Your description suggests you're putting the page numbers in the document body instead of the footer - which is where they belong. What is your aversion to using the footer?

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

When I select the page number tab and then page number > Bottom of page > page X of Y, Word automatically adds the page number to the footer. This creates extra pages for me. I do not care where the page numbers go. I want to add page X of Y and not add another page with one or two sentences on it.