How to Delete a Horizontal Page in Word

To delete a horizontal page in Word, remove the content on that page, then check its page and section breaks so the pages around it keep the correct orientation. Word does not treat a page as a separate object: a horizontal page is usually a landscape section, and its formatting can affect nearby pages. These steps are for Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows; Mac differences are noted where they matter.

What You’ll Need

The Word document open in the desktop app. If you are using Word for the web and cannot edit a section break or orientation as needed, choose Open in Desktop App.
A saved copy of the document, especially if it has several section breaks or different page orientations.
Optional: the document’s page number, which makes it easier to locate the page using Word’s Go To command.

Step-by-Step

Save a working copy. Choose File > Save As and save a copy with a different name, or make sure your current document is saved before editing. Removing a section break can change the layout of more than one page, so a copy gives you a safe way to compare or recover the original.
Find the horizontal page. Scroll to the landscape page and note its page number. If the document is long, press Ctrl+G in Word for Windows, enter the page number, and press Enter. Close the Go To box to return to that page. On a Mac, use Edit > Find > Go To if that command is available in your Word version; shortcut assignments can vary by keyboard settings.
Turn on formatting marks. Select Home > Paragraph > Show/Hide ¶, or press Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows. On Mac, use the Show All Nonprinting Characters button on the Home tab; Command+8 is the usual shortcut. You will now see paragraph marks, page breaks, and section breaks. These marks do not print. They reveal what may be creating the page or controlling its landscape layout.
Check how the page is laid out. Look just before and after the horizontal page for labels such as Section Break (Next Page), Section Break (Continuous), or Page Break. A landscape page commonly sits in its own section, with a section break before it and another after it. Do not delete a break yet: first identify which page or pages it controls. A section break is a layout boundary, not just an extra blank line.
Select the page content. Click anywhere on the page you want to remove. In Word for Windows, press Ctrl+G, type \page in the page-number box, press Enter, and close the dialog. Word selects the content on the current page. Press Delete or Backspace once, then inspect the result. This removes the page’s text, tables, and other selected content, but it may leave a blank page or the section breaks behind. If the selection includes a table or content that spans pages, check carefully before deleting.
Remove an unwanted page break, if present. With formatting marks visible, click immediately before the Page Break label and press Delete, or click immediately after it and press Backspace. Remove only the break that creates the page you want gone. A manual page break is different from a section break: the former forces a new page, while the latter can also control orientation, margins, headers, footers, and page numbering.
Deal with the landscape section without changing the wrong pages. If deleting the content leaves a blank landscape page, click in that section and choose Layout > Orientation > Portrait. Orientation applies to the section containing the cursor, not necessarily to one individual page. If you want to remove the section itself, delete its boundary breaks only after checking the surrounding layout. Deleting a section break joins the sections and can make the text before it take on the formatting of the section after it. Therefore, removing both boundaries blindly can turn nearby portrait pages landscape, or alter their margins and headers.
Check the first page after the deleted section. If it has moved, changed orientation, or picked up the wrong header or footer, undo immediately with Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac. Try again by leaving the section boundary that preserves the following pages, or first set the relevant section to Portrait using Layout > Orientation > Portrait. For complex layouts, removing the page’s content and converting its now-empty section to portrait may be safer than deleting the section breaks.
Review the document and save. Turn off Show/Hide ¶ when you are finished. Check the page before the deleted page, the page after it, and any later pages with a different orientation. Confirm that page numbers, headers, footers, tables, and margins still look right. Save the document once the layout is correct.

Common Mistakes

Deleting the wrong break. A page break only starts a new page, but a section break can set the orientation and other page formatting. Removing a section break may change the section’s layout rather than simply close up a blank page. Identify the break label with formatting marks before using Delete.

Assuming Orientation affects just one page. In Word, portrait or landscape orientation is a section setting. If several pages share a section, changing the orientation while the cursor is on one page may change all of them. Check the section boundaries and review every page in that section.

Trying to delete the page from the thumbnail pane. The Navigation Pane is useful for finding a page, but it does not provide a reliable page-object delete command. Select and remove the page’s contents, then handle any remaining breaks or blank paragraphs in the document.

Removing every paragraph mark around a table. Word requires a final paragraph mark after a table, and a table at the bottom of a page can push that mark onto an extra page. Deleting it may be impossible or may damage the layout. Reduce the paragraph mark’s font size or adjust spacing instead of repeatedly pressing Delete.

Using Backspace without checking what is selected. If the insertion point is next to a section break, Backspace may remove the break and affect formatting. If you are unsure, use Undo immediately and inspect the marks before trying again.

Tips

Use Print Layout view while making the change: choose View > Print Layout. It shows the page boundaries and makes it easier to see whether the landscape page has disappeared or merely become blank. The Navigation Pane, available from View > Navigation Pane, can help you jump to a page or search for a distinctive word, but use the document itself to remove the content.

If you only need to remove the wide layout rather than the page’s contents, put the cursor on the horizontal page and choose Layout > Orientation > Portrait. This changes that section to portrait; it does not delete the text. If the page contains a wide table, changing to portrait may cause columns to wrap or the table to overflow, so consider whether the content needs to be moved or resized first.

For a page that should be landscape between portrait pages, separate it with section breaks rather than applying landscape to the entire document. A typical arrangement uses Layout > Breaks > Next Page before and after the landscape section. When changing an existing document, keep the cursor inside the section whose orientation you intend to change, then verify the pages on both sides.

Make one change at a time and inspect the result before continuing. If the layout becomes unpredictable, use Undo instead of adding more breaks to compensate. You can also compare the original saved copy with the edited version. This is particularly useful in documents with different first-page headers, odd and even headers, page-number restarts, or several landscape sections.

Troubleshooting

The page is still there but looks blank. Turn on Show/Hide ¶ and look for a page break, section break, or several empty paragraph marks. Delete an unnecessary manual page break or empty paragraphs. If you find a section break, do not remove it automatically; first decide whether the pages after it depend on that section’s orientation or header settings.

A blank page appears after a section break. A Next Page section break starts the next section on a new page. If that new section is empty, the break may leave a blank page. You can remove the empty section if it is safe to merge its formatting with the next section, or change the break type through Layout > Breaks when a continuous section is suitable. A continuous break does not always work for a change in orientation, so check the resulting pages carefully.

Nearby pages turn landscape too. Press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z to undo. The cursor may have been in a section shared by those pages, or deleting a section break may have merged sections. Restore the break if possible, then set the orientation while the cursor is in the intended section. If you cannot tell which boundary controls which pages, use the saved copy to experiment safely.

The page will not disappear after deleting its text. Check for a remaining page break, section break, or required paragraph after a table. Also look for content anchored to the page, such as a floating image or text box, that was not included in the selection. Click the object’s edge and delete it only if it is genuinely unwanted. Then inspect Print Layout again.

Word for the web does not show the needed controls. Some layout and section-break editing options are limited in the browser. Choose Open in Desktop App and make the change in Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows or Mac. If you cannot use the desktop app, avoid deleting section breaks whose effect you cannot inspect; ask for a desktop copy or edit access instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does horizontal mean landscape in Word?
Usually. Landscape is Word’s name for a page that is wider than it is tall. The orientation setting belongs to a section, which may contain one page or several.

Can I delete a page without affecting the pages around it?
Often, if you remove only the page’s content and its unnecessary page break. If the page is an entire landscape section, removing its section breaks can alter neighboring formatting. Save a copy and check the surrounding pages after each change.

Why does Word keep an empty page after I delete the content?
A page break, section break, empty paragraph, or table-ending paragraph may still occupy space. Turn on formatting marks to identify what remains before deleting anything else.

Can I delete a landscape page but keep the next page landscape?
Yes, if the remaining landscape page is in a section that stays landscape. Remove only the unwanted page’s content and adjust the section boundaries carefully. If both pages share one section, deleting one page’s content may leave the other page and its orientation intact.

Will deleting a section break remove my text?
Normally it does not delete the text, but it joins sections and can change page formatting, headers, footers, and numbering. Undo if the layout changes unexpectedly, then reconsider which break needs to remain.

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