Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Repaginating Your Document in a Macro.

Repaginating Your Document in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 9, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


It is common to use macros to modify documents in some way. For instance, you might use a macro to insert text or to insert page, column or section breaks. Doing any of these actions can affect the pagination of a document, sometimes dramatically. If you modify the document using a macro, and then try to determine the page count of the document (using the BuiltInDocumentProperties property), Word will not return the proper number of pages. Instead, it will return the page count before the changes were made.

The solution is to always make sure that you force Word to repaginate before trying to determine the page count. The following method will do the repagination:

ActiveDocument.Repaginate

After this method has been executed, you can safely (and confidently) use the BuiltInDocumentProperties property to determine the current page count.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9597) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Repaginating Your Document in a Macro.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adding Excel Information to a Web Page

Besides saving a worksheet as a complete Web page, you can also save smaller portions of your data to an existing Web ...

Discover More

Selecting Columns in VBA when Cells are Merged

If you have a macro that selects different columns in a worksheet while processing information, you may get some ...

Discover More

Associating a Name with a Position

Wouldn't it be great if Word allowed you to have a small pop-up that showed you some information associated with a ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Determining the Month of the Year

Your macro code may need to determine the month of the year represented by a particular date. You can find the desired ...

Discover More

Deleting a Macro

Macros are often created to accomplish a specific task, after which they are no longer needed. If you need to delete a ...

Discover More

Adding a Full-Width Line in a Macro

The AutoFormat feature in Word allows you to type special character sequences (such as three dashes or three underscores) ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is four more than 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.