Numbering pages in Microsoft Word might seem simple, but you can control it in ways that aren't obvious. (The tips in this blog post will work in any version of Word from 97 to 2003.) There are a few things to understand, first:

1. Word uses sections to number pages. You can restart the numbering by inserting a section break.


2. All pages have numbers, but the numbers will be displayed only if you tell word to display them.


3. There are several ways to have Word display page numbers.


4. Page numbers are fields and you can control their formatting.


5. You can edit the field codes to control them in ways not possible by simply using Word's menus and dialogs.

First, the basics. It's easiest to insert page numbers in a header or footer:

1. Select View/Header and Footer.


2. Click the Insert Page Number button (Alt + Shift + P).


3. If you want, type of, type a space, then click the Insert Number of Pages button .


4. Click the Close button on the toolbar.


5. The numbers should now read something like Page 1 of 4 (or however many pages you have).

Want to change the number format or the starting number?

1. Select the page number (it should turn gray when you select it, since it's a field), then click the Format Page Number button on the Header and Footer toolbar.


2. Click the Number format drop-down list.


3. Choose one of six options: Arabic (regular) numbers, numbers with dashes, upper or lower case letters and upper or lower case Roman numerals.


4. To change the starting number, click the Start at option, then enter a number.


5. Click OK.

There's no law that says page number have to go in the header or footer, either. Select View/Header and Footer, then select Insert/Page Numbers. Click OK. Click the page number to see its frame, then click and drag the frame's border anywhere onto the page. Word will still consider it a Header or Footer item, so it will still be gray on the screen, but it will print normally.

If you need to stop and start page numbers, use section breaks. Let's say the first four pages of your long document need page numbers in lowercase Romans, and you want to begin Page 1 on the fifth sheet of paper. Insert page numbers and format them as lowercase Romans as we already discussed. Select Insert/Break, then under Section break types, double-click Next Page. Use the steps above to reformat and restart the page numbers. You might want to deselect the Link to Previous button, which is turned on by default. This will make it less likely that your second section page numbers won't revert back by accident.

The coolest part of page numbering is the ability to do arithmetic. I used this technique not long ago, when I wrote an outline for one of our Tip Talks. (These are live training sessions where a Nerdy Books trainer comes to your company and teaches your employees how to use the software faster, more efficiently and have fun doing it. Check it out!) The document was a total of five sheets: a four-page outline and a survey on the fifth sheet for the participants to fill out. The page numbers in the headers of the first four pages read Page 1 of 4, Page 2 of 4, etc., and there were no page numbers on the survey page.

Most people would do this as two separate documents, then combine them. But the copy machine can staple the stacks of pages as they come out, so it was easier and faster to print all five sheets as one document. And who wants to be a human collating machine?

Here's how you can do it:

1. In a five-page document, insert page numbers in the header of page 1. Make the numbering scheme Page 1 of 5, Page 2 of 5, and so on.


2. Make the fifth page a new section, unlink the headers, then delete the page numbering from the header of the second section.


3. In the header of the first page, delete the Number Of Pages field (it now reads 5).


4. Press Alt + F9 to view all the field codes.


5. Press Ctrl + F9 to insert a new field code. It will be a set of grayed-out curly braces { }. (Do not type the braces manually, or it won't work. You must press Ctrl + F9.)


6. Type = (an equal sign), then press Ctrl + F9 again to insert a nested set of braces.


7. In the new set of curly braces, type NUMPAGES, in all uppercase.


8. Press the Right arrow key a couple of times so the cursor is between the two ending braces. Type -1.


9. The whole thing should now read {={NUMPAGES}-1}.


10. Press Alt + F9 again to turn the field codes off and view the page numbers.

Another wacky, and undocumented, customization you can do is substitute words for page numbers. If you want page numbers to literally read Page One, Page Two and so on, do this:

1. In the header or footer, press Alt + F9 to view all the field codes.


2. Type Page, type a space, then press Ctrl + F9 to get the grayed-out curly braces { }.


3. Inside the braces, type PAGE \*CardText \*Caps.


4. The whole thing should now read {PAGE \*CardText \*Caps}.


5. Press Alt + F9 again to turn the field codes off and view the page numbers.

One more thing: if the page numbers don't update automatically as you add and remove pages, you can update them yourself. Press F11 to go to the first field code, press F9 to update it, then press F11 to go to the next field code. Or simply press Ctrl + A to select all the text in the document, then press F9 to update them all at once. You'll now be outstanding in your fields.