One of the most notoriously frustrating behaviors in Microsoft Word occurs when you finish typing a one-page document, hit print, and the printer inexplicably spits out two pieces of paper—your finished document, followed by a completely blank second page.
This happens because Word treats the final paragraph mark (¶) as an indestructible object. If your text, a large table, or an image extends to the absolute very bottom edge of your first page, Word is forced to push that invisible, mandatory final paragraph mark onto a new page. Since the mark exists on Page 2, Word assumes Page 2 is part of the document and prints it, even though it contains absolutely zero text.
Because you cannot delete the final paragraph mark, you must use a formatting workaround to shrink it so small that it ceases to force a page break.
How to Remove the Stubborn Final Blank Page
You must make the invisible formatting marks visible, then manually shrink the final one.
- Open your document in Microsoft Word.
- Scroll to the very bottom of the document to the blank page.
- On the Home tab of the ribbon, click the Show/Hide ¶ button (it looks like a backwards ‘P’). This will reveal all hidden formatting symbols.
- You will now see a ¶ symbol sitting alone at the top of the blank final page.
- Highlight that solitary ¶ symbol with your mouse.
- Look at the font size box in the Home ribbon (it probably says 11 or 12). Click inside the box, type 1, and press Enter.
- (Optional) While the ¶ is still highlighted, press Ctrl+D to open the Font dialog box, check the Hidden box, and click OK.
By shrinking the mandatory paragraph mark to a microscopic 1-point font size, Word can easily squeeze it into the tiny margin space at the bottom of your first page. The blank second page will instantly vanish, saving you endless frustration (and printer ink) in the future.