Excel Page Breaks: How to Remove or Hide Them

To remove manual page breaks in Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, select Page Layout > Breaks > Reset All Page Breaks. To hide page-break lines without changing printing, open File > Options > Advanced, find Display options for this worksheet, and clear Show page breaks.

Why page breaks appear in Excel

Excel divides a worksheet into pages when it prepares the sheet for printing or creates a PDF. The boundaries between those pages are called page breaks. They can be automatic, calculated from the worksheet size and print settings, or manual, inserted by someone to control where a printed page ends.

Page breaks often become visible after you switch to View > Page Break Preview or after you print a worksheet. In Page Break Preview, blue lines show the page boundaries. Solid lines usually indicate manual breaks, while dashed lines indicate automatic breaks. In Normal view, Excel may also display page-break lines after printing; those lines are visual guides, not cell borders or marks that will appear on the printout.

This distinction matters because resetting breaks and hiding their display are different fixes. Resetting changes manual page-break instructions. Hiding the lines changes only what you see in the worksheet window.

Remove manual page breaks from a worksheet

Use the reset command when the worksheet has been divided into pages in an awkward way and you want Excel to calculate the breaks again. In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows:

Open the worksheet that has the unwanted breaks. The reset command applies to the active sheet.
Select Page Layout > Breaks > Reset All Page Breaks.
If necessary, return to View > Normal to leave Page Break Preview.
Open Print Preview to check the result before printing or saving as a PDF.

Reset All Page Breaks removes manual breaks on that worksheet. Excel then creates automatic breaks using the current paper size, margins, orientation, scaling, and printable area. It does not make the worksheet one enormous printed page, and it does not turn off automatic pagination. If a break still appears afterward, it may be an automatic boundary, or another print setting may be causing the sheet to span multiple pages.

If you only need to remove one manual break, select a cell immediately below a horizontal break or immediately to the right of a vertical break, then choose Page Layout > Breaks > Remove Page Break. The selected cell’s position determines which nearby break Excel removes, so check the preview afterward. If the command is unavailable, you may have selected a cell that is not next to a manual break.

Hide page-break lines without changing the printout

If the worksheet looks cluttered but its printed pages are already correct, turn off the display of page breaks for that sheet instead of resetting them. In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows:

Select File > Options.
Choose Advanced.
Scroll to Display options for this worksheet.
Make sure the correct worksheet is selected in the drop-down list.
Clear Show page breaks, then select OK.

This setting is worksheet-specific: another sheet in the same workbook can still show its page-break lines. It affects the worksheet display, not the page breaks Excel uses to print. You can therefore keep the existing print layout while making the grid easier to read. To see the boundaries again, return to the same option and select Show page breaks.

On Excel for Mac, look under Excel > Preferences or Excel > Settings > View for the page-break display option; the wording and location can vary by release. Excel for the web does not provide the full desktop Page Break Preview and page-break controls. If you need to reset manual breaks or change this display setting, open the workbook in the desktop app.

Leave Page Break Preview and choose the right view

Sometimes the lines are prominent simply because Excel is in Page Break Preview. To return to the standard worksheet grid on Windows, select View > Normal. This changes the view, not the page setup: manual breaks remain, and automatic breaks are still used when the sheet is printed.

Page Break Preview is useful when you need to see how a large sheet will divide across pages. Normal view is usually more comfortable for editing data. Page Layout view shows the sheet in a page-oriented layout and can help you inspect margins and headers or footers. Choose the view that suits the task rather than resetting breaks just to exit a preview.

On Windows, the view buttons at the lower-right of the Excel window can also switch between Normal, Page Layout, and Page Break Preview. On Mac, use the corresponding view controls or the View menu. Switching views does not erase page-break instructions.

Fix the printed layout when breaks return

Automatic page breaks are recalculated from print settings. A break that seems to return after a reset is often Excel making a reasonable new division based on the available paper width or height. Review the print setup before repeatedly resetting breaks:

Paper size: A worksheet configured for one paper size may span more pages when printed on a smaller one. Check Page Layout > Size.
Orientation: Landscape can fit more columns across a page than Portrait. Check Page Layout > Orientation.
Margins: Wider margins leave less room for cells. Check Page Layout > Margins.
Scaling: Under Page Layout, the Scale to Fit controls can shrink a sheet to fit a chosen number of pages. Use this carefully: fitting many columns onto one page can make text too small to read.
Print area: A large or outdated print area can make Excel include extra blank-looking pages. Check Page Layout > Print Area and clear or reset it if appropriate.

For example, a report with eight columns may print on two pages in Portrait but fit across one page in Landscape. If the goal is to keep each record readable, changing orientation or margins may be better than forcing every column onto one page. Use File > Print to inspect the page count and preview before committing to a layout.

Remove breaks from only part of a worksheet

Excel does not offer a simple command to delete a whole range of page breaks while leaving every other manual break untouched. For an individual break, use Remove Page Break with a cell adjacent to that break. If the sheet has many unwanted manual breaks and you do not need to preserve any of them, Reset All Page Breaks is usually the clearest option.

Before resetting a carefully arranged report, note where its intentional breaks are. You can then add back only the ones you still need. To insert one, select the row below where a horizontal page should begin, or the column to the right of where a vertical page should begin, and choose Page Layout > Breaks > Insert Page Break. Selecting a cell inside the worksheet can insert both a horizontal and a vertical break at that position, so select a whole row or column when you want to control just one direction.

Common problems and misconceptions

“I reset the breaks, but the sheet still has several pages.” That is normal if the content does not fit on one page at the current print size. Resetting removes manual breaks; it does not disable automatic ones. Adjust the print layout if you need a different number of pages.

“The dotted line is printed on my page.” Page-break guides normally indicate boundaries in the worksheet window; they are not cell borders. Use Print Preview to see the actual output. If a line appears in the preview, check for cell borders, shapes, or other formatting rather than assuming it is the page-break guide.

“I hid the lines, so did I change the print layout?” No. Clearing Show page breaks only hides the worksheet indicators. The breaks still govern printing. Conversely, switching to Normal view changes the display mode but does not remove manual breaks.

“Why does only one sheet still show the lines?” The Show page breaks option is tied to a selected worksheet. Return to Advanced options, select the affected sheet in the worksheet list, and check its setting. Also confirm that the sheet is not simply in Page Break Preview.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I remove all page breaks in Excel?
Select the worksheet, then choose Page Layout > Breaks > Reset All Page Breaks. Excel removes manual breaks and recalculates automatic ones, so the sheet may still print on multiple pages.

How do I get rid of the dotted page-break lines in Excel?
To hide the guides in Normal view on Windows, go to File > Options > Advanced, select the relevant worksheet under Display options for this worksheet, and clear Show page breaks.

Can I remove one page break without resetting all of them?
Yes. Select a cell next to the manual break you want to remove and choose Page Layout > Breaks > Remove Page Break. The command removes the adjacent break, so confirm the result in Page Break Preview.

Why are page breaks still there after I reset them?
Excel automatically creates page boundaries based on content and print settings. A reset removes manual breaks but cannot prevent automatic breaks. Change paper size, orientation, margins, or scaling if the resulting pages are not suitable.

Does hiding page breaks stop them from printing?
No. It hides the worksheet indicators only. To change what prints, adjust the page layout or print area, or remove manual breaks where appropriate.

Which fix should you choose?

Use Reset All Page Breaks when you want to discard manual page divisions and let Excel recalculate the pages. Use Show page breaks off when you want a cleaner worksheet but want printing to stay the same. Switch to Normal view when you only want to leave the page-focused preview. If the printed result is the real problem, inspect the paper size, orientation, margins, scaling, and print area, then verify the result in Print Preview.

Try it: the Date Difference Calculator: days, months, years and weekdays between two dates, with the DATEDIF formulas.

More in How-to basics

Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

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