How to Add Page Numbers in Word

You have a document that needs page numbers in the header or footer, and possibly a title page without one. Everything starts from the Insert tab.

Open the Page Number menu

Click Insert, Page Number. A menu lists the positions: Top of Page, Bottom of Page, Page Margins, and Current Position.

Pick a position and style

Point to Top of Page or Bottom of Page, then click a style from the gallery. Plain Number 1, Plain Number 2, and Plain Number 3 place the number at the left, center, and right. Other styles add "Page X of Y" or decorative shapes. Word inserts the number on every page and renumbers as pages are added or removed.

Close the header and footer

Click Close Header and Footer on the Header & Footer tab, or double-click anywhere in the body text. The numbers stay in place.

Start at a different number

Click Insert, Page Number, Format Page Numbers. Under Page numbering, choose Start at and type the first number. The same dialog changes the Number format to Roman numerals or letters.

Leave the number off the first page

Double-click the header or footer to open it, then tick Different First Page on the Header & Footer tab. The number disappears from page 1 while page 2 still reads "2". If page 2 should read "1", also set Start at to 0 in Format Page Numbers.

Numbering that begins later in the document. To start counting from a page other than the first, click at the end of the page before it, then click Layout, Breaks, Next Page to insert a section break. Open the footer in the new section, click Link to Previous on the Header & Footer tab to turn it off, delete any number from the earlier section's footer, then use Format Page Numbers, Start at 1 in the new section.

Removing numbers. Click Insert, Page Number, Remove Page Numbers. On Mac the same commands are on the Insert tab, and the header tools appear on the Header & Footer tab when the header is open.