How to Delete a Stubborn Page in Word Without Losing Text

To delete a stubborn page in Word, first turn on formatting marks with Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows or Command+8 on Mac, find the page break, section break, extra paragraph marks, or table spacing causing it, and remove or adjust that cause. If you know the page number, Word’s Go To command can select the page’s contents for deletion. Save a copy before changing section breaks or other layout-critical formatting.

What You’ll Need

Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows or Mac, with the document open.
The page number of the unwanted page, if you know it. Word displays page numbers in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
A saved copy of the document if it contains complex sections, headers, footers, or a carefully formatted table.

Step-by-Step

Save a copy and identify the page. Choose File > Save As (on Mac, use File > Save As) and save a duplicate if you may need to restore the original layout. Click the unwanted page and note its page number. If the status bar does not show page information, right-click the status bar and enable Page Number, or use View > Navigation Pane and inspect the page thumbnails. Make sure the page is truly unwanted: it may contain a final paragraph, a note, or content pushed forward by formatting rather than an empty page.
Show formatting marks. On Windows, press Ctrl+Shift+8; on Mac, press Command+8. You can also select the paragraph-mark symbol (¶) on the Home tab. Word will display paragraph marks, page breaks, section breaks, and other normally hidden formatting characters. These marks do not print. They help reveal what is occupying the page, and you can turn them off later with the same shortcut.
Use Go To if you want to remove the page’s contents. Click anywhere in the document. In Windows, press Ctrl+G or F5; on Mac, press Option+Command+G. In the Go To dialog, choose Page if needed, type \page in the page-number field, and press Enter. Close the dialog. Word selects the contents of the current page. Check the selection before deleting: if it includes text, a table, or an image you need, press an arrow key or click elsewhere to cancel the selection and use the more targeted methods below. If the page is blank, pressing Delete may remove selected empty paragraphs, but a break or a required final paragraph may need separate attention.
Remove an ordinary page break. With formatting marks visible, look at the end of the page before the unwanted one. An explicit break appears as a line labelled Page Break. Click immediately before that label and press Delete, or click immediately after it and press Backspace. On Mac keyboards that do not have a separate Backspace key, use Delete to delete the character before the insertion point; use Fn+Delete to delete forward where supported. The following text should move up. Review the new page layout because removing a break can join paragraphs or change pagination.
Check for extra paragraph marks or paragraph settings. A blank page may be filled with one or more ¶ marks. Select only the extra marks on that page and press Delete or Backspace. If the mark belongs to a paragraph with Page break before turned on, deleting the mark may not be the right fix. Click in the paragraph that starts on the next page, then open the Paragraph dialog from the Home tab’s Paragraph group. Open Line and Page Breaks and clear Page break before if it is selected and not needed. Also check whether Keep with next or Keep lines together is forcing the paragraph onto a new page.
Handle a section break carefully. A line labelled Section Break (Next Page), Section Break (Odd Page), or Section Break (Even Page) can create a blank page. Deleting a section break joins the sections and can change their margins, orientation, columns, headers, footers, or page numbering. If you do not need separate section formatting, place the cursor just before the break and press Delete, then inspect the pages on both sides. If you do need the formatting, change the break type instead: click in the section after the break, open Layout > Page Setup (use the dialog launcher if shown), select the Layout tab, and change Section start from an odd- or even-page start to New page or Continuous, as appropriate. The precise dialog layout can vary slightly by Word build.
Fix a blank page after a table. Word requires a paragraph mark after a table at the end of a document, so that final mark cannot simply be removed. Turn on formatting marks and click the paragraph mark immediately after the table. Set its font size to 1 pt on the Home tab, and in the Paragraph dialog set spacing before and after to 0 pt and line spacing to Single. If it still spills onto another page, reduce the table’s height slightly or adjust its cell margins. Do not delete the table or shrink its text just to remove the final paragraph.
Confirm the result and save. Scroll through the pages around the change. Check that text, tables, headers, footers, and page numbering remain correct. Turn off formatting marks with the same shortcut if you prefer the normal view, then save with Ctrl+S on Windows or Command+S on Mac. If the page returns after editing, repeat the check for breaks and paragraph pagination settings; a later edit may have pushed content onto a new page again.

Common Mistakes

Deleting visible text without checking what is selected. Go To’s \page command selects a page’s contents, which can include material you meant to keep. Look at the highlighted selection before pressing Delete. If it contains valuable content, cancel the selection and remove only the formatting mark or break responsible for the extra page.

Removing a section break as if it were an ordinary page break. A section break stores layout information. Deleting it can make the preceding section’s settings apply to the following content, changing headers, footers, margins, or orientation. Save a copy first, and consider changing the section-start setting when the section’s formatting must remain separate.

Pressing Backspace repeatedly at the top of the next page. This can erase the last words or paragraph on the previous page without removing the underlying cause. Turn on formatting marks, locate the exact break or paragraph, and remove only that item. Undo immediately with Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac if text disappears unexpectedly.

Assuming every empty-looking page is truly empty. Hidden paragraph marks, an odd-page section start, a table’s required final paragraph, or a paragraph pagination option can all create a page that looks blank. Diagnose the marks and settings before changing margins or deleting content.

Tips

Use Print Layout view when judging whether a page is genuinely gone; the document’s page boundaries are easiest to inspect there. The View tab lets you choose the view, and the Navigation Pane can help jump to a page without scrolling through a long file. If a document has tracked changes, review the Review tab’s tracking and markup display before diagnosing a page. Deleted text that remains visible as a tracked change may still affect how the document appears until the change is accepted or rejected.

For a page that follows a heading, inspect the heading and the first paragraph after it before deleting any break. A heading style can have Keep with next enabled so it stays with the paragraph that follows; that behavior is useful, but a long block of kept-together paragraphs can push content to a new page. Change only the relevant paragraph setting rather than globally changing a style used throughout the file.

Make one change at a time and check the result. If removing a break changes the layout badly, use Undo instead of making several corrective edits on top of it. For a complex report, compare the affected page and the pages immediately before and after it, since pagination changes can ripple through the rest of the document.

Troubleshooting

The blank page remains after deleting a page break. Look for a section break, an extra paragraph mark, or a paragraph set to start on a new page. Also check whether an odd-page or even-page section start is making Word insert a blank page to preserve the required page sequence. Change the section start to New page or Continuous only if that suits the document’s layout.

The page looks blank, but nothing seems selectable. Turn on formatting marks and click near the top and bottom of the page. If it follows a table, select the final paragraph mark after the table and reduce it to 1 pt rather than trying to remove it. If a shape or text box is present, click near its edge; objects can be anchored to a paragraph even when the page appears empty.

Removing the break changes headers, footers, or orientation. Undo at once. The break was separating sections with different settings. Restore it, then change its section-start type or adjust the surrounding section settings instead. Check Link to Previous for headers and footers if they differ between sections, and verify page numbering from the header or footer tools after the adjustment.

The page comes back when you edit nearby text. The document may simply have reached its page limit because of font size, paragraph spacing, margins, or a large object. Check the paragraph immediately before the blank page and the content that follows it. Reduce excessive spacing or resize an oversized image or table only if doing so preserves the intended design. Avoid shrinking the whole document’s text as a first response.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I delete a blank page at the end of a Word document?
Show formatting marks with Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows or Command+8 on Mac. Remove extra paragraph marks or breaks. If the document ends in a table, shrink the required paragraph mark after the table to 1 pt; Word will not let you delete that final mark.

Can I delete a page in Word without deleting its text?
Not if the page contains text you want to keep; deleting the page’s contents removes that material. Instead, remove the break or layout setting that pushed the text onto a separate page, or move the text where it belongs. Always inspect the selection before deleting.

Why does Word add a blank page after a section break?
A section may be set to start on an odd or even page. Word inserts a blank page when necessary to honor that setting. Change the section’s start type to New page or Continuous if the document does not need odd- or even-page starts.

Does deleting a section break delete my header or footer?
It can change which section’s header or footer settings apply, even if the text itself remains. Save a copy, undo if the layout changes unexpectedly, and adjust the break type or section settings rather than removing the break blindly.

Do the steps work in Word for Mac?
Yes, the formatting-mark and break-removal approach is the same. The main shortcut difference is Command+8 to show marks and Option+Command+G to open Go To; Windows uses Ctrl+Shift+8 and Ctrl+G. Ribbon and dialog placement may vary slightly by version.

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