Delete a Page in Word With a Keyboard Shortcut

To delete a page in Microsoft Word on Windows, press Ctrl+G, type \page in the page-number box, press Enter, then press Esc and Delete. This selects the contents of the current page so you can remove them in one go. Save your document first if you may need to restore the page or its formatting.

What You’ll Need

A Word document open in the desktop version of Microsoft Word. The steps below use Microsoft 365 for Windows; they also work in many recent desktop versions of Word.
The page number of the page you want to remove, if you are not already viewing it. Check the status bar or use the Go To command to navigate there.
Optional: a saved copy of the document if deleting a section break or other formatting mark could change the layout of nearby pages.

Step-by-Step

Save a copy if the page has important formatting. Press Ctrl+S to save your current changes. If you want a separate fallback, use File > Save As and give the copy a different name. Removing ordinary text is easy to undo, but deleting section breaks can affect headers, footers, page numbering, orientation, and margins.
Go to the page you want to delete. Click anywhere on that page. If it is not visible, press Ctrl+G to open the Go To tab of the Find and Replace window. You can enter its page number and press Enter to move there, then close the window with Esc. The page-selection command works on the page containing the insertion point, so make sure Word is positioned on the right one before using it.
Select the current page with Go To. Press Ctrl+G again. In the Go To tab, click the box labeled Enter page number, type \page, and press Enter. The command means “select this page”; it is not a page number to replace with a numeral. Word should highlight the page’s contents in the document.
Close the Go To window without clearing the selection. Press Esc once. The dialog closes and the page selection should remain highlighted. If the highlight disappears, reopen Go To and repeat the previous step, then close the window using the keyboard rather than clicking in the document.
Check the selection before deleting. Look at the highlighted area and confirm it covers the page you intend to remove, not text on an adjacent page. If only part of the page is selected, or the wrong page is highlighted, do not press Delete yet. Press Esc to cancel the selection, click on the correct page, and repeat the Go To steps.
Delete the selected contents. Press Delete. If the page contained text, images, or tables, those selected items are removed. Word then pulls following content forward as needed. A page can remain if a page break, section break, or required final paragraph mark is still forcing space; use the troubleshooting instructions below if it does.
Review the pages around the deletion. Check the start and end of the document as well as the pages immediately before and after the removed page. Confirm that paragraphs, images, tables, page numbers, headers, and footers still appear as intended. Press Ctrl+Z immediately if the result is not right, then try a more targeted fix instead of repeating the whole-page deletion.
Save the corrected document. When the page and surrounding layout look right, press Ctrl+S. If you are working with a shared file, make sure it has finished saving before closing Word.

On Mac: The equivalent Go To shortcut in Word for Mac is Option+Command+G. Enter \page, press Return, close the Go To window, and press Delete. Depending on your keyboard, the key labeled Delete may act like Backspace; that is fine for deleting the selected page. If the shortcut is unavailable in your Word version, use Edit > Find > Go To and follow the same command.

Common Mistakes

Typing a page number instead of the command. In the Go To page-number box, entering a number navigates to that page; it does not select it for deletion. To select the current page, type the backslash followed by page: \page.
Pressing Delete while the Go To window is still open. The key may affect the text in the dialog instead of the document selection, or the selection may not be active. Press Enter after entering the command, close the window with Esc, and check that the page is highlighted before deleting.
Assuming every visible page is made of ordinary text. A blank page may be caused by a manual page break, a section break, paragraph spacing, or the required paragraph after a table. Deleting the page’s visible text will not necessarily remove the layout mark that creates the extra page.
Deleting a section break without checking its effect. Section breaks can control different page orientation, margins, columns, headers, footers, and numbering. Removing one may make nearby sections adopt different formatting. Save a copy first, and consider changing the break or its surrounding layout rather than deleting it blindly.
Using Backspace or Delete without a selection. These keys remove characters at the cursor, not necessarily a whole page. If you do not see the page highlighted after closing Go To, stop and redo the selection rather than holding a key or repeatedly pressing it.

Tips

Use the status bar to check the page number. Word often shows the current page and total page count at the bottom of the window. If the page number is hidden, right-click the status bar and enable the page information you need. This helps avoid selecting the wrong page in a long document.
Turn on formatting marks when a blank page will not go away. On Windows, press Ctrl+Shift+8; on Mac, press Command+8. The paragraph symbol button on Home > Paragraph also toggles these marks. You can then spot paragraph marks, manual page breaks, and section breaks that are not normally visible in print layout.
Delete only the unwanted break when the page is otherwise empty. Click just before a visible manual page break and press Delete, or click just after it and press Backspace. For a section break, first check whether it controls formatting you need. If it does, changing the section settings may be safer than removing the break.
Remember that deleting a page shifts later content. The content that followed the deleted page may move up, changing page numbers and the location of page breaks. That is normal. Review the document after deletion rather than expecting the remaining pages to keep their original numbering.
Use Undo as a quick safety net. If an image, paragraph, or formatting change disappears unexpectedly, press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac immediately. Undo restores the preceding edit, but it is not a substitute for saving a copy before making structural changes.

Troubleshooting

The page is not highlighted. Make sure the insertion point is on the page you mean to remove, reopen Go To, and enter \page in the page-number box. Press Enter before closing the dialog. Do not click elsewhere in the document after Word highlights the page, because that can replace the selection with a cursor.

The blank page remains after pressing Delete. Turn on formatting marks and inspect the page. If you see a manual page break, remove that break directly. If you see paragraph marks, remove only the unnecessary ones. If the page is at the very end after a table, Word requires a final paragraph mark and may push it onto a new page. Select that final mark and reduce its font size to 1 point; if needed, set its paragraph spacing to zero or reduce the table’s size. Avoid deleting the table just to remove the blank page.

Deleting the page changes the formatting of other pages. You may have removed a section break. Press Ctrl+Z (or Command+Z on Mac) to restore it. Turn on formatting marks to find the break, then decide whether to keep it, change its type, or adjust the section’s settings. If the document uses different headers, footers, page numbering, or page orientation in different sections, verify those features before saving.

The wrong content disappeared. Undo immediately, then check the page number and selection highlight before trying again. A page may contain anchored objects or content that flows from another section, so inspect the selected area carefully. If the document is shared or synced, wait for Undo to finish and confirm the restored content is visible before making another edit.

The shortcut does not open Go To. Click in the document body and try Ctrl+G again on Windows. You can also press F5 to open Go To in many Windows versions of Word. On Mac, try Option+Command+G or use Edit > Find > Go To. Keyboard shortcuts can differ if your keyboard, operating system, or Word settings have been customized.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the shortcut to delete a page in Word?
There is no single Delete-page key that removes a page automatically. On Windows, use Ctrl+G, enter \page, press Enter, close Go To with Esc, and press Delete.

Does the \page command delete the page immediately?
No. It selects the contents of the page where the cursor is located. You must close the Go To window and press Delete to remove the selection. Check the highlight first so you do not remove the wrong page’s contents.

Can I delete a blank page with this shortcut?
Yes, if the blank page is caused by selectable content such as empty paragraphs. If it is caused by a page break, section break, or the paragraph mark after a table, you may need to remove or adjust that specific cause instead.

How do I delete a page in Word on a Mac?
Use Option+Command+G to open Go To, enter \page, press Return, close the window, and press Delete. You can also open Go To from Edit > Find > Go To.

Will deleting a page change page numbers or formatting?
It can. Later pages usually shift forward and receive updated page numbers. Removing a section break can also change formatting, headers, footers, or numbering, so inspect the surrounding pages and undo if the result is not what you intended.

Can I use this method in Word for the web?
Keyboard shortcuts and dialog options can differ in Word for the web. If Go To does not offer the page-selection command there, delete the page’s content or break directly, or open the document in the Word desktop app and use the steps above.

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