How to Add and Remove Line Numbers in Microsoft Word

If you are working on a text-heavy document, and want to make referencing or browsing the document easy, you can try line numbering. Line numbering is common and especially useful for legal professionals. You can find line numbers inside legal texts such as contracts, making it easy for users to navigate the document.

If your word processor is Microsoft Word, lines in a document are by default numbered. However, these numbers will be invisible unless you reveal them in your document. Also, whether the lines are visible in all or part of the Word document is left to decide. Here’s how to add and remove line numbers in Microsoft Word.

How to Add Line Numbers in Microsoft Word

The feature to add Line Numbers in Microsoft Word is contained in the Layout tab of the Word Ribbon. Using it, you can select to add line numbers to the entire Word document, a section of the document of selected sections. Here’s how it works:

Add Line Numbers to an Entire Document

Here’s how to add line numbers to an entire document:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: Select all the text in your Word document by pressing the Ctrl + A keys simultaneously.

Step 4: On the Microsoft Word ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 5: Within the Page Setup group, click the Line Numbers button.

Step 6: From the drop-down select any of the following options:

• Continuous: line numbers consecutively throughout your document
• Restart Each Page: start the line numbering from 1 on each page of your document
• Restart Each Section: start the line numbering for 1 after each section break in your document.

If it doesn’t appear on your document after selecting your preferred line number format, ensure that your page view is in Print Layout.

Add Line Numbers to a Section or Multiple Sections of a Document

Here’s how to add line numbers to a section or sections of a document:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: Select the section or sections in your Word document you would like to introduce line numbers to.

Step 4: On the Microsoft Word ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 5: Within the Page Setup group, click the Line Numbers button.

Step 6: From the drop-down, select Line Numbering Options to launch the Page Setup dialog box.

Step 7: Click the Layout tab on the Page Setup dialog box.

Step 8: In the Apply to section, click the drop-down and click Selected sections.

Step 9: Click the Line Numbers button to launch the Line Numbers dialog box.

Step 10: Tick the box beside Add line numbering and select the type of Numbering you want by filling in the following options:

• Start at: the number you want the line numbers to start from
• From text: how far from the text do you want the line numbers to appear.
• Count by: the intervals you want the line numbers to appear.

Step 11: Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes.

Step 12: Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.

How to Remove Line Numbers in Microsoft Word

If you no longer want numbered lines showing up in your Word document, here’s how to remove it:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: On the Microsoft Word ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 4: Within the Page Setup group, click the Line Numbers button.

Step 5: From the drop-down, select None. This should remove the line numbers from your document.

Creating Columns in Microsoft Word

Adding line numbers in a Microsoft Word document is one way to customize the document’s layout. Another way you can change the page layout of a Word document is by creating text columns The text column layout is what you typically find in newspapers and magazines.