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)

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...

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