I have a 100-page document with 5 sections and Word doesn't save my page numbering format in some sections.



In every section I clicked on the Footer, then on Page Number>Format Page Number>Page Numbering> Continue from previous sections.
Clicked OK.
I verified the document and all the pages are properly numbered according to the setup. Then, save and close the Word file.
When I re-opened the Word file, some sections don't have "Continue from Previous Sections" configured despite I saved the document. Of course, now the page numbering is completely distorted.

The most likely explanation is that the document contains some continuous sections. These may be difficult to see, because they may be limited to part of a page.

Click the ¶ icon on the Home tab to display nonprinting marks. You may also want to switch to Draft view where all section breaks are clearly visible.

If you can't get it sorted, consider sharing a sample document with the forum.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

See

• Continuous Page Numbers Macro by Jay Freedman, MVP and
• Continuous Page Numbering Add-In and
• Toolkit for Advanced Management of Headers and Footers

Those are three tools that can assist with this problem. The macro solves the problem once in one document. The Add-In uses the macro to be available in all documents. The toolkit lets you examine and change the settings for headers/footers and page numbering in every section of your document.