# Word Question: turning off page numbering for first page of a section **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496 "2013-10-17T16:30:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**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 17, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/1 "2013-10-17T16:30:57Z")
I’ve got a document that has two sections: a Table of Contents and the text. I’ve got page numbering turned on, with small Roman numerals for the Table of Contents, and Arabic starting at 1 for the text. I was able to turn off the numbering for the first page of the Table of Contents, but I’ve not been able to turn off the “1” at the top of the next section, the first page of the text. Any suggestions how to do it? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![thatguyjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@thatguyjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatguyjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/2 "2013-10-17T16:40:37Z")
Same way you did for the TOC - under page setup/layout - check the box for different first page. Then you can edit the headers/footers on the 1st page of that section without changing the other pages. ---
**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 17, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/3 "2013-10-17T19:03:48Z")
Thanks - I thought if I did that, it would take ou the page numbers entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/4 "2013-10-17T20:54:10Z")
It gives you that option. For instance, an ms might have an entirely blank “first page” header, and the second and third pages might be introductory, with “i” and “ii” as page numbers, and the real “page 1” might be the fourth “logical page.” It’s very flexible, but nastily counter-intuitive in the actual key-clicks and mouse-clicks you have to use to get there. Once you break the ms into sections, you separate the page-numbering with the “different first page” option, then edit the page number for each section. I _think_ you actually have to “insert section breaks” but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/5 "2013-10-18T04:49:30Z")
You could also draw a white box over the page number on the first page… ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/6 "2013-10-18T17:04:34Z")
If it doesn’t work the way described above, the problem is almost always the section breaks (as **Trinopus** alluded to above). Headers, footers, and pagination in Word are so sensitive to section breaks that it’s usually a good idea to set up the sections (manually if necessary) before fiddling with those items. And remember a _page_ break is nothing like a section break. Most of the time people come to me with a pagination or header/footer problem, fixing the section breaks is the key, so it’s become the first thing I check when troubleshooting such problems. ---
**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 18, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-question-turning-off-page-numbering-for-first-page-of-a-section/671496/7 "2013-10-18T17:59:30Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > If it doesn’t work the way described above, the problem is almost always the section breaks (as **Trinopus** alluded to above). Headers, footers, and pagination in Word are so sensitive to section breaks that it’s usually a good idea to set up the sections (manually if necessary) before fiddling with those items. And remember a _page_ break is nothing like a section break. > > Most of the time people come to me with a pagination or header/footer problem, fixing the section breaks is the key, so it’s become the first thing I check when troubleshooting such problems. Exactly right. I always try to explain to people with problems that a \*page break \* is for when you want to start a new page. A _section break_ is for when you want something different about a page to start, like the header or footer or page size or border or something, just about anything, different about the page itself.