Add line numbers - Help and How-to - Microsoft Office Online

Warning: You are viewing this page with an unsupported Web browser. This Web site works best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, Firefox 1.5, or Netscape Navigator 8.0 or later. Learn more about supported browsers.

Email this link

Printer-Friendly Version Bookmark and Share

Add line numbers

Applies to: Microsoft Office Word 2003

Do one of the following:

Show Add line numbers to an entire document

On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Layout tab.
In the Apply to box, click Whole document.
Click Line Numbers.
Select the Add line numbering check box, and then select the options you want.

Show Add line numbers to a selection of text

Select the text you want to number.
On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Layout tab.
In the Apply to box, click Selected text.
Microsoft Word will add page breaks (page break: The point at which one page ends and another begins. Microsoft Word inserts an "automatic" (or soft) page break for you, or you can force a page break at a specific location by inserting a "manual" (or hard) page break.) before and after the numbered lines.
Click Line Numbers.
Select the Add line numbering check box, and then select the options you want.

Show Add line numbers to a section

Click in a section (section: A portion of a document in which you set certain page formatting options. You create a new section when you want to change such properties as line numbering, number of columns, or headers and footers.) or select multiple sections.
On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Layout tab.
In the Apply to box, select the option you want.
Microsoft Word will add page breaks (page break: The point at which one page ends and another begins. Microsoft Word inserts an "automatic" (or soft) page break for you, or you can force a page break at a specific location by inserting a "manual" (or hard) page break.) before and after the numbered lines.
Click Line Numbers.
Select the Add line numbering check box, and then select the options you want.

Note To see the line numbers, switch to print layout view (print layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.).