Weekly Computer Tip # 390
9 March 2013

Count and/or print the lines in your document
(Word 2007-2010)

Out of the box, Word counts the number of pages and words in your document and automatically displays the information in the bottom left corner of Word's Status Bar. You can add other useful facts such as "line numbers", "sections" or - my favourite - (as without it, it's a nightmare to spot whether it's on or off) "track changes". (See tip_309.php if you missed this tip.)

But what if you want to display and/or print the line numbers to the left of each line of text, which could be particularly useful for legal documents?

Here's how:

1. If your document is divided into sections and you want to add line numbers to the entire document, select all the text. (Remember CTRL+A?)
2. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click the Line Numbers button.
3. Select Continuous.

If you prefer, you can restart the line numbers on each page or following section breaks or you can suppress the numbers for a particular paragraph. To remove the line numbers, simply repeat step 1 and 2 and select None.

By the way, did you know that you can save yourself lots of time - not to mention extra work with your computer mouse and the possibility of associated repetitive-strain injury (RSI) - simply by learning some simple keyboard shortcuts? For example - SHIFT+F3 in Microsoft Word means you can toggle between UPPER CASE, lower case and Sentence Case. Or ALT+TAB allows you to quickly switch between running programs. Well, earlier this month we launched a new 'shortcut of the week' feature on our website, in an effort to help you work faster (and healthier). Keyboard shortcuts may sometimes be unintuitive or hard to remember, but we will drip feed a new shortcut weekly, to help you to boost productivity without reaching for your mouse. If you are unsure about any of the shortcuts, please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can find the shortcut on our home page - and don't forget to come back every week to learn a new one.

.