Publishers and institutions usually require front matter of their books or documents to have Roman page numbers {i, ii, iii) and the main body to have Arabic page numbers that start at 1. This formatting tip tells you how to achieve that.

Numbering in the front matter

1. If there is a title page and a copyright page,
   ___a. Delete any page number.
   ___b. insert a section break after the copyright page by going to Layout > Breaks (dropdown arrowhead) > Section Breaks > Next Page.
   ___c. Put your cursor in the new section of the front matter and double-click in the footer. The Header & Footer tab appears in the ribbon.
   ___d. Make sure ‘Link to Previous’ is not selected.
   

   Deselect Link to Previous

2. If there is no copyright page, go to Layout > Page Setup > Layout tab, and tick “Different first page”.
   

   Different first page – Whole document. (If you don’t want any other first page to be different, make sure ‘Apply to:’ at the bottom left is set to ‘This section’, not ‘Whole document’)

3. Go to the next page of the front matter and double-click in the footer. The Header & Footer tab appears in the ribbon.
4. If there is a floating frame containing a page number, delete it.
5. If there is no page number,
   ___a. Go to Insert > Text > Explore Quick Parts > Field.
   ___b. Type a P. The cursor goes to Page. Click on OK.
6. Set the number format:
   ___a. Go to Header & Footer > Header & Footer group (on the far left) > Page Number > Format Page Numbers. The Page Number Format dialog box pops up.
   The Page Number Format dialog box

___b. Select the Number Format dropdown arrow to change it to ‘i, ii, iii …’
___c. In the Page Numbering group, tick Start At and “1” appears in the textbox.
___d. Click OK. (The title page is not usually included in the page numbering.)

Numbering in the body

1.  Put your cursor before the Chapter 1 heading.
2. Press the Show/hide shortcut, Ctrl+shift+8, to see if there is a page break or a section break before it (or Home tab > Paragraph group > pilcrow icon [¶]).
3. If there is a page break, delete it.
4. If necessary, insert a section break (by going to Layout > Breaks (dropdown arrowhead) > Section Breaks > Next Page).
5. If the page number format is not 1, 2, 3 or does not start at 1, repeat steps 3 and 4.

Checking numbering

Before you send the document to your client, check that the numbering has not been corrupted, eg the numbering doesn’t start again at 1 where it shouldn’t, perhaps when a section in landscape orientation was inserted. One way to check is to create a PDF and view it in two-page view.

1. Go to the beginning of the document and click in the footer area.
2. Check through all the footers by repeatedly clicking the Next button to get to the next section. (Note that, if you have ticked ‘Different first page’ or ‘Different odd and even’, Word counts those pages as section breaks.)
3. If you have to change anything (numbering, wording or formatting), consider whether the next section of the same kind (first page, odd page or even page) must have the same change. If not, before making the change, go to the next section and make sure ‘Link to Previous’ is deselected. Then go back and make the change.
4. Don’t forget to update the table of contents when you have finished.

Go to ‘Formatting tips’
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Next – Apply headings

(Some of this information originally appeared in a PEGblog: Formatting before Editing 1: Introduction)
Published 28 April 2025
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