A page break is a formatting command in Microsoft Word that forces the text immediately following it to jump to the top of the next page. While they are useful for starting new chapters, accidentally adding a manual page break can cause a frustrating blank space in the middle of your document that seems impossible to delete.
How to Find and Delete a Page Break
The main reason page breaks are hard to delete is because they are invisible by default. The trick is to reveal them first.
- Open your document in Microsoft Word.
- Click on the Home tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.
- Look in the “Paragraph” section and click the Show/Hide ¶ button. (The icon looks like a backward ‘P’).
- Scroll through your document. You will now see hidden formatting marks, including a dotted line with the words ——-Page Break——- right before your unwanted blank space.
- To delete it, simply double-click on the dotted Page Break line to highlight it.
- Press the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard.
Once deleted, the text from the next page will immediately jump back up to fill the empty space. You can click the Show/Hide ¶ button again to hide the formatting marks and return to your normal view.
Why Did the Text Jump Without a Page Break?
If you click the Show/Hide button but there is no Page Break line to delete, your paragraph is likely jumping to the next page because of a formatting rule. Click anywhere inside the text that jumped, go to Home > Paragraph Settings (the tiny arrow in the bottom right corner of the paragraph box), and click the Line and Page Breaks tab. Ensure that the box next to Page break before is unchecked.