How to Start Page Numbers at Different Number in Excel

In Excel, extended datasets are usually printed on different pages, so page breaks are a good idea. Adding page numbers to broken pages makes it easier to track for later use. You can add these numbers in headers, footers, or cells. If you are looking for special tricks to learn how to start page numbers at a different number in Excel, you’ve come to the right place. There are three suitable examples to start page numbers at different numbers in Excel. This article will discuss every step of these examples. Let’s follow the complete guide to learn all of this.

Excel Page Numbers Start at Different Number: 3 Suitable Examples

In the following section, we will use three effective and tricky examples to demonstrate how Excel page numbers start at different numbers. You can add numbers in the header, footer, and Excel cell. Here are three examples: inserting page numbers in the header, inserting page numbers in the footer, and inserting page numbers in the Excel cell. In this article, we will illustrate how the page number will start at different numbers. This section provides extensive details on these methods. You should learn and apply these to improve your thinking capability and Excel knowledge. We use the Microsoft Office 365 version here, but you can utilize any other version according to your preference. In this article, we demonstrate the above-mentioned three examples for the following dataset.

1. Inserting Page Number in Header

Here, we are going to demonstrate how to insert the page number in the header. Here, the page number will start at different numbers. Let’s walk through the following steps to start page numbers at a different number in Excel.

📌 Steps:

• First of all, go to the Insert tab, and select Header & Footer.

• Next, select the Header & Footer tab, and choose Page Number.
• Among the three sections of the header section, we choose the right section as shown below.
• Therefore, the page number will be inserted in the right section of the header section.

• Next, click on another cell and you will have the page number in the Excel header starting with 1.

• But we want that page number will start at a different number.
• Now, we are going to illustrate how you can show page numbers starting at different numbers. Here, we will show that the page number will start at 3.
• To do this, go to the Page Layout tab, and click on the Page Setup icon.

• When the Page Setup dialog box appears, type 3 or different numbers based on your preference in the First page number
• Next, click on OK.

• As a consequence, you will see that the page number starts at 3 (which is a different number) even though it is the first page of the dataset.

Read More: How to Insert Page Number Using VBA in Excel 

2. Inserting Page Number in Footer

Here, we will illustrate how to insert page numbers in the footer. The page number will start at a different number. To insert page numbers in the footer, we can follow three methods: Page Layout view, Page Setup dialog box, and Header & Footer command. But in this method, we will use the Page Setup view feature. To insert page numbers in Excel footers using the Page Layout view feature, follow these steps.

📌 Steps:

• First of all, go to the View tab on your ribbon. Then select Page Layout from the Workbook Views.

• Now the dataset will look like this.

• After that, select the place on the footer where you want to insert your page number. At this instant, the Header & Footer tab will appear on the ribbon.
• Select Page Number from the Header & Footer Elements group in it.

• The footer will now look like this.

• Finally, click on another cell and you will have the page number in the Excel footer.

• But we want that page number will start at a different number.
• Now, we are going to illustrate how you can show page numbers starting at different numbers. Here, we will show that the page number will start at 3.
• To do this, go to the Page Layout tab, and click on the Page Setup icon.

• When the Page Setup dialog box appears, type 3 or different numbers based on your preference in the First page number
• Next, click on OK.

• As a consequence, you will see that the page number starts at 3 (which is a different number) even though it is the first page of the dataset.

Read More: How to Insert Sequential Page Numbers Across Worksheets

3. Inserting Page Number in Excel Cell

If you want to insert the page number in an Excel cell, you need to use the help of VBA. Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is Microsoft’s Event Driven Programming Language. To use this feature you first need to have the Developer tab showing on your ribbon. Click here to see how you can show the Developer tab on your ribbon. Once you have that, follow these detailed steps to insert the page number in Excel cells.

📌 Steps:

• VBA has its own separate window to work with. You have to insert the code in this window too. To open the VBA window, go to the Developers tab on your ribbon. Then select Visual Basic from the Code group.

• VBA modules hold the code in the Visual Basic Editor. It has a .bcf file extension. We can create or edit one easily through the VBA editor window. To insert a module for the code, go to the Insert tab on the VBA editor. Then click on Module from the drop-down.

• As a result, a new module will be created.
• Now select, the module if it isn’t already selected. Then write down the following code in it.

Sub Page_Count()
    Dim xVCount As Integer
    Dim xHCount As Integer
    Dim xVBreak As VPageBreak
    Dim xHBreak As HPageBreak
    Dim xNumPage As Integer
    xHCount = 1
    xVCount = 1
    If ActiveSheet.PageSetup.Order = xlDownThenOver Then
        xHCount = ActiveSheet.HPageBreaks.Count + 1
    Else
        xVCount = ActiveSheet.VPageBreaks.Count + 1
    End If
    xNumPage = 2
    For Each xVBreak In ActiveSheet.VPageBreaks
        If xVBreak.Location.Column > ActiveCell.Column Then Exit For
        xNumPage = xNumPage + xHCount
    Next
    For Each xHBreak In ActiveSheet.HPageBreaks
        If xHBreak.Location.Row > ActiveCell.Row Then Exit For
       xNumPage = xNumPage + xVCount
    Next
    ActiveCell = "Page " & xNumPage
End Sub

• After that, you can close the VBA window.
• After you have inserted the code, turn on the page layout view before running the code.

• Now the sheet will look like this.

• Finally, select the cell where you want to put the page number in.
• We have selected cell G35 for this.

• Then go to the Developer tab again. This time, select Macros from the Code group.

• Now select the Macro name you have just entered. Our macro name was Page_Count. So we have selected that.
• After that, click on Run.

• As a consequence, you will see that the page number starts at 2 (which is a different number) even though it is the first page of the dataset.

Read More: How to Insert Page Number in Excel Cell Not in Header

Download Practice Workbook

Download this practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article. It contains all the datasets in different spreadsheets for a clear understanding. Try yourself while you go through the step-by-step process.

Conclusion

That’s the end of today’s session. I strongly believe that from now you may be able to start page numbers at a different number in Excel. If you have any queries or recommendations, please share them in the comments section below.

Related Articles

• How to Use Formula for Page Number in Excel 
• How to Insert Page Number in Excel 
• How to Print Page Number in Excel
• How to Remove Page Number from Page Break Preview in Excel

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