How to Use the Shrink to Fit Feature in Word to Prevent Extra Blank Pages

Few things in Microsoft Word are more frustrating than finishing a perfectly formatted document, only to discover that the final two sentences have spilled over onto a brand new, mostly blank page. Not only does this look unprofessional, but printing that extra sheet of paper is wasteful.

While you could manually hunt through the document to reduce font sizes, delete white space, or shrink margins, Microsoft Word actually includes a hidden, automated feature designed to solve this exact problem: Shrink to Fit (now called Shrink One Page in modern versions).

What Does “Shrink One Page” Do?

When activated, Word mathematically analyses your entire document. It then automatically and proportionally reduces the font size of all text, shrinks the line spacing, and slightly tightens the margins. It does this just enough to pull that rogue paragraph from the final page back onto the preceding pages, effectively reducing the total page count by exactly one.

Because the reduction is proportional, your headings remain larger than your body text, and the overall formatting structure remains intact.

How to Add the Shrink to Fit Button to Your Ribbon

Microsoft considers this a legacy feature, so it is hidden by default. You will not find it on the standard ribbon. You must first add it to your Quick Access Toolbar (the row of small icons at the very top left of the Word window).

1. Open your Microsoft Word document.
2. Look at the very top left corner of the window, above the “File” and “Home” tabs. Click the small downward-pointing arrow at the end of the Quick Access Toolbar.
3. From the drop-down menu, select More Commands…
4. A large “Word Options” dialogue box will open. Locate the “Choose commands from” drop-down menu near the top left, and change it from “Popular Commands” to All Commands.
5. The list below will now display hundreds of hidden Word features in alphabetical order. Scroll down until you find Shrink One Page.
6. Click on Shrink One Page to highlight it, then click the Add >> button in the middle of the screen.
7. The command will appear in the right-hand column. Click OK at the bottom of the window to save your changes.

How to Use the Feature

Now that the button is accessible, using it is instantaneous.

1. Look at your Quick Access Toolbar at the top left of the screen. You will now see a new icon that looks like a sheet of paper with a blue arrow pointing inward.
2. Ensure your cursor is anywhere inside the document you wish to shrink.
3. Click the Shrink One Page icon.

Word will instantly recalculate the document. If your document was three pages long (with only a few lines on the third page), it will now be perfectly constrained to two pages.

When Not to Use This Feature

While “Shrink One Page” is incredibly useful for documents that barely spill over, it should be used with caution. If you have a five-page document and you try to shrink it to four pages, Word will drastically reduce the font size to make it fit, rendering the text illegible.

If you click the button and the resulting font size is too small to read comfortably, simply press Ctrl + Z (or click the Undo arrow) to immediately revert the document to its original state. In those extreme cases, manual editing and summarizing is the only proper solution.