I have some fairly simple tasks to complete here, however, Microsoft Word is making these tasks 1000x more difficult, by doing seemingly random things.

My first big issue is with Page Numbering. I have 58 different forms that need to be combined into one big file. Each of these forms has their own respective page numbers.

Form 1 is 2 pages (1 of 2 & 2 of 2)
Form 38 might be 58 pages (1 of 58, 2 of 58, 3 of 58, etc)

My first thought was to combine all the files in one go to save myself some time. This was a big mistake, because Word completely ignored the page numbers, and made the document page 1-200, not to mention messing up every single bullet point that I had set up. Instead of resetting the bullet point each form, it decided to just continue from the previous, so my bullet points go from A-Z and hundreds of numbers downwards.

For the bulk of the project (it's mostly just text), I decided to convert a bunch of forms to PDF, then back to word, which seems to have kept the format, bullet points, and correct page numbering here.


I am now stuck with 6 pages (these pages have form fields/merge fields on them, so converting wasn't going to work.) The page numbers are set in the footers, I have each footer set to NOT Link with the previous selection (set under the Design tab). And I have custom set each page to start on their respective pages. Microsoft Word is ignoring all of this.

I actually have a cover page, then the forms follow after the first page, so the numbering actually starts on Page 2 of the document. I have this page set to Page 1, but then every subsequent page gets renamed to Page 2. If I attempt to manually edit the page, for some ungodly known reason, everything then gets renamed to what I just named it to, so everything is Page 3, or Page 4, or Page 2, with the exception of Document PAge 2 which is accurate.

Since none of these footers are linked to the previous, and each of these footers are manually set through the Word option to start on a specific page number, what can I do to get my page numbers correct here?

This is driving me crazy, and I don't understand why Word could make something as simply as a page number be so damned complex.

Thanks for any help!