How to Add Page Numbers in Google Docs?‍

Google Docs is a popular cloud-based word processing web app used for creating and editing documents. It offers a host of features like real-time collaborative editing between multiple users, universal accessibility, and cloud storage. On top of that, Google Docs is very simple and easy to use, both for casual and professional users, and is completely free.

To optimise the readability and effectiveness of a Google Docs document, it is critical to keep it organised. One way to keep long documents, if not short ones, organised, is by adding page numbers to them.

Adding page numbers is especially useful for cases where you want to print out your Google Docs documents, and stay away from a jumbled mess of pages. Even for web reading, adding page numbers lets your readers know the volume of the document while also helping navigate the contents easily.

So, how to add page numbers in Google Docs? The process is actually very simple - read on to find out.

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. How to add page numbers in Google Docs: Method #1
2. How to add page numbers in Google Docs: Method #2
3. FAQs

---

How to add page numbers in Google Docs: Method #1

You can learn how to add a page number in Google Docs within a few minutes, as it is a very straightforward and easy process to master.

Step 1. Open the required Google Docs document.

Step 2. In the menu bar, click on ‘Insert’ > ‘Page numbers’

Step 3. Select the required format you want the page numbers to appear in.

Note: Google Docs provides four default options for page numbers, depicted as seen below.

Here is what the individual options mean:

1. Page numbers will be shown in the top-right corner of each page (in the header), starting from the first page.
2. Page numbers will be shown in the top-right corner of each page (in the header), starting from the second page. I.e., the first page will be left blank.
3. Page numbers will be shown in the bottom-right corner of each page (in the footer), starting from the first page.
4. Page numbers will be shown in the bottom-right corner of each page (in the footer), starting from the second page. I.e., the first page will be left blank.

Step 4. Google Docs will then add the page numbers to all pages in the document based on which option you choose.

If you want to customise your page numbers beyond the default options provided by Google Docs, click on ‘Insert’ > ‘Page numbers’ > ‘More options’.

In the dialog box, you can select the ‘Position’ of the page number (Header/ Footer), and the Numbering (which number you want the page number to start from). You can also check or uncheck the ‘Show on first page’ box according to your preference.

How to add page numbers in Google Docs: Method #2

Instead of using the default Page numbers option in Google Docs, you can add page numbers manually in Headers and Footers. Headers and Footers are especially useful in a professional setting, for displaying your organisation’s logo, the title of the document, or the section name within the document.

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open the required Google Docs document.

Step 2. Click on ‘Insert’ > ‘Headers & footers’ > Select ‘Header’ or ‘Footer’ based on your preference. (Let’s choose Footers for this example).

A footer box is added automatically to all the pages in your Google Docs document.

Note: Alternatively, you can just double click on the top of any page to add a header, or double click on the bottom of any page to add a footer.

Step 3. Click on ‘Options’ > ‘Page numbers’.

Step 4. In the dialog box that opens up, set the desired parameters for your page number.

That’s it, page numbers should now have been added to your Google Docs document. Follow the same instructions for adding page numbers at the header as well.

Note: You can customise the footer formatting - such as margins and layout - by clicking on ‘Options’ > ‘Footer format’.

FAQs:

How to align the page number to the center or the left?

By default, Google Docs adds the page number at the right margin of the document. However, you can also choose to align page numbers to the left margin or at the center of each page.

To do this, simply click on the header or footer (depending on where you’ve added the page numbers), and select either ‘Left Align’ or ‘Center Align’ from the toolbar, as shown below.

The page number will move to the desired location.

How to format the page number in a particular style?

To format the page numbers, just select it, as described in the above step, and choose the desired format from the toolbar - like the font, size, text color, bold, italics, or underline.

How to delete page numbers in Google Docs?

You can delete all the page numbers in your Google Docs document by double-clicking on any page number and pressing ‘Delete’.

How to add a Page Count in Google Docs?

At times, you may be required to specify the number of pages in your document. In such a scenario, there is no need to manually count the number of pages in your Google Docs document and type it out.

Google Docs has an option to add a page count anywhere in your document automatically.

To do this, place your cursor at the desired location, and click on ‘Insert’ > ‘Page numbers’ > ‘Page count’.

Note that the page count will automatically update by itself whenever pages are added or deleted.