How to Delete blank Pages in the Word – Step by Step Instructions

When preparing a document for printing, Microsoft Word users often have the problem of removing unnecessary blank pages.

You can get rid of unnecessary pages in different ways, the choice of which depends on the location of the unnecessary page and the reason for its appearance.

You will learn from this article how to delete a blank page in Word in a different situation.

The content of The Article

1 How to remove the last page in Word

1.1 Causes of a blank page

1.2 Method 1. Remove extra spaces and paragraphs

1.3 Method 2. Delete hidden characters.

1.4 Method 3. Edit the table

2 How to remove the first page in Word

3 How to delete a page in the middle of a document

3.1 Method 1. Remove the section break (method 1)

3.2 Method 2. Remove the section break (method 2)

How to delete the last page in the Word

Correct determination of the cause of the appearance of extra pages will help to fix the problem quickly.

Regardless of the version of Microsoft Word (2003-2016), there are 4 main reasons for the existence of blank pages at the end of the document:

Extra problems or transitions to a new line.

The presence of hidden characters.

Transfer part of the table.

The presence of a transparent or white pattern (rare).

The reasons for the appearance of a blank page

If, when working with a document in the editing process, pages appear that do not contain text, most likely there are page breaks or empty paragraphs.

Note: if a blank page appears only when a document is printed, then the matter is in the printer settings (the page between jobs).

Method 1: Remove extra spaces and paragraphs

The easiest way is to remove an extra page using the Backspace or Delete keys, designed to remove characters from the text.

Step 1. Go to the last page of the document and place the cursor on it.

Step 2. Press the specified keys until the unnecessary page disappears.

Step 3 . If there are a lot of empty paragraphs on the page, then the key will have to be pressed several times.

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Method 2: Remove hidden characters

Since the appearance of a blank page usually means the presence of hidden characters on it, in order to remove them, you must make them visible.

Step 1. You need to click on the icon “non-printing characters,” which is located on the main tab. Turning on the display of hidden characters, you can see the reasons for the appearance of an extra page and eliminate them.

Step 2. Select extra blank paragraphs and delete them.

Step 3. In addition to empty paragraphs, the cause of the appearance of a blank page may be a manually forced page break or section break.

To delete it, place the cursor before the break and press the Delete character key.

Method 3: Edit the table

If the page cannot be deleted using the two previous methods, you probably have a table at the end of the document.

In Word, after each table, there is an empty paragraph, and if the table reaches the end of the page, the paragraph is moved to the next.

You can’t just delete this character representing a blank paragraph.

In order to remove a blank sheet, you need to make this paragraph hidden.

Step 1. Show hidden spaces.

Step 2. If the table forms a space on the next page, then reduce the line spacing of the table cells or the font, remove unnecessary transitions to new lines.

Step 3. If step 2 did not help, we recommend reducing the number of rows in the table.

How to delete the first page in the Word

To remove the cover page in the latest versions of Microsoft Word, you must perform the following steps.

Step 1. Go to the “Insert” tab.

Step 2. Select the “Title Page” menu.

Step 3. Specify the appropriate value – “Delete the current cover page.”

In versions earlier than 2007, the title page is not different from all other pages in the document, so similar methods are used to remove it.

How to delete a page in the middle of a document

The appearance of an unnecessary blank page in the middle of a Word document is usually associated with a section break.

This function is rarely used in practice and is mostly added to a document randomly when editing.

Method 1: Remove the section break

An extra page in the middle of a text document usually appears due to a section break. It is deleted using the following actions.

Step 1. Position the cursor before the break.

Step 2. Press the Delete key.

Note: If you remove a blank page from the middle of a document that appears as a result of a section break, the formatting may deteriorate after you remove this gap.

If you need formatting after this page that is different from what was installed before this page, then leave the section gap.

Otherwise, if the gap is removed, the formatting will automatically become the same on the entire document – the same as it was in the text before the break.

Method 2: Remove the section break

There is a delete option that allows you to save the necessary formatting without the appearance of unnecessary pages.

Step 1. Go to the “Layout” tab.

Step 2. Replace the break type – set “without a break”.

Now you know how to remove the page in the Word.

The above tips can be applied to all versions of Microsoft Word.

Note. If at the end of the sheet there is a table, then select it not exactly the end, but a little more. So that the “tail” was affected – one or two rows after the table.