How to add pizza to your page numbers in Microsoft Word

Page numbers serve an important function in your Microsoft Word document, but they can be a bit boring. If you want to draw attention to page numbers, try adding colors and graphics.

When you add page numbers to a Microsoft Word documents, you might not give much thought to how they look. However, there are some preset formats that you can use to make them stand out a bit more. If you want to add a bit of pizzazz to make them really stand out, try adding graphics and bright colors to the page numbers. In this tutorial, I will show you three simple ways to make page numbers stand out in Word documents. You can download the demo file.

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I’m using Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 64-bit systems, but you can use earlier versions. Word for the web doesn’t display headers and footers, but if you print from the online version, Word prints them. These examples aren’t particularly design-worthy: I’m just showing you the possibilities.

How to insert a page numbering field in Word

Before we can number the pages, we need to add the pagination field to the document. Normally, you would enter one, but we will enter more than one, so there will be several to work with.

To enter several page numbers, do the following:

1. Click the Insert tab.
2. In the Header & Footer group, click Page Number.
3. In the dialog box that appears, select Header.
4. Select Plain Number 1 from the resulting submenu (Picture A).

Picture A

As you can see in Picture A, Word adds a page numbering field to the title of the document. We didn’t open the header, but the Header will always end up in the header. Similarly, the Bottom of Page will always end in the footer. Use this option to add some page numbers to the left margin and current position. With a few pagination fields in the document, we’re ready to spice them up a bit.

How to show shapes behind page numbers in Word

One simple method is to display a shape behind the number. To illustrate this approach, let’s open the header so we can work with that page number:

1. Click the Insert tab.
2. In the Illustrations group, click Shapes.
3. From the drop-down menu, select Hexagon from the Basic Shapes section.
4. Click inside the title and drag to position the hexagon behind the number, If necessary, resize or drag the shape to reposition. While sizing the shape you should be able to see the number. When you’re done, you won’t (Figure BUG).
5. To show numbers, send the shape to the back by choosing Send Text Behind from the Send Back drop-down menu in the Arrange group.

Figure BUG

As you can see in SIZE, the number shown on the top of the shape. Feel free to change the fill color, add borders, etc

SIZE

How to use text effects to format page numbers in Word

Another way to have a little fun with page numbers is to format numbers with text effects. To demonstrate this method, select several pages and do the following:

1. Click the Home tab if necessary.
2. In the Font group, click Text Effects and Typefaces.
3. From the drop-down menu, select any option (Visualization).

Visualization

As you can see in VisualizationI chose a blue outline option.

You can do this with page numbers in the header or footer, but it’s a bit easier to work with in the body of the document. You can then paste the formatted number in the header if you want.

How to combine shapes in Word

A simple shape behind the number is easy to do, but combine a few shapes to suggest a bit of movement. You can move the shape when you’re done, so don’t worry about positioning the combined shape behind the page number. Insert it anywhere and reposition it when you’re done.

Now, let’s combine the two shapes as follows:

1. Using the Shapes option on the Insert tab, add a circle and change the color if you want. You can change it to match the color in your organization’s logo. Hold down the Shift key as you resize the circle to make sure you get the perfect circle.
2. Using the Shapes option, insert the Pentagon Arrow into the Block Arrows section.
3. Choose white from the Shape Fill option in the Shape Styles group on the Format Contextual Shape tab. Place it on top of the circle.
4. Select both shapes and choose Group from the Group option in the Arrange group on the Contextual Shape Format tab.
5. With two shapes grouped (Figure E) you can move them together to the page number.
6. To display numbers, as shown in Figure FSend the shape to the back by choosing Send Text Behind from the Send Back drop-down menu in the Arrange group.

Figure E

Figure F

How to use built-in formats in Word

So far, we’ve used some graphics to make the page numbers stand out a bit, but Word offers some ready-to-use graphics – you won’t have to create them yourself. You can see some of these in Picture A. Look for the one with the vertical line between the word Page and the page number. I didn’t create that. I just inserted it from the Page Number drop-down menu.

Before you spend too much time building out paged highlights, review the options already available. To find them, click the Insert tab and use the Page Number drop-down menu in the Header & Footer group. All categories provide a number. WOOD Figure show some of them and more.

WOOD Figure

Simple page numbers are suitable for most documents. When you want to highlight page numbers, use graphics and colors to make them stand out. This is especially useful when the header or footer area has more content than the number of pages.