User level: Level 2 (426 points)Is there an easy way in Pages to number lines? I believe this issue was discussed in earlier posts some years back, but I don't remember if a solution was offered.
Posted on Oct 5, 2026 5:59 AM
User level: Level 10 (131,878 points)Oct 5, 2026 9:44 AM in response to rogerfromnorwalk
Although Microsoft Word and LibreOffice have a line and paragraph numbering feature, Pages not being a Word clone does not have this feature. Use the correct tool for your document goal if you want instant line numbering.
What was discussed many years ago was a pure kludge to visually simulate line numbers via two per-page text boxes using the same fonts, font size, and line spacing attributes. The left text box was just wide enough to contain ascending line numbers that one had to generate elsewhere and paste into the text box. The right text box containing the document text. Looked like this:
I had to insert line feeds to skip blank paragraph gaps. This is too labor intensive to be practical and only by grouping the two text boxes will it export and appear in Word as seen above. WIth Word or LIbreOffice, no text boxes are needed and a one-button click adds the line numbers.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256370760