Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Positioning Line Numbers.

Positioning Line Numbers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 9, 2023)

In other issues of WordTips you learn how to add line numbers to your document. Word also allows you to modify how far line numbers are from the text in your document. To do this, follow these steps:

Select the Page Setup option from the File menu. Word displays the Page Setup dialog box.
Make sure the Layout tab is selected.
Click on the Line Numbers button. You will see the Line Numbers dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Line Numbers dialog box.

Adjust the measurement in the From Text box to indicate how far the line numbers appear from your text.
Click on OK to close the Line Numbers dialog box.
Click on OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1266) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Positioning Line Numbers.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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