# The Techno-Peasant Strikes Again! MS Word pagination {{sigh}} **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039 "2019-10-20T16:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/21 "2019-10-23T01:57:38Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The bolded part is where I had my problem. Even creating a section break, if I inserted numbers in the main part of the brief, it also inserted page numbers on the cover pages, with the same format. I could get the numbers to start again on the main part, but there was no way I could get the intro to have no page numbers, or different formatted numbers. > > Short of creating a new section for each page of the cover pages, and clicking “first page different”, how do you have 3 or 4 unnumbered introductory pages, then a section break, then start numbering on the main part of the brief? It’s the “link to previous” function that does the magic. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/22 "2019-10-23T01:58:49Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Short of creating a new section for each page of the cover pages, and clicking “first page different”, how do you have 3 or 4 unnumbered introductory pages, then a section break, then start numbering on the main part of the brief? Don’t put anything in the footer of the first section. In the second section (the main part of the brief), insert a page number, then, in the “Format Page Number” dialog box, set the starting page number to 1. Do this even if you have a different footer for the first page of the section. The numbering of the pages will start at 1, even if you choose not to print a page number on the first page. Insert a page number in the footer of the second page – it will be 2. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/23 "2019-10-23T02:02:30Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > It’s the “link to previous” function that does the magic. Right. More accurately, you \*don’t \*want to link to previous. Really, that should be the default, rather than the other way around. Here where I work, we have a handy macro that unlinks all the headers and footers in a document, no matter how many sections there are. Useful when you’ve got a 500-page document with multiple sequences of page numbers, parts of the document that switch from portrait to landscape, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/24 "2019-10-23T02:05:15Z")
It looks like this when done: [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](https://imgur.com/RBsKZ8d) Or if you want to see the actual word doc: [https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aj4Ac\_NG7WeYryLLAA\_W4AiBDC0W](https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aj4Ac_NG7WeYryLLAA_W4AiBDC0W) ---
**Author:** ![Vesicant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/43a26b/32.png) [@Vesicant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vesicant)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/25 "2019-10-23T02:17:16Z")
Disconnecting the headers and footers is only half the battle. You still have to delete the page number from the first section if it’s there. Simply disconnecting the headers and footers doesn’t change the content of the headers and footers. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/26 "2019-10-25T05:05:09Z")
Well, the brief is filed. I will bookmark this page for the next time I grapple with MS-Word. Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039/27 "2019-10-25T05:07:31Z")
Now empty the big chunk that’s the actual brief (unless you make a lot of similar ones) and save it as a Template, or simply as a regular document called BriefModel or somesuch. Next time you won’t have to redo all that pain in the keys formatting, sectioning and numbering work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-techno-peasant-strikes-again-ms-word-pagination-sigh/842039.md?page=1)