How to remove a page break in Word and get rid of useless blank spaces

Publish date: 2024-08-10

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Page breaks can be a helpful formatting tool when working in Microsoft Word. But if you use too many — or worse, Word automatically inserts too many — your document can quickly become cluttered with blank spaces.

Here's how to adjust or remove page breaks in Microsoft Word, whether they're manual or automatic, on both Windows and Mac computers.

How to remove a manual page break in Word for Windows

  • To remove a page break you added in manually, click the Home tab. 

  • Click Show/Hide ¶ to display the page breaks in your document.

    Click the Show/Hide paragraph button to see where your paragraph, section, and page breaks are. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Insider

  • Find the manual page break you want to remove and double click the page break to highlight it. 

    Highlight the page break before you hit Delete. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Insider
  • Finally, hit the Delete or Backspace key to remove it.

    • How to remove an automatic page break in Word on Windows

  • Select the paragraphs you want to adjust by highlighting them with your cursor.
  • Click the Layout or Page Layout tab. 

  • Next, click Breaks in the Page Setup section.

    Click the Breaks button in the Page Setup section under the Layout tab. Abbey White/Insider
  • In the Line and Page Breaks tab, choose the settings you want to apply. Turn these all off to reduce automatic page breaks.

    If you choose "Widow/Orphan control": Word will automatically place page breaks to prevent you from starting a new paragraph on the last line of a page, or having the last line of a paragraph alone on a new page.

    If you choose "Keep with next": Word will keep two consecutive paragraphs together and not separated by a page break. 

    If you choose "Keep lines together": This option will prevent Word from adding page breaks in the middle of a paragraph.

    If you choose "Page break before": You can add a page break before the selected paragraph. 

    Select how you want Word to adjust your page break before clicking OK. Abbey White/Insider

    • How to remove a manual page break in Word on Mac

  • To remove a manual page break, start by clicking the Home tab. 
  • Next, select "Show all nonprinting characters ¶" to display the page breaks in your document.

  • Find the manual page break you want to remove, then click to the right of the paragraph mark. You can also highlight the page break. 

    Click to the right of or highlight the page break you want to delete. Abbey White/Insider
  • Hit the Delete key to erase it. 

    • How to remove an automatic page break in Word on Mac

  • Select the paragraphs you want to adjust by highlighting them with your cursor.
  • Click the Format tab.

  • Choose Paragraph.

    Click Format in the Apple toolbar and select Paragraph from the drop-down. Abbey White/Insider
  • Under the Line and Page Breaks tab, choose the settings you want to apply. Turn these all off to reduce automatic page breaks.

    "Widow/Orphan control" will include at least two lines of a paragraph at the top or bottom of a page. This prevents you from having a new paragraph starting on the last line before a page break or having the last line of a paragraph alone on a new page.

    "Keep with next" will keep two consecutive paragraphs together and not separated by a page break.

    "Keep lines together" will prevent Word from adding page breaks in the middle of a paragraph. 

    "Page break before" can add a page break before the selected paragraph. 

    Select how you want the document to respond to your removed page break and click OK. Abbey White/Insider

    • Abigail Abesamis Demarest Abigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made.  Read more Read less

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