to start the new section and simply have that style set for that. I never use section breaks just to start a new page, which is what you must have done. There are great reasons to use section breaks, but that is not one of them. Manual page breaks can be applied easily. In the Windows version it is Ctrl+Enter; I think in the Mac version it is likely Cmd+Enter. However in important documents, you will end up with messed up formatting if there is much revision done. The Page Break before paragraph formatting avoids that problem.

For more background, take a look at:

What gets carried over when you start a new Section?
Quick Reference Card for Page Numbers, Headers, and Footers https://www.addbalance.com/word/download.htm#hfQuickReference
When to use, and not use, Section breaks.

Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-02T08:45:20.1433333+00:00

Thank you Charles. Sorry for my mistake, I do mean section break, not page break. I also articulate further my issues with Bob. Please take a look, and I'm looking forward to your further advice.
Charles Kenyon 166.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-02T16:31:09.8333333+00:00

... I do mean section break, not page break. I have also responded Dora-T underneath. If you say the decision to restart page numbering is made by individual, could you please show me how to change that.

This is done in the Format Page Number dialog. The default setting is to continue from previous section. If you change it though, then when you start a new section from within the section, your previous choice to restart will be present in the new section. https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#StartNewSection

The fact is that I need to interchange portrait vs landscape sections quite often in a document, and unfortunately I don't pay attention to change page numbering right at that time, so when I finish editing a huge document with many section breaks, I have to go check every single section break and adjust page numbering setting there. It happened once with section break continuous that I couldn't see header/footer to adjust its page number, so that I had to change it to section break new page, then changed page number, then changed it back to section break continuous. What I would wish for is a setting to ensure that whenever I create a new section break, the page number is automatically set as continuous, without my manual interventions for each newly built section.Appreciate your further guidance.

Alignment tabs are designed to maintain horizontal position in headers and footers on the page when switching from portrait to landscape and back. While the Mac does not have any way to insert Alignment Tabs, it can use them but you would need to copy them from a document created in Word for Windows. Here is a macro-free template with them in AutoText for you to use. https://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#AlignmentTabsinAutoTextAdd

My Continuous Page Numbering Add-In works on the Mac as far as I know. It gives you a button to click to set the page numbering as continuous throughout the document. https://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#ContinuousPageNumbering Since you apparently did tell it to restart, perhaps after intro material, you would need to go back to where you want it to restart at 1 and do that again through the Page Number Format dialog. That would not change anything following, though.
Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-03T03:01:25.24+00:00

Hi Charles, thanks for your guidance as well as the add-in. Now I understand that the setting of a new section break depends on its previous section setting. I will install your add-in later.

Answer 2

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 434.8K

First of all, I strongly recommend against using manual page breaks. They're like chopping the text up with an axe because - technically - pages do not exist in the structure of a document. There are specific reasons which justify the use of manual page breaks but they should be used sparingly.

Secondly, page numbering is a Section property. All documents start off as a single Section & page numbering is consecutive throughout the document. If the document contains Section Breaks the option exists to restart numbering for each section.

There must be more to what has been done in the document. Unless the default has been changed page numbering should be consecutive from beginning to end even if manual page breaks & Section Breaks have been inserted. The decision to restart page numbering is made by the individual editing the document, not by the program.

Dora-T has offered some valid approaches but it's impossible to know how to address the issue without knowing more about how the document has been constructed. Knowing the present Version Number of the Office software may be helpful as well.

Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-02T08:43:16.12+00:00

Thank you Bob. And totally sorry for my mistake. I do mean section break, not page break. I have also responded Dora-T underneath. If you say the decision to restart page numbering is made by individual, could you please show me how to change that. The fact is that I need to interchange portrait vs landscape sections quite often in a document, and unfortunately I don't pay attention to change page numbering right at that time, so when I finish editing a huge document with many section breaks, I have to go check every single section break and adjust page numbering setting there. It happened once with section break continuous that I couldn't see header/footer to adjust its page number, so that I had to change it to section break new page, then changed page number, then changed it back to section break continuous. What I would wish for is a setting to ensure that whenever I create a new section break, the page number is automatically set as continuous, without my manual interventions for each newly built section.Appreciate your further guidance.

Answer 3

Stefan Blom 338.1K MVP Volunteer Moderator

When you change the starting page number in a section and then add a section break, Word will apply the page number settings for the new section as well. So this isn't really a default setting but rather the current setting for page numbering being (re-)used.

To change the page number restart in a section, click in that section and choose "Continue from previous section" in the Page Number Format dialog box. Confirm with OK. You should be able to display the dialog box via Insert tab > Page Number > Format Page Numbers.

At least in Word for Windows, you can make use of a VBA macro to quickly set all sections to continuous page numbering.

Charles Kenyon 166.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-01T21:39:36.4566667+00:00

The same macro would work in Word for the Mac. It is incorporated in my Add-In for Continuous Page Numbering.
Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-02T08:32:36.49+00:00

Thank you Stefan. And totally sorry for my mistake. I do mean section break, not page break. You are right about changing page number restart in a section, but it's rather manual change, which I do everyday. What I would wish for is a setting to ensure that whenever I create a new section break, the page number is automatically set as continuous, without my manual interventions for each newly built section. It definitely survive me when I have to use section breaks so frequently in a document between portrait vs landscape ones. Appreciate your further guidance.
Stefan Blom 338.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-02T18:11:33.9266667+00:00

Thank you Stefan. And totally sorry for my mistake. I do mean section break, not page break. You are right about changing page number restart in a section, but it's rather manual change, which I do everyday. What I would wish for is a setting to ensure that whenever I create a new section break, the page number is automatically set as continuous, without my manual interventions for each newly built section. It definitely survive me when I have to use section breaks so frequently in a document between portrait vs landscape ones. Appreciate your further guidance.

When you add a section break, Word uses the settings that have been specified in the section which contains the insertion point at the time when you insert the break. That is what I meant with "current" setting for page numbering (including page numbering restarts).

If possible, you can save the restart setting(s) for last. Insert section breaks as required. At a later stage, when editing is (almost) complete, you can set restarts for those sections that require it.
Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-03T02:59:19.69+00:00

Hi Stefan, thanks for your guidance. Now I understand that the page numbering settings of a section depends on its previous section setting. Thanks again.
Stefan Blom 338.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-03T08:35:45.5166667+00:00

You are welcome.

Answer 4

Dora-T 12,500 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Giang Pham

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A Forum.

Based on your description, it seems that the page numbering is restarting when you insert what appears to be a page break.

I’ve tested this on my end, and page numbers continue normally when inserting a page break (using Command + Enter or Insert > Page Break). Page numbering may restart if a section break is present, or if the numbering in a new section is set to start from 1. Could you please check whether your document might contain a section break instead?

User's image

If section breaks are involved, you can try the following steps to keep page numbers continuous:

Double-click on the header or footer area where the page number is shown
Go to the Header & Footer tab, then click “Link to Previous” to connect sections
Click Page Number > Format Page Numbers
Select “Continue from previous section” instead of “Start at 1”

If you do not need separate sections, you can also remove any section breaks:

Go to Home > click the ¶ icon to show formatting marks
Look for “Section Break” and delete it

After that, the page numbers should continue normally across all pages, even when inserting page breaks.

Please try these steps and let me know how it goes. If I may have misunderstood your scenario, please feel free to correct me.

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Dora-T 12,500 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-02T01:58:20.1866667+00:00

Hi Giang Pham

Just checking in to see if you've had a chance to check my previous response.

Please let me know if there are any updates on your end.
Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-02T08:35:25.94+00:00

Thank you Dora-T. And totally sorry for my mistake. I do mean section break, not page break. You are right about changing page number restart in a section, but it's rather manual change, which I do everyday. What I would wish for is a setting to ensure that whenever I create a new section break, the page number is automatically set as continuous, without my manual interventions for each newly built section. It definitely survive me when I have to use section breaks so frequently in a document between portrait vs landscape ones. Appreciate your further guidance.
Dora-T 12,500 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-03T02:26:43.9733333+00:00
Hi Giang Pham

Thank you for your clarification.

In Word, page numbering is a section-level setting, and new sections typically inherit the numbering format from the previous one. If a section was set to “Start at 1”, sections created after that may continue using the same setting.

To keep page numbering consistent, you can ensure the current section is set to “Continue from previous section” before inserting a new section break. You can also use a macro to quickly set all sections to continuous numbering in one step.

To run a macro on Mac:

Go to Tools > Macro > Macros

Enter a name, for example “SetContinuousPageNumbering”

Click the plus button to create it. This will open the VBA editor

Paste the code below into the editor, then close it

Open Tools > Macro > Macros again, select the macro, and click Run

For reference, here is an example you can use:

Sub SetContinuousPageNumbering() Dim sec As Section For Each sec In ActiveDocument.Sections With sec.Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).PageNumbers .RestartNumberingAtSection = False End With With sec.Footers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).PageNumbers .RestartNumberingAtSection = False End With Next sec MsgBox "All sections are now set to continuous page numbering." End Sub

This will update all sections in one step, so you do not need to adjust them individually.

I hope this information helps. Please feel free to let me know if you need any further assistance.
Giang Pham 70 Reputation points

2026-04-03T02:58:00.1866667+00:00

Although I have yet got time to try, I would thank you for your assistance. I hope it will help. Now I understand that the page numbering settings of a section depends on its previous section setting. Thanks again.
Dora-T 12,500 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-03T03:10:44.96+00:00

Hi Giang Pham

If you need further assistance or have any other questions in the future, feel free to reach out anytime.

Best regards,

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How to keep page numbering continuous ignoring page [Section] breaks?

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