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: Jumping to a Relative Line Number.

Jumping to a Relative Line Number

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 23, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

In other issues of WordTips you learn how to jump to a specific line number in your document. If you modify the technique a bit, you can easily jump to a line number relative to your current line number. Follow these steps:

Choose the Go To option from the Edit menu, or simply press F5. You will see the Go To tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Go To tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

On the left side of the dialog box, make sure that you indicate you want to go to a line.
Enter the relative line number to which you want to move, preceded by a plus or minus sign. If you use a plus sign, you go forward the specified number of lines; a minus sign moves backwards. As an example, you could jump forward five lines by entering +5.
Click on Go To, or press Enter.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1167) 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: Jumping to a Relative Line Number.

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Stopping a Conditional Formatting Rule from Breaking into Smaller Ranges

When you paste information into a row that is conditionally formatted, you may end up messing up the rules applied to ...

Discover More

Finding Unknown Links

There are several things to try when finding unknown links in Excel.

Discover More

Understanding Fill Effects

Want to fill a drawing object with different types of effects? Excel provides several effects that can make your drawing ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Using Go To with a Percentage

Need to jump a certain percentage of the way through a document? You can do it using the familiar Go To tab of the Find ...

Discover More

Jumping to a Page within a Section

In long documents it is often helpful to jump directly to a particular page. Word provides several tools you can use to ...

Discover More

Jumping to a Section

One way you can navigate through a document is to jump from section to section. Here's the traditional way to quickly get ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is two less than 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.