So you’re working on a document that requires no numbers on the first page, Roman numbers for a Table of Contents and similar material, and Arabic numbers for the content. Is there a way to do this without numbering each page by hand?
Yes!
The secret is a hidden tool called “Section Break Next page.”
Hidden Characters
If you haven’t seen a Section Break before, don’t worry. Your Word document includes more than just what you typed. It also includes invisible markers for characters such as spaces, tabs, paragraph marks, and more.
You can turn the markers on in your Home Ribbon. Click the Paragraph (backwards P) symbol:
Remember this tool – we’ll use it again for Tables of Authorities.
Section Breaks
“Section Breaks, Next Page” tells Word to treat the separate sections of your document differently. Each section can have its own kind of page numbers. You can add Section Breaks from your Layout Tab. Go to Layout, then click “Breaks,” then choose “Next Page”:
Turn on Hidden Characters. Then add a Next Break at both of these locations:
- The end of your caption page (first page.
- The end of your Table of Authorities page (or the end of your first section).
Notice the Break that says “Page”. This puts in a break that starts a new page. Use this instead of adding a bunch of returns/new paragraphs when you need content to appear on separate pages. You might want to use one between your Table of Contents and Table of Authorities.
Be sure to turn off the Hidden Characters tool when you are done!
Page Numbers
Click twice into the Footer (the blank area at the bottom of each page in your document), and you get a new ribbon – the Header/Footer ribbon. You can use this ribbon to add and format your page numbers.
Adding Page Numbers
You can use the Page Number tool in the ribbon to add page numbers. This first part is slightly different in Macs versus Windows.
Macs
While in your Header/Footer tab, go to the Page Number menu. Under the “Page Number” menu, select “Page Number.” In the dialog box that appears, choose Center. Click OK to add.
Windows
While in your Header/Footer tab, go to the Page Number menu. Under the “Page Number” menu, select “Bottom of Page,” then “Center.”
Formatting Page Numbers
Use the “Format Page Numbers” tool under Page Numbers to select the type of number you need – Roman or Arabic.
For the first page:
If there aren’t any numbers in the Footer, you don’t need to do anything- move on to the next step. If there is a number there, you can erase it.
Table of Contents/Table of Authorities section
Your Table of Contents should start on the page after the first Section Page break. If you can’t see it, you can turn on your Hidden Characters.
- Click into the page numbers for this page
- Add numbers if they aren’t there
- Format number: Type: Roman, start at: i
Main Content
Your main content should start on the page after the second Section Page break.
- Click into the page numbers for this page
- Add numbers if they aren’t there
- Format numbert: Type: Arabic, start at: 1
Now your page numbers should be ordered as you wanted. Turn off your Hidden characters if you used them.
More on Page Numbers:
If you’d like to learn more:
It’s worth noting that more and more courts (e.g. the First Circuit and the Second Circuit) require “consecutive pagination” of briefs, i.e. that all the pages be numbered arabic beginning from the first page at 1, including the Table of Contents, Table of Authorities, other front matter, etc. And this is because the electronic case filing system numbers pages consecutively, and having page numbers at the top and bottom of the same page that disagree promotes confusion.
So although you can do this, it is far from clear that you should.
That’s a great step forward for the 1st and 2nd Circuits!