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?

It sounds like your section break is either an odd or even page section break. This feature is intended to keep chapter covers either on the left or right side of facing pages and assumes you are printing double sided. These breaks add phantom pages when the next page number would otherwise not match the break type.

If you check your section breaks and change them to Next Page type then the phantom pages should disappear

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Guessed, Thanks for the reply. I double checked and I am in fact using Section Break (Next Page). For good measure, I deleted the existing Section Break and added it. Word continues to count my document as having a phantom page that does not exist in the navigation pane. Happy to try any other suggestions.
JMe

Next thing to check is if there are tracked revisions in the file. If so, accept all revisions as there may be a deleted page or section break which doesn't show in final mode.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

In cases when the page numbering is restarted following a section break, Word will add an additional page (a "filler" page) if required to enforce the typographical convention that odd-numbered pages are right-hand pages, while even-numbered pages are left-hand pages.

Since you have deleted a section break, look for any other section breaks that you have not noticed, as Guessed suggested. Usually, it is easier to perform this task in Draft view.

If there are no section breaks, display nonprinting marks and see if there is any hidden content on the "excessive" page.

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Thanks all for the help. I tried every suggestion and gave it to two other people in my organization, all with no success. I am thinking something got corrupted in the template. I restarted the document based on the .Normal template, copying text only into the new document, reformatting, and inserting new section breaks. Starting over solved the problem.
thanks again.