How to remove the horizontal line under the page number in Word

Key points of this article

The horizontal lines under the page number are mostly paragraph borders or the borders that come with the footer style. Deleting the page number has no effect.
First turn on the paragraph mark, determine whether the horizontal line belongs to a paragraph border, a style border, an independent shape or a character, and then process it accordingly.
When the header and footer are divided into sections or the document is protected, you must check section by section and confirm that you have the permission to modify it.
If you want to increase the distance between horizontal lines and page numbers, you can adjust the paragraph spacing or the distance between borders and text.

After inserting page numbers in Word, a common situation is that there is an extra horizontal line above and below the page number. Many people try to delete the page number numbers, but the horizontal lines remain in place, so they suspect that there is something wrong with the page number function. In fact, the horizontal line usually has nothing to do with the page number itself. It is the border of the paragraph where the header or footer is located, or it is the preset format in the footer style.

This article is for anyone who needs to organize the footers of papers, contracts, and reports. After reading, you can determine where the horizontal line under the page number comes from, know whether to delete paragraph borders, change the style, or delete individual lines, and adjust the distance between the horizontal line and the page number.

How to remove the horizontal line under the page number? One sentence conclusion

Direct conclusion: first confirm which category the horizontal line belongs to, and then delete it accordingly. Deleting the page number or reinserting the page number usually does not solve the problem.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
The horizontal line is close to the page number text. When the cursor is in the page number paragraph, you can see it moving with the paragraph.	Remove the top or bottom border of the paragraph	This is the paragraph border, which only affects the current paragraph
The footer of every page and section has the same horizontal line, and it appears again after deleting the paragraph border.	Modify the footer style and clear the border in the style	Horizontal lines are uniformly brought in by the style, and deleting them piece by piece will appear repeatedly.
The horizontal line can be selected independently and does not affect the page number when dragged.	Delete directly after selecting	It is an inserted line or shape and is not part of the paragraph format
A dash consists of a sequence of underscore characters or a tab leader	Select these characters, delete them, and re-enter the page number.	It's a text format, not a border

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Whether the horizontal line is in the header or footer, and in which section it is located. Long documents are often divided into sections, and headers and footers may only take effect in a certain section. If only the first section is changed, the horizontal lines in subsequent sections will remain.
Whether horizontal lines can be selected. The paragraph border can only be set by placing the cursor into the corresponding paragraph; for independent lines, you need to click to make the selection box appear. Decide which one is faster and save time on trial and error.
Whether the document is protected. If Word prompts "Restricted" or the header and footer cannot be edited, it means that the document has been restricted for editing. Unprotection requires the document owner to provide a password and should not be bypassed informally.
Whether you want other pages to retain horizontal lines. For example, the cover and table of contents of a paper usually do not require page number lines, but the main text does. Think about the scope first, and then modify it.
Save a copy first. Modifying the header and footer styles has a greater impact. Keep a copy of the original file so you can roll back if something goes wrong.

Steps to locate and remove page number lines in Word

Double-click the footer or header area where the page number is located to enter the header and footer editing state, and the text will become lighter.
Press Ctrl+Shift+8 to display paragraph marks, so that you can see the paragraph symbols of each paragraph, making it easier to confirm which paragraph the horizontal line belongs to.
Place the cursor in the paragraph where the horizontal line is located, determine whether the horizontal line is located above or below the paragraph, and note whether it moves with the paragraph.
Open the paragraph border settings and change the border on the corresponding side to "None". This step only affects the current paragraph.
If the horizontal line is still there, it means it comes from the footer style. Open the style settings, clear the borders in the style, and all paragraphs applying the style will be updated at the same time.
If the horizontal line is a straight line or shape that can be selected individually, click to select and then press Delete to delete.
If the horizontal line consists of underline characters or tab leading characters, select these characters and clear the format or delete them directly, and then re-enter the page number.
Close header and footer editing, return to the text and check whether there are still horizontal lines on the page.

If you don't have Word at hand and just want to quickly view or edit a .docx file, you can open it in the UniDoc web editor (app.unidoc.top). It supports Word-compatible editing, but whether the horizontal lines can be completely preserved needs to be checked page by page after opening.

Adjust the spacing between horizontal lines and page numbers

If the horizontal lines are too close, or if you want to leave a gap between the page number and the horizontal lines, you can start from two places. The first is to adjust the spacing before and after the paragraph in the footer paragraph settings to allow more space between the page number text and the paragraph border. The second is to adjust the distance between the border and the text in the paragraph border setting options. Neither of them changes the position of the horizontal line itself, but only affects the relative relationship between the page number and the horizontal line.

Check each item after completion

Check items	How to see	What to do if there is a problem
Whether the horizontal line disappears	Turn to the body, cover, and table of contents pages in the page view	If a page still has a horizontal line, check the section where the page is located and follow the steps to process it section by section
Home page and parity page	Check to see if the home page has different headers and footers, and whether the parity pages have their own styles	Check the home page, odd page and even page respectively to make sure that the horizontal line has been cleared.
Whether there is a link between sections	View the status of "Link to previous section" in the header and footer edit state	If the link is open, the modification will affect the previous section; if you need to set it separately, break the link first and then modify it
Is the page number normal?	Make sure the page number is still displayed and the number is continuous.	If the page number disappears, you can delete the page number field by mistake and insert the page number again.
Is the spacing appropriate?	Zoom in to the normal scale to see the distance between the page number and the horizontal line	Adjust the paragraph spacing or the distance between the border and the text until visually comfortable
Print preview	Check the overall effect with print preview	If you can't see it on the screen and appear when printing, it's probably caused by style or hidden format, go back to paragraph mark display mode and check it again.

# frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1. The horizontal line is still there after deleting the page number. why?

A horizontal line is the border or style format of a footer paragraph, which is different from a page number. Deleting a number will only clear the text, and the border will remain in the paragraph. Remove the paragraph border or change the footer style.

2. Just want to remove the page number line of a certain section, what should I do?

First go to the footer of the section, break the "link to the previous section", and make the header and footer of this section independent. Then remove the horizontal lines step by step so that the horizontal lines of other sections will not be affected.

3. What if the Word prompt document is limited and cannot modify the header and footer?

This indicates that the document has set editing restrictions. Lifting restrictions requires the document owner to provide a password or permission, and you should ask for permission directly from the other party, rather than trying to crack the protection.

4. The horizontal line cannot be deleted, and there is no response after selection, what should I do?

First display the paragraph mark to confirm whether the dash belongs to a paragraph. If the horizontal line is a paragraph border, the cursor should be placed in the corresponding paragraph and then set. If it still doesn't work, check to see if the footer style has a border, or if the horizontal line is made up of characters.

5. After removing the horizontal lines, the position of the page number has changed. Does it need to be realigned?

Need. After you delete the border, the height and text position of the paragraph may change slightly. You can check the alignment of the footer paragraph and the spacing before and after the paragraph to return the page number to its original position.

# Summary

The horizontal lines under Word page numbers usually come from paragraph borders, footer styles, or separate lines, and deleting page numbers will not solve the problem. First judge the source of the horizontal line, and then remove it, and check it section by section, you can make the horizontal line under the page number disappear completely.

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