I am using Microsoft Word for Mac version 16. I am having a problem with the way that Word is counting pages, creating a ghost / phantom page between section breaks. Using the navigation panel, I count 12 visible pages. Word insists I have 13 pages.

At the end of the first page, I have a section break (next page). In the footer on the first page, I have a page number, identifying it the first page as "Page 1." (so far so good.) The next 7 pages are all one section. These pages share a footer with page numbers. The second page in the navigation panel shows a footer of "Page 3". When I click from the first page in the navigation panel to the second page in the navigation panel, Word tells me I am on the third page. I can get word to recognize that there are 12 pages when I tell Word to format the pages as continuous from the previous section. (this however is not a solution, because I need separate sections.) This problem is also present when I print; a random blank page is printing.

I type with "Show/ Hide " button active.

Any ideas on how to eliminate this ghost page?