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Problem

I hit a page-numbering snag in a 20-page Word document. I
wanted to use the Page X of Y AutoText entry in the footer, but I didn’t want
the footer to appear on the title page. I fixed that problem by selecting the
Different First Page option in the Layout tab of the Page Setup dialog box,
which left the footer on the title page blank. One problem remains, though: The
total number of pages in the document is still 20, so the page after the title
page says Page 2 of 20. I want it to say Page 1 of 19, since the title page
doesn’t count.

Solution

Word builds the Page X of Y AutoText entry from a pair of
fields: Page and Numpages. You can manipulate the Numpages field to return the
page count you’re after. Then you can use Word’s Start At setting to display
page 1 for the page following your title page.

Tweaking the Numpages field

  1. Open
    the footer and press [Alt][F9] to display field codes. You should see
    this:

Page { PAGE } of { NUMPAGES }

  1. Highlight
    { NUMPAGES} and press [Ctrl][F9] to create a new field that nests the
    Numpages field, like this:

Page { PAGE } of { { NUMPAGES} }

  1. The
    insertion point will be where you need it, between the two opening braces,
    so just type =.
  2. Click between
    the two closing braces and type -1. Here’s what you should have:

Page { PAGE } of { = { NUMPAGES} -1 }

  1. Highlight
    the contents of the footer and press [F9] to update the fields.
  2. Press
    [Alt][F9] to switch to results mode, and you should see this:

Page 2 of 19

Start at zero

Now you just need to make the 2 appear as 1. Stay in the
footer and click Format Page Number on the Header And Footer toolbar. Enter 0 in the Start At text box and click OK.
Word will then number the title page as 0 (invisibly) and change the footer on
the second page to Page 1 of 19.

Next Steps: Build your skills with these hand-picked resources
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