How to Delete a Page in Microsoft Word: Blank or Filled

To delete a page in Microsoft Word, click anywhere on the page, press Ctrl+G on Windows (Option+Command+G on Mac), type \page, press Enter, close the Go To box, then press Delete. This selects the current page’s contents; for a blank page, you may need to remove a paragraph mark or page break instead. Save a copy first if the document is important, especially before changing section breaks.

What You’ll Need

A Word document open in Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365. The instructions below use Word on Windows; Mac differences are noted where they matter.
Permission to edit the document. If it is read-only or protected, you may need to save an editable copy or ask the document owner to unlock it.
For a document you cannot easily recreate, save a backup using File > Save As before removing content or breaks.

Step-by-Step

Find the page you want to remove. Scroll to it, or use the page number shown on Word’s status bar at the bottom of the window. If the status bar does not show a page number, right-click the status bar and select Page Number. Check the actual page visually before deleting anything: page numbers in a document can restart in different sections, so the displayed number may not match a page’s position from the beginning.
Click in the page. Place the insertion point in text on the page you want to delete. If it is empty, click in the blank area or click at the start of the text on the page immediately after it. The Go To method works from the page containing the insertion point, so confirm your cursor is in the right place before proceeding.
Open Go To. In Word for Windows, press Ctrl+G or F5. In the Find and Replace window, open the Go To tab if it is not already selected. On Mac, press Option+Command+G to open Go To. You can also use the Home tab’s Find menu and choose Go To, if available in your Word window.
Select the current page. In the Enter page number box, type \page—including the backslash—and press Enter. Word selects the contents of the page where your cursor is. Close the Go To window using Close (or the window’s close control). The page’s contents should remain selected in the document.
Delete the selection. Press Delete on Windows or Mac. Review the pages before and after the removed page. Word may pull later content upward, change pagination, or leave a blank page if a break or required paragraph mark remains. Use Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac immediately if the wrong content disappears.
Remove an ordinary page break if the page stays blank. Turn on formatting marks with Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows or Command+8 on Mac. Find the label Page Break at the end of the preceding page or at the top of the blank page. Click just before the break and press Delete, or click just after it and press Backspace. Hide the marks again with the same shortcut when you are done.
Check the document and save. Scroll through the affected area and confirm that the intended page is gone and nearby text, tables, headers, and section formatting still look right. Save with Ctrl+S on Windows or Command+S on Mac. If you removed a section break, check page orientation, margins, headers, footers, and numbering in the sections around it.

The Go To method is best for a page containing text, images, or a mixture of content. For an empty-looking page, first reveal formatting marks and identify what is creating the page. A blank page is often caused by a page break, an extra paragraph, a section break, or the required paragraph after a table; deleting the visible page’s contents will not always remove that cause.

Common Mistakes

Selecting the wrong page. Go To selects the page containing the insertion point, not necessarily the page number you happen to be looking for in a printed copy. Click in the target page and confirm the selection before pressing Delete.
Deleting only visible text. Paragraph marks, page breaks, and section breaks are formatting characters and may not be visible until formatting marks are on. A page can look empty while still containing one of these characters.
Removing a section break without checking its effects. A section break can control page orientation, columns, margins, headers, footers, or page numbering. Deleting it may make the surrounding text adopt formatting from another section. If you only need to eliminate a blank page, inspect the break and consider changing its section-start setting rather than deleting it.
Using Backspace or Delete without checking the cursor position. These keys remove content on different sides of the cursor. If the cursor is near a break or at the beginning or end of a document, a single keystroke can join paragraphs or change layout. Turn on formatting marks and undo promptly if the result is unexpected.
Expecting the page count to stay fixed. Deleting one page can change line wrapping and pagination throughout the document. A later page may move, or content may reflow so the page count changes by more than one. Judge the result by the content and layout, not just the page count.

Tips

Use the Navigation Pane to locate a page, not to delete it. Open it from View > Navigation Pane, then use the Pages tab to browse page thumbnails. Select the target page to locate it, click in its content, and use the Go To procedure to select the page. The pane does not provide a general-purpose delete-page command.
Turn on formatting marks before fixing a stubborn blank page. The ¶ button on the Home tab also shows paragraph marks, spaces, and breaks. This makes it easier to tell whether you are looking at an extra empty paragraph, a manual page break, or a section break.
Use the right removal method for the cause. Delete the page’s text when you want to remove all its content. Remove a manual page break when it is forcing a new page. Carefully edit a section break only when you understand how it controls the layout.
Keep a backup for complex documents. If the document contains different orientations, columns, or page-numbering schemes, use Save As to make a separate copy before changing breaks. Undo is useful for immediate recovery, but it is not a substitute for a backup.
Review tracked changes and protection settings. In a document with Track Changes on, deletion may appear as a tracked revision rather than disappearing. Review the markup and accept or reject changes only according to the document’s review process. A protected document may prevent deletion until editing is allowed.

Troubleshooting

The page is still there after I press Delete. Turn on formatting marks and look for a page break, section break, or empty paragraph. Remove a manual page break if it is the cause. If the page is created by a section break, first check what formatting the break controls. Deleting the break can change the layout of both neighboring sections. If the break is an Odd Page or Even Page section break, Word may insert a blank page to make the next section begin on the required side.

The page is blank after a table at the end of the document. Word requires a paragraph after a table, and that paragraph can be pushed onto a new page when the table fills the previous one. Turn on formatting marks and select the paragraph mark after the table. If Word will not let you remove it, select that mark and set its font size to 1 point on the Home tab; you can also set its paragraph spacing to zero. Do not delete the table or change its contents unless that is what you intend. Check the result because a large table or tight margins can still affect pagination.

Deleting a break changed margins, headers, or orientation. Press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac right away to restore the break. If you still need to remove the blank page, review the section break’s settings. In Word for Windows, open Layout and click the Page Setup dialog launcher, then check the Layout tab’s Section start setting. Changing a Next Page section start to Continuous can remove a forced new page in some documents, but it may not suit sections that require different page layouts or headers. Recheck the whole affected area after any change.

The wrong text was removed, or the selection includes too much. Undo immediately with Ctrl+Z or Command+Z. Click in the intended page and repeat the Go To selection, watching the highlighted area before deleting. If you only need to remove a few paragraphs, select those paragraphs instead of the entire page. Remember that a page’s content may shift as soon as Word reflows the document.

The page comes back when I edit nearby text. The document may be repaginating because of paragraph settings such as Page break before, Keep with next, or Keep lines together. Turn on formatting marks, select the affected paragraph, and open the Paragraph dialog from the Home tab’s Paragraph group. Check the Line and Page Breaks settings and change only the option that is causing unwanted pagination. Also check whether the section is set to start on an odd or even page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete a page in Word without deleting its text one paragraph at a time?
Yes. Click on the target page, use Ctrl+G on Windows or Option+Command+G on Mac, enter \page, press Enter, close Go To, and press Delete. Check the highlighted selection before removing it.

How do I delete a blank page in Word?
Show formatting marks using Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows or Command+8 on Mac. Find the paragraph mark or break creating the page, then remove or adjust that mark. If the blank page follows a table at the end of the document, Word may require the final paragraph mark; reduce its font size instead of trying to remove it.

Can I delete a page from the Navigation Pane?
No. The Navigation Pane helps you find a page using its thumbnails, but it does not delete the page itself. Select the page in the pane, click in its contents, and remove the contents or the break causing the blank page.

Why does deleting a section break change my document’s formatting?
A section break stores layout boundaries. Removing it can make the preceding section’s content adopt settings from the following section, or vice versa. Undo if the layout changes unexpectedly, then consider whether changing the break’s Section start setting is safer than deleting it.

Do these steps work in Word for Mac?
Yes. The Go To field and \page selection work in Word for Mac. Use Option+Command+G to open Go To, Command+8 to show formatting marks, and Command+Z to undo. Ribbon labels and the location of some layout controls can differ slightly from Windows.

What if Word will not let me delete the page?
The document may be protected, opened read-only, or showing a tracked deletion. Check whether editing is restricted and whether Track Changes is on. If you are allowed to edit, save an editable copy or ask the document owner to provide access before changing protected content.

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