How to Delete a Landscape Page in Microsoft Word Easily

To delete a landscape page in Word, remove the page’s content and then check its section breaks; Word pages are not separate objects, and a section break can control the orientation of pages around it. Before deleting anything, save a copy of the document. These steps are for Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, with Mac notes where the controls differ.

What You’ll Need

The Word document you want to edit, preferably saved as a copy or with a recent backup.
Access to the Home and Layout tabs. You may also need formatting marks displayed so you can see page breaks and section breaks.
A moment to check the pages immediately before and after the landscape page. This helps you preserve their orientation and layout.

Step-by-Step

Save a working copy. In Word, use File > Save As to create a duplicate, or save the document under a new name. Deleting content or section breaks can change pagination and formatting, so a copy gives you a way to restore the original if the result is not right.
Identify what you mean by delete. If you want the landscape page gone and its text, tables, and images removed, follow the content-removal steps below. If you only want to make the page portrait, do not delete it: click in that section and choose Layout > Orientation > Portrait. Orientation is a section setting, not a setting attached to an individual page.
Show formatting marks. On Windows, select Home > ¶ (Show/Hide) or press Ctrl+Shift+8. On Mac, select the paragraph-mark button on the Home tab or press Command+8. The marks are not printed; they reveal paragraph endings, manual page breaks, and section breaks that can otherwise make an apparently empty page hard to remove.
Locate the landscape page and its boundaries. Scroll to the page and inspect the content above and below it. Look for labels such as “Section Break (Next Page),” “Section Break (Continuous),” or “Page Break.” A landscape page is usually inside its own section, often with a section break before it and another after it. It can also be part of a landscape section spanning several pages, so check the orientation of neighboring pages before removing a break.
Select the page’s content. For a page with ordinary text, click at its start, then drag to the end of the content and press Backspace or Delete. To select a whole page in Word for Windows, press Ctrl+G, type \page in the Enter page number box, press Enter, and close the Go To dialog. Word selects the current page’s contents; press Delete to remove them. Check the selection before deleting, especially if the page contains a table or the section break at the end of the page.
Remove a manual page break if one is left behind. With formatting marks on, a manual break appears as “Page Break.” Click just before the break and press Delete, or just after it and press Backspace. Do not remove a section break just because it appears near the page; section breaks also carry layout settings.
Decide what to do with the section breaks. If the landscape page has its own section, deleting its content may leave a blank landscape page or a break that moves the next section. To remove the landscape section entirely, carefully delete the break that separates it from the following section, then inspect the document. When Word merges sections, the following text can inherit the orientation and other layout settings of the section before the deleted break. If the next pages should remain portrait, set their section to portrait afterward, or preserve the boundary and remove only the unwanted content.
Check the surrounding pages. Scroll through the pages before and after the deletion. Confirm that no text, table, header, footer, or image was removed from a neighboring page and that the pages that should be portrait are still portrait. If the following page has turned landscape, click in that page and use Layout > Orientation > Portrait; if that changes more pages than intended, undo and review the section boundaries.
Clean up and save. Remove any truly unnecessary empty paragraphs or page breaks, then turn off formatting marks with the same button or shortcut. Use File > Save, and consider exporting to PDF or using Print Preview to confirm the final page count and orientation.

Common Mistakes

Deleting a section break without checking its effect. A section break is more than a divider. It can store orientation, margins, columns, headers, and footers. Removing it may make the next section inherit the landscape layout, or alter headers and page numbering. If you are unsure, undo immediately with Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac, then inspect which breaks enclose the landscape section.

Assuming every blank page is caused by a page break. A blank page can result from an extra paragraph, a section break, or a table at the end of the previous page. Turn on formatting marks and identify the actual cause before deleting anything. Deleting text blindly can remove a paragraph or table that belongs on the preceding page.

Selecting only the visible text. A page may also contain a picture, table, text box, or anchored object. If the page still appears after deleting its text, check for these items and for remaining paragraph marks or breaks. A table’s final paragraph mark can also be forced onto a new page when there is no room for it.

Expecting the same page number after editing. Word repaginates the document as content changes. Text may move up, so the page number that used to be landscape may now contain different content. Work from the content and section boundaries, not only from the original page number.

Tips

Use Print Layout view while editing. It shows page boundaries and makes it easier to spot an unexpected blank page or a change in orientation.
Delete the smallest possible selection. Removing the page’s text first and reviewing the result is safer than selecting a wide range that might include section breaks.
When a landscape section has more than one page, treat the whole section as the layout unit. Removing a single page’s content will not automatically remove the section’s landscape orientation.
If you need to retain the landscape page’s content but no longer need a wide layout, select the relevant section and change its orientation to portrait instead of deleting it. Tables and images may need resizing afterward.
Use Undo as soon as you see an unintended change. Word’s undo history is more reliable than trying to reconstruct a deleted break from memory.
Turn formatting marks off before sharing or printing if their display is distracting. The marks are editing aids and do not appear on the printed page.

Troubleshooting

The page is still there after I deleted its text. Turn on formatting marks and look for a page break, section break, empty paragraphs, or a table or image that remains. Remove only the item responsible. If the blank page follows a table at the end of a document, select the paragraph mark after the table and reduce its font size or spacing rather than deleting the table’s required final paragraph.

The pages after it changed to landscape. Undo the last deletion. The removed section break may have caused the next section to inherit the landscape orientation. Restore the boundary if possible, then delete the page content without deleting the break; alternatively, adjust the orientation of the affected section using Layout > Orientation > Portrait. Recheck headers, footers, margins, and page numbers because those can also be section-specific.

Several pages disappeared. Undo immediately. The selection may have included more than the target page, especially if a break or large object was selected. Turn on formatting marks, select only the target page’s content, and repeat with a smaller selection. If the document has tracked changes, check whether deletions are being recorded or hidden before deciding what is actually gone.

The selection method does not work on my Mac. The Ctrl+G and \page method above is for Word on Windows. On Mac, navigate to the page and select its contents manually, or use Word’s Go To command if it is available in your version. Use Command+8 to display formatting marks, and use Command+Z to undo. Menus and keyboard shortcuts can vary slightly by Word release.

The page looks different in the PDF. Save the Word document, then use File > Print or File > Export to review the PDF output. A different printer setting, paper size, or margin can repaginate the document. Check Layout > Size and Layout > Margins, and verify the section orientation in the saved document before making further deletions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete a page in Word without deleting its section break?
Yes. Delete the page’s content and leave the section break in place. This is often the safer option when the pages after it need to retain their own orientation or other layout settings. If a blank page remains, inspect the break and any empty paragraphs before deciding what to remove.

Why does deleting a landscape page change the next page?
The page is likely part of a section whose break controls orientation and other layout properties. Removing that break can merge sections, causing the following pages to adopt different settings. Undo, restore or preserve the boundary, and then check the orientation of the affected section.

Can I delete only the landscape orientation but keep the page?
Yes. Click in the section containing the page and select Layout > Orientation > Portrait. If that changes multiple pages, the page shares a section with them. Add or adjust section breaks only if you need different orientations in separate parts of the document.

Will deleting the page renumber the rest of my document?
Word updates page numbers as the document repaginates, so later pages usually shift forward. A section may use a custom page-numbering scheme, though. If numbering does not continue as expected, check the header or footer’s page-number settings and the section’s numbering options.

Does this work in Word for the web?
The basic approach of deleting page content applies, but Word for the web may not expose every layout or section-break control available in the desktop app. If you need to inspect or precisely edit section breaks, open the file in the Word desktop app, where the full Layout and formatting-mark controls are available.

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

Spotted an error in this guide? Let us know.