February 4, 2009

MS Word – What Line Was That?

Ever try to communicate with someone about an MS Word document and wish you had line numbers to refer back to?

What a great thought! Line numbers. Now, if you could only get Word to automatically number the document lines for you.

Well, I have good news! Numbering lines is exactly what we're going to get Word to do for us today!

For who makes cialis older versions of Word, line numbers are part of the Page Setup settings (File menu, Page Setup choice).

You're then looking for the Layout tab.

In the bottom section, tell Word where to apply the line numbers (whole document, this point forward or if you selected some text before you began, selected section) and click on the Line Numbers button.

Side Note: If you start with selected text and choose to number just that portion, Word will automatically put a page break both before and after the selected text. If you choose to number the lines from this point forward, Word will then insert a page break before the numbers begin.

Now, back to business! When the Line Numbers window opens, you need to check the "Add line numbering" option.

That choice will activate the rest of the window. Here you can make decisions regarding how to number (every line, every two lines, every five lines, etc.), what number to start with and how far to place the numbers from the text. Don't forget to make a choice at the bottom regarding continuous numbering throughout the document or restarting (at a page or section break).

When you've made all your choices, click OK.

Click OK again to exit the Page Setup window.

Now, for those of you using Word 2007, things aren't quite as hard to find.

You simply need the Page Layout tab on the ribbon, Page Numbers button.

When you click on that button, you'll find a list of choices that are pretty self-explanatory. If you want to get to the choices shown above for other versions of Word, choose "Line Numbering Options." That will take you to the trusty Page Setup dialogue window and things will work the same as they do in other versions of Word.

Word 2007 users also need the same side note as everyone else: If you start with selected text and choose to number just that portion, Word will automatically put a page break both before and after the selected text. If you choose to number the lines from this point forward, Word will then insert a page break before the numbers begin.

Whichever version you're using and whatever route you take to get there, once your choices are made and you've returned to the document, you'll find that the lines are neatly numbered and easy to reference!