How to Insert Auto Column Numbers in MS Word

I’ve inserted very large page numbers inside big ovals, but its just to show them clearly. I have four pages and 3 columns in each page.

To insert column numbers like this, you should have knowledge of headers & footers, page numbers and field codes.

Headers & Footers

Header is the text displayed usually on the top margin of every page and footer is on the bottom margin. Page numbers, name of book, author, document created date, time etc. are common elements that are used as header or footer in any document.

You can switch to header & footer editing view by clicking on View >> Header & Footer (Word 2003) or Insert >> Header or Footer button >> Edit Header or Footer (Word 2007 & 2010). When you are in header or footer editing screen,

• The header and footer area are marked with dashed border and
• The regular text is dimmed to distinguish the contents typed as header or footer.

You can enter and format any text or object in header and footer editing screen as you can do in normal document editing.

Whatever you enter as header or footer appears on all the pages of document, at least on all pages of same section if you have multiple sections in document.

Page Numbering

MS Word has build in feature to insert page numbers in your document. You can insert page numbers by clicking on Page Number button on Header & Footer toolbar. You can also insert page numbers by clicking on Insert >> Page Numbers. It allows you to choose position and number format.

In our case, however, this page numbering can’t be of any help because we need to insert 1, 2 and 3 on a page to which Word thinks is Page 1. We will manipulate the field code of Page Number to achieve this.

Field Codes

Fields in Microsoft Word are used as placeholders for data that might change in a document and for creating form letters and labels in mail-merge documents. Word inserts fields automatically when you use particular commands, such as when you insert a page number, when you insert a document building block such as a cover page, or when you create a table of contents. You can also manually insert fields to automate aspects of your document, such as merging data from a data source or performing calculations.

You can insert field codes from Insert >> Field (Word 2003) or Insert >> Quick Parts >> Fields.

Alternately, Press Ctrl + F9 to insert field manually. For example Press Ctrl + F9 on your document; it will produce { }. Type Page inside the field code so that it appears as { Page }. Now when you hide field code or preview document you’ll see page number in place of that field code.

You can press Alt + F9 to switch between field code and field value. Alternately, right click on field and choose Toggle Field Codes.

To update the field value when you change field codes, right the field and choose Update Field.

To read more about field codes and the list of all the codes available in MS Word, Please click here.

Insert Column Number in Your Document

Now, lets start solving our problem. We have a document with multiple pages and there are 3 columns in each page.

• Go to the Footer editing screen because we are inserting page numbers at the footer and we want the column numbers to populate automatically when we insert for one page.
• Insert oval or any other shape if you wish to insert column number inside shapes; otherwise, you can directly insert on the footer area of document. If you insert column number directly on footer, set the tab stop positions so that the 3 codes we are going to insert are just below each of the columns.
• Place insertion line inside the first shape (You may need to right click and choose Add Text) or on first tab stop position. Press Ctrl + F9 to insert field code in the cursor position. It will produce a pair of braces and cursor inside it.
• Type there = 3 * and Press Ctrl + F9 to insert another field after equal symbol. This results in another pair of braces after ‘=’ symbol. Type Page inside the new field and enter –2 after the closing brace of Page field. the field code should read as:
  { = 3 * { Page } – 2 }
• Similarly, insert { = 3 * { Page } – 1 } in the second box and { = 3 * { Page } } on the third box.

These codes will generate 3 x 1 – 2 = 1 on the first box; 3 x 1 – 1 = 2 on the second box; and, 3 x 1 = 3 on the third box. Similarly on second page these fields will produce 3 x 2 – 2 = 4 on the first box, 3 x 2 – 1 = 5 on the second and 3 x 2 = 6 on the third box of second page.