How to add page numbers to a document

In Write by Zaweba, page numbers live in the header or footer. Double-click the top or bottom margin of any page to edit it, insert a page number there, and Write puts the right number on every page. You can insert a plain number or the Page 1 of 9 kind, which counts the total for you.

Opening the footer

Most people put page numbers at the bottom of the page, so start there. Double-click in the bottom margin of any page and the cursor moves into the footer. Whatever you put in the footer appears on every page, so you only do this once.

Now insert a page number. It is a field rather than typed text, which means it changes on every page and updates by itself when you add or remove pages. Write also has a keyboard shortcut for the page number among its standard shortcuts, and Help, then Keyboard shortcuts lists them all.

To finish, double-click back in the body of the page and carry on writing.

Placing and styling the number

The footer is ordinary text, so you can align it like any paragraph. Centred is the usual choice for essays and reports. Right-aligned suits letters and business documents. You can make the number smaller than the body text, set it in a lighter colour, or add words around it, such as the document's short title on the left and the number on the right using a tab.

Page 1 of 9 style numbering is useful on anything that will be printed and might get shuffled, such as a long form or a set of minutes, because the reader can tell at a glance whether a page is missing.

Different numbering for the first page

A title page or a letterhead usually looks better without a number. In the header and footer options, tick different first page. The first page then gets its own header and footer, which you can leave empty, and the numbers carry on from page 2 as normal.

For double-sided printing, the different odd and even pages option lets you put numbers on the outside edge of each page: right on odd pages and left on even ones. That is how printed books and bound reports are usually laid out.

Checking before you print

Write lays out pages the same way for the screen, the printer and PDF export, so the numbers you see are the numbers that will print. Even so, it is worth zooming out to whole page view and scrolling through, so you can see every footer at once and spot anything odd.

If the document has a table of contents, press F9 to update it after you finish editing so its page numbers match the pages. Write's contents uses real page numbers, and because it is a real TOC field, Word can update it too if someone else edits the file later.

Page numbers in files from elsewhere

If you open a .docx made in another word processor, its page numbers come with it and keep working in Write. When you save it back as .docx, the numbering goes back out as page number fields, so the other program still sees live numbers rather than fixed text.

Small details like page numbers are what make a document feel finished. In Write by Zaweba they take a few seconds, and once they are in you never need to think about them again.