Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks STUDENT IT

Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks

STUDENT IT LEARNING LAB

TRAINING MODULE OVERVIEW

PURPOSE

Demonstrating use of page numbering, breaks, and

tables of contents in Microsoft Word

OUTCOME

Student will be able to demonstrate this on their own

computer or the student desktop

ASSOCIATED

COMPETENCY

The Page Numbers, Page Breaks, Section Breaks, and

Table of Contents Learning Lab Module

INFORMATION

List relevant items (e.g. additional competencies,

modules, tests, websites)

OWNER

Ask Otago - Student IT

REVISION

18/11/2019 by Steve Dunn

STUDENT IT TRAINING MODULE: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks - 2

Introduction

Word formatting is a useful skill to enhance the structure and clarity of your

document. This module has 2 parts:

 Part 1 will teach you how to insert page numbers, page breaks and

section breaks; and

 Part 2 will teach you how to create a table of content.

Show/Hide Button

Before you get started, it is a good idea to have this show/hide button

turned on while formatting your document as it makes it easier to locate

formatting errors. Most people find it easier to have it turned off while

typing.

While it is turned on you are able to see all of the “invisible” characters on

your document (page breaks, spaces, paragraph markers where you have

pressed enter/return, etc).

These “invisible” characters will not print if you leave the show/hide button

on.

Part 1: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs Section

Breaks

Add Basic Page Numbering to your Document:

1. Click on the Insert tab.

2. Click on the page number drop down menu.

3. Hover your mouse over one of the first four options in this menu.

4. Select the exact location from the new menu that opens up, page

numbers will be added throughout your document starting from 1.

STUDENT IT TRAINING MODULE: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks - 3

To exit the header and footer menu press the big red Close header & footer

button or double click into the main part of your document.

Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks

In some cases, you may require more

complex page numbering where you

need to have Roman numerals in the

first part of the document and then

standard numbering for the

remainder. E.g. table of contents

pages.

To create this kind of page numbering

in our document, we will need to use

section breaks and also format our

page numbers.

Page Breaks

A title page and table of contents need to be on their own page and each

chapter should always start at the top of a new page.

To simply move anything that is not required on a page to the top of the

next page, use a page break. (click where you want the page break then, ctrl

+ enter or insert tab, page break).

Use a page break to:

Move the Table of Contents page to the top of next page (click in front of the

Table of Contents heading and apply the page break).

 Move the Table of Figures page to the top of the next page.

STUDENT IT TRAINING MODULE: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks - 4

Section Breaks

A section break needs to be applied at the point where you want your

document to make a major change.

On the demo doc, we are adding a section break after the Table of Figures

as we want the first section of this document to have roman numerals and

the remainder of the document (from Chapter 1 onwards) needs to have

normal page numbering.

It is important to understand the difference between a page break and a

section break. A page break simply pushes any information after that page

break onto the next page; a section break essentially splits your document

into different parts to allow you to apply complex formatting to your

document. A section break should not be used instead of a page break in

your document.

To apply a section break, go to page layout > breaks drop down menu >

choose Next Page under the Section Breaks heading.

Advanced Page Numbering

To format the numbering to Roman numerals you

need to:

 Click on your document where you need the

numbering to be Roman numerals.

 Go to Insert > Page Number > choose Location of

page number.

 Go back into the page number menu and choose

the Format page numbers option.

 In the menu that opens, use the drop down menu at the top to change the

numbering to roman numerals then press ok.

No Page Number on the Title Page

If you have a title page, you will need to change the numbering in the first

section so that the first page has no number. It is still secretly counted as

STUDENT IT TRAINING MODULE: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks - 5

having a number (i.e. the next page would still need to be ii), but it must not

be displayed.

The quickest way to do this is to double click into the footer section of the

first page of the document. You will now have a header/footer menu along

the top of your screen. In the options section simply place a tick inside the

box beside Different First Page. This should make the number in the footer

of the first page disappear.

To exit the header and footer menu press the big red Close Header & Footer

button or double click into the main part of your document.

STUDENT IT TRAINING MODULE: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks - 6

Part 2: Table of Contents

After inserting page numbers, page breaks and section breaks, you can

create a table of contents for your document.

Styles

To create a table of contents you need to use the heading styles located in

the home tab.

It is important to understand how to use heading styles for your table of

contents to be successful.

 Heading 1 is for your main chapter headings

 Heading 2 is for any sub heading within that chapter

 Heading 3 is for any sub headings within the sub heading that was

applied with Heading 2

 And so on

To apply to text, simply click in the middle of your heading text then click on

the heading style required.

If you have accidently applied a heading style where it shouldn’t be, simply

click inside that paragraph then select “Normal” from the styles menu.

Insert Table of Contents

Now that we have our headings (and page numbers, etc) set up, we can

insert our table of contents.

1. Click under the table of contents header, you need your cursor placed

where you want the table of contents to go.

2. Go to the References tab.

STUDENT IT TRAINING MODULE: Page Numbers and Page Breaks vs. Section Breaks - 7

3. Click on the Table of Contents drop down menu at the very left of the

References menu.

 Choose a built-in table of contents if your headings

are simple/minimal throughout your document.

 Choose Custom Table of Contents… option near the

bottom of this menu if you have many/complex

headings.

4. To remove a table of contents, click on the table of contents then choose

the Remove Table of Contents… from the drop down menu.