Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Removing Line Numbering.

Removing Line Numbering

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 6, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

Once you have turned on line numbering, you may later want to remove the line numbers added by Word. For instance, during development of a document you might want to have line numbers, and then you want them removed for the final document. To disable line numbering completely, follow these steps:

Display the Layout tab of the ribbon (Page Layout on older versions of Word).
Click the Line Numbers tool (in the Page Setup group) and then choose Line Numbering Options. Word displays the Layout tab of the Page Setup dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Layout tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

Click on the Line Numbers button. Word displays the Line Numbers dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Line Numbers dialog box.

Disable line numbers by clearing the Add Line Numbering check box.
Click on OK to close the Line Numbers dialog box.
Click on OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9630) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing Line Numbering.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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