Generating chapter numbering in word

Q. I am writing a book using Microsoft Word and would like to skip numbering on chapter-division pages but resume numbering on the following page. How do I do this?

A. In current versions of Microsoft Word, one way to adjust page numbers within a long document is to make each chapter a separate section. You can then manually adjust the page numbers within that section.

To divide the document into separate sections, click your cursor at the point where you want to create a new section, say, at the end of each chapter, and then select the Break option from the Insert menu. In the Break box, you can specify where you want the new section to begin, say, "t" to follow continuously on the same page or "n" to start on the next page.

The dialogue box for adding page numbers is found under Word's Insert menu with the Page Numbers option. This box lets you choose where you want the numbers to appear on the page and how they should look. Click into each section to adjust the page numbers for that chapter.

Uncheck the box next to "Show number on first page" in the Page Numbers box. This will remove the page number from the first page of your new chapter, which should be the chapter division page.

Next, click the Format button in the Page Numbers box. Click the "Start at" button and type in the page number you want for the start of the new chapter. Even though it won't display the number on the page, Word will count the chapter division page and display the next number on the following page. If you don't want the chapter-division pages numbered or counted, start the page sequence one number earlier in the "Start at" box.

For example, your first chapter ends on Page 25 and you want to skip the number on the chapter division page and have the first real page of the second chapter be Page 26. In the Page Numbers box for the second chapter-section, click Format and then "Start at" Page 25. Word will count the unnumbered chapter division page as Page 25 and visibly number the first page of the second chapter as Page 26.