How to Make One Page Landscape in Microsoft Word

When drafting reports, corporate whitepapers, or academic dissertations in Microsoft Word, most documents are laid out in vertical portrait orientation. However, you will often encounter wide financial tables, multi-column spreadsheets, Gantt charts, or horizontal process diagrams that cannot fit within portrait margins without severe text wrapping or squashed columns.

If you change the page orientation from the standard layout menu, Word rotates the entire manuscript. Fortunately, Microsoft Word allows you to rotate a single isolated page into landscape orientation while keeping all preceding and subsequent pages in portrait.

Method 1: Making Selected Text Landscape (Fastest)

If you already have the wide table or chart inserted into your document:

1. Highlight the specific text, table, or graphic you want on the landscape page.
2. Click the Layout tab on the top command ribbon.
3. In the Page Setup group, click the small dialogue box launcher icon (the tiny square with an arrow in the bottom-right corner).
4. Under the Orientation section, select Landscape.
5. At the bottom of the dialogue box, click the Apply to: drop-down menu and choose Selected text.
6. Click OK.

Word automatically inserts section breaks before and after your selection, isolates the content onto a landscape page, and leaves the rest of your document in portrait.

Method 2: Using Manual Section Breaks (Total Layout Control)

If you are planning your document structure in advance before adding content:

1. Place your cursor at the very end of the portrait page immediately preceding your intended landscape page.
2. Go to Layout > Breaks > Section Breaks (Next Page).
3. Move your cursor to the newly created blank page.
4. Insert a second section break: Layout > Breaks > Section Breaks (Next Page).
5. Click anywhere inside the isolated middle section.
6. Click Layout > Orientation > Landscape.

Preserving Consistent Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers

Because Word links headers and footers across sections by default, rotating a page can sometimes rotate header alignments. To maintain uniform page numbering:

1. Double-click the header or footer area on the landscape page.
2. On the Header & Footer ribbon tab, ensure Link to Previous is unchecked if you need to reposition landscape margins independently.
3. Ensure page numbering is set to Continue from previous section under Page Number > Format Page Numbers.