How to Fix Page Numbers in Word

This article explains how to fix page numbers in Word 2021, 2019, 2016, and Word for Microsoft 365.

If your page numbering if off in Word, the easiest solution is to remove the page numbers and start over. To remove page numbers in Word, click anywhere in the document, go to the Insert tab, then select Page Number > Remove Page Numbers. You can then adjust the numbering settings and add page numbers to your Word document as you please.

If you have section breaks, you might need to reset the page numbering for each section. Page number options are also available under the Header & Footer tab.

To adjust the numbering settings, go to the Insert tab, then select Page Number > Format Page Numbers.

From here, you can choose a number format and even include chapter information. Under Page numbering, make sure Start at is set to 1. Select OK to save changes.

To start numbering on the second page, set Start at to 0.

If you try to add or adjust page numbers manually, it can throw off the numbering for the whole document. Section breaks can also cause the page numbering to be inconsistent. Another possibility is you changed the page number format settings.

Go to the Home tab and select the Show/Hide icon (露) in the Paragraph group to view section breaks.

If you notice the page count starts over, it could be because you set up a section break with a different number scheme. You can remove the section break, but there's an alternative. To make the page numbers continuous:

Click on the page with the incorrect number, then go to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers.

Choose Continue from previous section. Select OK to save changes.

The section break will remain while keeping the page numbering consistent with the previous section. Repeat for each one to make the numbering sequential for the whole document.

If you want to break your document into sections with separately numbered pages, follow these steps:

Click in the body of the document where you want the new section to begin, then select the Layout tab.

Select Breaks and choose Next Page under Section Breaks.

Double-click in the header or footer (wherever the page number is) and deselect Link to Previous in the Navigation group.

In the new section, go to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers.

Select Start at and set the value to 1. Select OK to save changes.

After creating a table of contents in Word, you can customize the way it appears.聽Choose Update Table from the Table drop-down menu to update page numbers. You can also go to References > Table of Contents > Custom table of contents to customize your existing table of contents.

If you see { PAGE \*MERGEFORMAT } instead of page numbering, you have field codes turned on in Word. Press the shortcut key combination ALT - F9 to display the field, or page numbers, instead of the field code.