How to change page number of a Word Docx

Question

I have a generated word document (docx) and want to change the page number afterwards, in a way that it starts at number X. The page number is included in the footer of the word document. Where in the XML files do I need to apply this change?

I have changed a document to start at number 4 and looked at the XML code. The element <w:pgNumType w:start="4"/> was added. But if I only add this part manually to the XML, the document is broken.

document.xml content before adding "start with number 4":

        <w:sectPr w:rsidR="00C17A11" w:rsidRPr="00CD0C83" w:rsidSect="00A86D42">
            <w:headerReference r:id="rId8" w:type="even"/>
            <w:headerReference r:id="rId9" w:type="default"/>
            <w:footerReference r:id="rId10" w:type="even"/>
            <w:footerReference r:id="rId11" w:type="default"/>
            <w:headerReference r:id="rId12" w:type="first"/>
            <w:footerReference r:id="rId13" w:type="first"/>
            <w:pgSz w:h="16838" w:w="11906"/>
            <w:pgMar w:bottom="851" w:footer="567" w:gutter="0" w:header="851" w:left="1304" w:right="567" w:top="828"/>
            <w:cols w:space="708"/>
            <w:docGrid w:linePitch="360"/>
        </w:sectPr>

And after adding "start with number 4":

<w:sectPr w:rsidR="00C17A11" w:rsidRPr="00CD0C83" w:rsidSect="00CA253E">
  <w:headerReference w:type="default" r:id="rId8"/>
  <w:footerReference w:type="default" r:id="rId9"/>
  <w:pgSz w:w="11906" w:h="16838"/>
  <w:pgMar w:top="828" w:right="567" w:bottom="851" w:left="1304" w:header="851" w:footer="567" w:gutter="0"/>
  <w:pgNumType w:start="4"/>
  <w:cols w:space="708"/>
  <w:docGrid w:linePitch="360"/>
</w:sectPr>

What does it have to do with abap? Have you tried extracting the .docx contents and then do the same change with whatever XML editor there is? — Jagger
Yes. Changing the XML manually leads to a corrupt .docx file. It seems like it's not enough to add the line as described. — Josch
Adding what you've added where you've added it should work. When you say "the document is broken" could you be more specific? Do you get a content warning but then the file still opens or does the file not open at all? — petelids
Are you sure you zipped it back correctly? Is the zip directory structure _rels, docProps word and [Content_Types].xml? I unpacked the .wordx file, changed the element you mentioned from 4 to 5 zipped it back and it works for me. — Jagger
I don't think so, are you sure that you're not rezipping it with some kind of directory over the already mentioned ones? — Jagger

Jagger Jagger · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-10T08:37:27

As Josch mentioned you are doing everything right. There is nothing more to be added to the document.

I have created an empty document with 4 pages in Word and then unpacked the contents of my .wordx file.

Here is my document.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<w:document xmlns:wpc="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingCanvas" xmlns:cx="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2014/chartex" xmlns:cx1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2015/9/8/chartex" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:m="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/math" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:wp14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingDrawing" xmlns:wp="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/wordprocessingDrawing" xmlns:w10="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main" xmlns:w14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordml" xmlns:w15="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2012/wordml" xmlns:w16se="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2015/wordml/symex" xmlns:wpg="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingGroup" xmlns:wpi="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingInk" xmlns:wne="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2006/wordml" xmlns:wps="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingShape" mc:Ignorable="w14 w15 w16se wp14">
    <w:body>
        <w:p w:rsidR="00ED7F18" w:rsidRDefault="00ED7F18">
            <w:r>
                <w:br w:type="page"/>
            </w:r>
        </w:p>
        <w:p w:rsidR="00ED7F18" w:rsidRDefault="00ED7F18">
            <w:r>
                <w:lastRenderedPageBreak/>
                <w:br w:type="page"/>
            </w:r>
        </w:p>
        <w:p w:rsidR="00ED7F18" w:rsidRDefault="00ED7F18">
            <w:r>
                <w:lastRenderedPageBreak/>
                <w:br w:type="page"/>
            </w:r>
        </w:p>
        <w:p w:rsidR="0070592A" w:rsidRDefault="00ED7F18"/>
        <w:sectPr w:rsidR="0070592A" w:rsidSect="00ED7F18">
            <w:headerReference w:type="even" r:id="rId6"/>
            <w:headerReference w:type="default" r:id="rId7"/>
            <w:footerReference w:type="even" r:id="rId8"/>
            <w:footerReference w:type="default" r:id="rId9"/>
            <w:headerReference w:type="first" r:id="rId10"/>
            <w:footerReference w:type="first" r:id="rId11"/>
            <w:pgSz w:w="11906" w:h="16838"/>
            <w:pgMar w:top="1417" w:right="1417" w:bottom="1134" w:left="1417" w:header="708" w:footer="708" w:gutter="0"/>
            <w:pgNumType w:start="4"/>
            <w:cols w:space="708"/>
            <w:docGrid w:linePitch="360"/>
        </w:sectPr>
    </w:body>
</w:document>

Changing the following line

<w:pgNumType w:start="4"/>

to

<w:pgNumType w:start="5"/>

and then zipping back all the contents does the thing.

You are probably zipping back the contents together with the folder they are in.

Please make sure that the zip file has exactly the following folders/files.

_rels
docProps
word
[Content_Types].xml

How to change page number of a Word Docx

1 Answers