How to Add Number to Each Column in a Multi-column Word Document

More often than not, you are required to insert number for each column in a Word document with multiple columns. Read on and we will present you an easy way to achieve that.

Now and then, when you create a Word document with multiple columns and want to add page numbers, by default, numbers will be added for each page. Then how to number each column instead? In this article, we will show steps to do the task.

First thing, open a Word document with multi-columns. For example, you’ve got a two-column Word document with only one number on each page:

Now we will introduce the steps to number each column instead, as below:

Steps to Insert Number for Each Columns

1. First, double click the original page number to enter the footer area.

2. Next, in the footer area, select and delete the original number.
3. Then move the cursor to the location, where you want to insert the number for the left column. If necessary, you need to add some spaces to adjust the location properly.
4. Then press Ctrl + F9 twice to insert a field.

5. In this field, input the formula {={page}*2-1}, which calculates the number for each column automatically:

6. Then click the right mouse button and choose the Update Field to update the field. Or simply press F9 to do the same thing:

Then the formula will calculate the number and display it for you, as below:

7. Next, add some extra spaces to move the cursor to the location where you want to insert number for the right column.
8. Repeat the steps as we do for the left column, except that this time we need to use formula {={page}*2}
9. Finally, press ESC to finish the editing and exit footer area.

Now you see Word has inserted numbers below every column.

Apply the Tip to Multi-Column Document

This is just an example of document with two columns. You can also apply this tip to documents with three or more columns. Assuming the column number is n, you can just follow the above steps and input field formulas {={page}*n-(n-1)},{={page}*n-(n-2)},…,{={page}*n-(n-n)} for each column, from the left-most one to the right-most one.

Fix Corrupt Word Document

Word is definitely a powerful tool for daily office work. Useful as it is, constant operations will still lead to document corruptions frequently. Under such circumstances, a batch of ways can be taken to repair word, including utilizing the built-in repair function in Word, and many other third-party word recovery tools. All these ways will help you solve the problem efficiently.

Author Introduction:

Vera Chen is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including excel recovery and pdf repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com