Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 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: Using Only Odd Page Numbers.
Daniyal has some documents that he files in court, and those documents must have only odd page numbers on them. This doesn't mean that there should only be page numbers on the odd pages, but that the number on each page should only be odd. Thus, the pages would be numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.; there would be no pages 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
The easiest way to accomplish this task is to use a compound field to create your page numbers. The PAGE field is normally used to add page numbers to a document, as shown here:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 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: 
{ PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT }
You should modify the field so that it looks like this:
{ = { PAGE } * 2 - 1 }
Note that each pair of field braces is inserted by pressing Ctrl+F9. When you are finished constructing the field code, you can collapse it by pressing F9.
If you use these types of calculated page numbers quite often, you can select the collapsed field and assign it to an AutoText entry. That way you can insert it into any of your documents you desire.
You should also note that if you create a table of contents or an index for the document, page numbers in the TOC or index will still reflect the normal page range, including even numbers, instead of the calculated numbers. There is no way to get around this limitation.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12726) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Using Only Odd Page Numbers.
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2016-05-24 07:00:11
Andrew Evans
Dawn - if the page number is 75 as a result of the calculation then surely you need to proper page number to start from, which I guess would be around 38. Just changing that start page number will give you the correct page numbers being displayed.
2014-03-20 17:41:51
Dawn Nelson
Thank you for this tip! I will use it often! However, I am having a problem getting it to work in my current situation. In this case, an appendix with 4 separate word files, each containing a table. The page numbering for the appendix should be consecutive so the second file picks up numbering where the first file left off. The first file is 8.5x11, the second 11x17. So the first page number for the second file is N-75. When I start the page numbering at 75, then change the page numbering code for the second page, it changes the pages to 149, 151, 153, etc. Anything you can do to help would be appreciated!
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