Inserting the Total Number of Pages in Your Document

@DonnaH

Your compound field would look something like this: Page { PAGE } of { = { NUMPAGES } -2 }

Allen has covered this in detail in another Tip.

https://wordribbon.tips.net/T005882_Getting_a_Proper_Total_Page_Count.html

QUESTION: Your explanation is great for just the page number which I have no problem with. But...how do you change the Y of Page X of Y?

I have inserted Page X of Y and have a cover and TOC before page numbering is to begin. I get how to set up the page number (x) and start it at one on the correct page. My question is how do I get the total number of pages (y) to only include the total number of pages of the document, not to include the cover and TOC.

Thanks...

Word 15 for Mac does not have a NumPages field, so total page number can't be displayed.

I tried Damear's suggestion (Ctrl - F9) and it worked. Easier than shuffling the document through Word 2003.

I have recently installed Word 2016. I struggled with how to insert the total number of pages. The selection for X of Y just inserted "pg. X", just the page number, not including the number of pages.

I finally resorted to saving the document, opening it in Word 2003 and using that handy header and footer toolbar for inserting the page number and total pages. Upon reopening the document in Word 2016, it is just as I wanted it. Now I have "Page X of Y" in my footer.

Cludgey, but it worked.

hi
do you know hwo ot make the page number automatically update instntly

so if i have 5 pages and i then go to page 6 - i want the quick part to update straight away (i.e it always reflects the current total number of pages) - doing it when you save will not help as it has to be instant for prining documents.

thanks...

Damear has perfectly illustrated what I feel about the ribbon: Microsoft has produced something so clunky to use that we all end up learning keyboard shortcuts instead, which must be the very definition of failure in GUI design.

Jim, sorry, I don't have a Mac to check on, but according to a quick Google search you can use Cmd+F9 instead of Ctrl+F9 to insert a field, then F9 to update it (or rather all fields in the document).

Unfortunately, F9 key may be reserved for Exposé in MacOS, and you will have to set this function to another key in the system, or modify the respective functions in Word to use another key. See http://word.mvps.org/mac/fieldsinmacword.html for detail.

Damear -- This tip doesn't work on Word for Mac (Ver. 15). Do you have a Mac equivalent?

Damear is right. In an effort to make it easy, Microsoft has made the process tediously complex.

Remember, in Word 2003, the header and footer control dialog offered the most commonly used parts as buttons.

In Word 2010, when header/footer is active, the ribbon includes a Page Number button. From that, you can choose an option, then modify the format as desired.

That's one hell of a scenic route to get a simple job done. What I do is 1) Position the insertion point where needed; 2) Press Ctrl+F9; 3) Type "NumPages" (without the quotes); 4) Press F9. PROFIT!