Why do my tables and columns change page numbers? (1,2,3,2,3,4,5)

[Guest]

I've been working in a Word 2003 document in which there is a page number set
up in the footer. For some reason, the document page numbering starts to go
crazy when I set up a long two-column table to print in columns. The page
numbers are fine until the page with the the columnar table and then after
that it subtracts a number. For instance, the page numbers go 1, 2, 3, and
then back to 2, 3, 4, 5, ...

Why?

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TUtLZW5uZWR5?=,

I've been working in a Word 2003 document in which there is a page number set
up in the footer. For some reason, the document page numbering starts to go
crazy when I set up a long two-column table to print in columns. The page
numbers are fine until the page with the the columnar table and then after
that it subtracts a number. For instance, the page numbers go 1, 2, 3, and
then back to 2, 3, 4, 5, ...

How many SECTIONS does your document have? (Press Ctrl+End to go to the end of
the document, then look at the number to the right of the "Sec" entry in the
status bar?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Guest]

Hi! Thanks for responding! The document has four sections and the weird
pagination happens in the middle of section 3. The page numbers from one
section to the next are fine (continue in proper order). The pagination
problem happens only on the page with the table I put into column layout. I'm
completely stumped! When I changed the table to be just a straight table the
problem went away, but that left me with a thin two-column table that spread
over two pages instead of the table all appearing on one page. To get the
document done and out the door I ended up making the table 5 columns wide,
copied the bottom "half" of the 2-column table to appear in columns 4 and 5
and deleted any shading and borders in the third column. At least it appears
properly but it wasn't the solution I wanted.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

When you change the number of columns, Word inserts Continuous section
breaks around the multi-column section. If the numbering in this section
(which may be in the middle of a page and hence inaccessible through the
header or footer) is set to restart, then it can generate the type of
problem you saw.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Okay, that makes complete sense! The column/table IS in a section where I
restarted the numbering. So how do I go about fixing this? What can I do?
Thank you so much for responding!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Since you can't access the Format Page Number dialog from the header or
footer, you have to do it (carefully) through the Insert | Page Numbers
dialog. With the insertion point in your multi-column section, open the
dialog, click on Format..., select "Continue from previous section," then
click OK. Then be careful to click Close rather than OK in the Page Numbers
dialog so you don't get a new page number inserted.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TUtLZW5uZWR5?=,

The document has four sections and the weird
pagination happens in the middle of section 3. The page numbers from one
section to the next are fine (continue in proper order). The pagination
problem happens only on the page with the table I put into column layout. I'm
completely stumped! When I changed the table to be just a straight table the
problem went away, but that left me with a thin two-column table that spread
over two pages instead of the table all appearing on one page. To get the
document done and out the door I ended up making the table 5 columns wide,
copied the bottom "half" of the 2-column table to appear in columns 4 and 5
and deleted any shading and borders in the third column. At least it appears
properly but it wasn't the solution I wanted.
Any suggestions?

Well, my thought would be to check in Insert/Page Number/Format (with the
selection in the two-column section) to see if the option for continuing
numbering from the previous section was activated, or if the "Restart" option
had somehow been set. That would certainly be the most logical explanation
(which doesn't necessarily mean it's the correct one ).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail