How Do I Merge or Delete Numbered Sections in Word 2013

[CrossReach]

As the screen shots show I have different numbered sections. I think I may have created the extra ones while trying to normalize the formatting across the document. I wanted each chapter to begin on the same facing page, rather than the back of the page. Since when the book is printed that is how it will appear, which aesthetically is not very pleasing. But now the numbering is all off, so I either need to delete or merge the sections, or somehow get the numbering fixed. Section 6 numbers the exacts same as section 7 and the same the whole way down. And it only happens on the chapter break, so I'm assuming it's something I've done, since this has never happened before. It's a doc file in compatibility mode so that may be adding to the problem, I'm not sure.

[Charles Kenyon]

The screen shots are not as helpful as the actual document would be.

Page numbering is a function of sections. The numbering is changed in the Format Page Numbers dialog. Insert > Page Numbers > Format Page Numbers.

You can tell sections to start on an even or odd page. Doing this will create a blank page (no header/footer) if needed.

It is unusual to restart page numbers at the beginning of each section.

See Numbering Front Matter (Ribbon) and Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word 2007-2013.

[CrossReach]

I fixed it. Patched it up sort of. By merging sections. It seems there were hidden pages or paragraphs that I may have inserted somehow. I am using the Createspace doc file, so I'm not sure if that presents formatting problems when using it in MW 2013. I am not able to upload the file as it is too large. The fi is not perfect and I have not resolved the original issue, it's a workaround. I'd love to actually figure it out as I plan on working on a number of projects with MW 2013 in the future.

[Stefan Blom]

When you add an Odd Page or Even Page section break, word adds "filler" pages whenever necessary, to ensure that the new section starts on an odd (even) page number. These filler pages can only be seen in Print Preview, and you must enable "Different odd and even" and/or "Mirror margins" in the Page Setup dialog box for the filler pages to be added correctly. For more, see the articles that Charles has linked to.

[CrossReach]

When I would change the numbering in one of the sections, say section 6, which was part of the front material, it affected the numbering in the next section. So I put Roman numeral X, and then the number in section 7 changed to X too. I unlinked the sections but pressing unlink to previous and that seemed to work, but it didn't work for the next section. I tried formatting page numbers under the design tab, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Then when I went down and tried to change the numbers on the even page, it changed all the numbers on the even pages to the same number. And the same thing happened with the odd pages too. I don't know how much sense this is making. I understand now that it has to do with sections. the thing is I'm using a document created by Createspace, so I don't know if I should just try to create my own document to work in or is there a way to fix this problem that won't have me at it for another two days. Thanks for your time and help.

[CrossReach]

I'm completely lost. I've tried removing all sections and just working with one long continuous document, but the page numbers are still acting totally weird. The odd numbered pages are all the same and the even numbered pages are all the same. It's infuriating. I've searched and searched. It seems no one else has had this problem that I can find. Why do the odd and even numbers not number themselves 1 after the other, but rather copy each other. So I type 2 and all the even pages are numbered 2. I go down and number the next one 4, now the previous one and all the others are numbered 4. I'm going around in circles here.

[CrossReach]

Is there anything I can do in the set up stages, before I add the text to help prevent formatting problems later on? I'm assuming that it's something I did unknowingly that has rendered the current document seemingly impossible to continue with. I have had to cut and past the entire text out of one Createspace template and into another, and that is not without its own problems. It was the numbering more than anything in the end. It simply would not do what I wanted. I'm not sure anyone really knows what my problem is. I looked and looked and looked again online for someone who had had my problem, but found nothing. After I removed as much formatting as possible to try and get back to a basic Word document the document simply would not start as page 1. If I entered it would turn all pages into 1. If i went the Quick Parts way it would start the document at 2, and I could not find one article explaining why this is or how to fix it...

[Charles Kenyon]

I am not familiar with the CreateSpace.doc template. The keys are to use Styles in your formatting and do any numbering using a multi-level list linked to styles.
How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word by Shauna Kelly