Page numbering field code problem (Word 2004 for the Mac)

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Hi everyone,

I have a 26 page file. The first and second pages each have their own sections – one being the title page, the other being the table of contents page. Third page is the beginning of the third section and where I would like the page numbering to begin. Even though it’s a 26 page file, since I’m starting the numbering on page 3, I need the numbering to say x of 24 pages, ie. 26 minus the two beginning pages which I don’t want to number. I’ve inserted a footer with the following field code:

{ PAGE } of {={ NUMPAGES }-{PageRef S1}+{PageRef S2}}

… where S1 and S2 are bookmarks. I bookmarked the last few characters in each of section 1 and 2, so I could use them in the field code.

The problem is that when I use the code above, the numbering says:

1 of 27 pages

This can’t be right because there’s only 26 pages in the entire file.

I then tried to adjust the code by adding a set of parentheses like this:

{ PAGE } of {={ NUMPAGES }-({PageRef S1}+{PageRef S2})}

Now when I toggle the field code it reads:

1 of 23 pages

I can’t figure it out – I need it to say 1 of 24 pages. Can someone tell me what I might be doing wrong. Is the field code written incorrectly?

Would really apppreciate any help.

Thanks.

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Hi gwh,

Try:
{ PAGE } of {={ NUMPAGES }-{PageRef S1}-{PageRef S2}}

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Thanks for the reply. I tried your suggestion but it’s still saying x of 23 pages. In fact the very last page of the file is saying page 24 of 23!! I don’t get it – I don’t know if it helps but I didn’t mention to you how many sections there are in the entire file. There are actually 10 sections so I don’t know if this has anything to do with it not working.

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If you are certain that the first two sections will always be exactly one page each, you should be able to use

{ ={ NUMPAGES }-2 }

Remember that you shouldn’t type the field braces yourself, insert them by pressing Ctrl+F9 or using Insert | Field.

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The table of contents page might increase to two pages in the future if more information is added to the file, so I don’t think that code will work. Also I’ve added the braces correctly.

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OK, try this then:

{ ={ NUMPAGES }-{ PAGEREF S2 } }

There is no need to subtract the page number for section 1.

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Hi gwh,

What do you get if you put a field coded as {SECTIONPAGES} in each unnumbered Section? Is it what you expect?
OK, now try using {PAGEREF S1} and {PAGEREF S2} in in the same Sections. I suspect what you’ll see is that {PAGEREF S2} returns the total page count up to that point (ie it includes Section 1’s pages). In that case you could probably get away with:
{PAGE} of {={NUMPAGES}-{PAGEREF S2}}

As your numbered pages span more than one Section, a better way to go about the numbering issue might be to use a SET field in conjunction with a PAGE field, thus:
{Set NoCount {PAGE}}
in the 2nd section. This could go in the header or footer where it’s less likely to be deleted by accident – your bookmarks are quite vulnerable in this respect.

Then you could code your main page numbering fields as:
{PAGE} of {={NUMPAGES}-NoCount}
or
{PAGE} of {={NUMPAGES}-{NoCount}}
if you prefer.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Thanks so much for all the advice.

{PAGE} of {={NUMPAGES}-{PAGEREF S2}} works very well, but I’ve decided to go with the Set NoCount method for the reasons that you mentioned.

Really appreciate everyone’s input!

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I think (cannot test at the moment) you can also use

{ PAGE } of { SECTIONPAGES }

to get the count of only the pages in that section, so you can use that if the rest of the doc is only one section.

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