# Solved: Word 2007 Page Numbering: Make {NUMPAGES} start counting from Page 2?



## Nebulousity (Jul 18, 2008)

This question is about using "Page {PAGE} of {NUMPAGES}."

I've read many solutions for this online and in MS's help files. None of them are working, and it really has me perplexed because I consider myself an advanced user.

My document is a book: 

The first page of my book is a cover page. It shouldn't be counted in page numbering.
Beginning on the second page, my book has a TOC and then 9 chapters.
The TOC and each chapter are set up in their own sections. (I do this because I include the chapter's name - which is the section name - in the footer along with page numbers. It also facilitates creating the TOC)
I want the TOC to be counted as Page 1
All of that works fine for the {PAGE} page number. To accomplish it, I told Word to start counting page numbers from 0, and I suppressed displaying the number on the Cover. Then for subsequent pages I selected "Continue from previous section."
My issue is that I really want to show both the current page and the total number of pages ("Page {PAGE} of {NUMPAGES}") in the footer.

When I try that, {PAGE} displays correctly, but {NUMPAGES} shows one too many. It is obviously counting the cover page.

Evidently what I did in #5 above only affects the count for {PAGE} and not for {NUMPAGES}.

All over the web I find the simple solution of using a formula field for {NUMPAGES} as follows:
=1+{NUMPAGES}

Actually, I think that would do the opposite of what I want. I would probably have to subtract a page rater than add one, but the formula doesn't work anyway. I've found all sorts of variants of that and have tried numerous ones. I have also tried many things on my own. Each time I try something, Word either displays a Syntax Error or else nothing at all where the Number of Pages should appear.

I've shared a document on SendSpace that shows screenshots along the way. The document itself is a Word 2007 document. Here's a link:
http://bit.ly/gwbCh2

I should add that I wondered if there was something funky in that document, so I started a brand new document, pasted junk plain text to create several pages, and tried it there. I still get the same Syntax Error when using the formula "=1+{NUMPAGES}."

So, either this doesn't really work in Word 2007, I am doing something wrong, or there's something screwy about my Word settings or Normal.dot that's affecting this.

What am I missing here? This thing has kicked my butt and taken far too much time. Can anyone verify that in their own Word 2007, the formula above in the footer produces the desired result and not a Syntax Error?

Thanks!

~N


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## jfursathimn (Apr 5, 2011)

I was just messing with the same issue and found a solution:

{={NUMPAGES}-1}

This may look exactly like something you tried already but here is the difference:

Instead of typing in the curly braces ( { ) manually, you have to hit "Ctrl-F9" to insert a field, then do the same for the braces around "NUMPAGES". You wind up with a field inside a field. That way it interprets the "NUMPAGES" as your document property, returns a number like "42", then the next field takes the equation "= 42 - 1" and returns "41". If you don't use "CTRL-F9" to enter the "NUMPAGES" field, it sees the first curly brace and stops, seeing it as a syntax error.

Hope it works for you! It worked for me!
-cheers


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## Nebulousity (Jul 18, 2008)

@jfursathimn:

Yes, that's the difference. Thanks! I was just typing it in (which some instructions online said to do, including Microsoft's own!). But using CTRL+F9 makes it work.

Thanks a lot!

jb


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