Microsoft Word: Line Numbers

There are many cases where collaboration is needed to complete or review a word document. Then, sometimes referring to content in specific lines in a document could be troublesome and time-consuming. For example, we could say “please refer to the explanation of X on page 10 starting at line 18!“. Without line numbers, we need to count the line from the beginning of the page to a certain line, as well as people who read it.

Fortunately, Microsoft Word has a feature to display the line numbers in the document ​[1]​. Using this feature, we can display line numbers throughout the document or in some parts of it. However, the line number can’t be displayed in tables, footnotes, endnotes, text boxes, and headers and footers.

Adding line numbers

As in Fig 1, the steps to adding line numbers are as follows:

1. Go to the Layout menu;
2. Then in the Page Setup group, click Line Numbers;
3. Click one of the following options:
   • Continuous: To display line numbers consecutively throughout the document.
   • Restart Each Page: If we want to display line numbers starting with number 1 on each page.
   • Restart Each Section: To display line numbers starting with number 1 after each section break.
   • Line Numbering Options...: For more advanced options, such as margin and intervals. See more detailed explanation in section Formatting line numbers.

Removing line numbers

As in Fig 1, the following steps are used to remove line numbers:

1. Click the document, or select sections or paragraphs from which we want to remove line numbers;
2. Go to the Layout menu;
3. Then in the Page Setup group, click Line Numbers;
4. Click one of the following options:
   • None: To remove line numbers throughout the document or section.
   • Suppress for Current Paragraph: To remove line numbers from the selected paragraphs.

Formatting line numbers

Advanced options

The advanced options could be found in the following steps:

1. Go to the Layout menu;
2. Then in the Page Setup group, click Line Numbers;
3. Click Line Numbering Options...;
4. In the Layout tab of Page Setup, click Line Numbers..., as seen in Fig 2 point 1;
5. Then in Fig 2 point 2, adjust the setting as you need;
6. Click OK.

The explanation of advanced options in Fig 2 point 2 are as follows:

• Start at: The starting number. By default, 1 is the starting line number.
• From text: The distance between the line number and the line text (default Auto).
• Count by: Display line numbers at specified interval (default 1). For example, if we set Count by = 5, it will display line numbers in every fifth line, as seen in Fig 3.
• Numbering: The way to display line numbers, as explained in the section Adding line numbers.

Style formatting

We could also change the style of the line number, such as change its color and font ​[2]​. As in Fig 4, the steps are as follows:

1. Go to Home menu;
2. Then in the Styles group, click the Dialog Box Launcher button. It is a small button in the lower-right corner of the Styles group;
3. Click Manage Styles button;
4. In the Manage Styles dialog box, find and select Line Number in the style list;
5. Click Modify...;
6. Adjust the style as you need, then click OK.

References