Delete a Page in Word Using Ctrl+G: Step-by-Step Guide

To delete a page in Word with Ctrl+G on Windows, press Ctrl+G, enter \page in the Go To field, press Enter, close the dialog, and press Delete. Word selects the contents of the current page so you can remove them in one action. Save your document first if the page contains important text, tables, or formatting.

What You’ll Need

A Word document open in the desktop version of Microsoft Word. The steps are for Microsoft 365 on Windows; they also work in many recent desktop versions of Word.
A keyboard, or access to Word’s Go To command from the ribbon if you prefer not to use a shortcut.
A saved copy of the document if you are unsure what the selected page contains. You can also use Undo if the deletion removes more than intended.

Step-by-Step

Save the document and identify the page. Click somewhere on the page you want to remove. Confirm that this is the page you intend to delete, especially if your document has several similar pages or different sections. If useful, note its page number in the status bar at the bottom of the Word window. Saving first gives you a safe recovery point.
Open Go To. Press Ctrl+G on Windows. Word opens the Find and Replace dialog with its Go To tab selected. If the shortcut does not open it, use the ribbon: select Home > Find > Go To. Depending on the width of the Word window, Find may appear as a button or inside the Editing group.
Enter the page-selection command. In the Go To tab, select the field labeled Enter page number. Type \page exactly, including the backslash, and do not add a page number after it. This is a Word navigation code: it tells Word to select the current page rather than merely jump to a numbered page.
Make Word select the page. Press Enter. The dialog may remain open, and the page’s contents should now be selected in the document. The selection can be hard to see while the dialog is in front, so do not type or press Delete yet.
Close the dialog without changing the selection. Click Close in the Find and Replace dialog. The selection should remain highlighted in the document. Check that it covers the intended page. If it does not, click the correct page and repeat the Go To steps before deleting anything.
Delete the selected contents. Press Delete once. Word removes the selected page’s contents. If you prefer, the Backspace key also removes a selection, but Delete is the clearest choice for this procedure. Avoid pressing either key repeatedly unless you have checked what remains selected.
Review the pages around the deletion. Word repaginates the document, so the pages that followed may move up and receive new page numbers. Scroll through the surrounding text and inspect headings, tables, images, headers, footers, and page breaks. Press Ctrl+Z immediately if the result is not what you wanted, then try again after checking the page boundary.
Save the revised document. When the layout looks right, press Ctrl+S. If you need to preserve the original, use File > Save As and give the edited copy a different name.

On a Mac: In desktop Word for Mac, press Option+Command+G to open Go To, then use the same \page command and selection procedure. Keyboard labels and dialog placement can differ slightly between Mac and Windows. If the shortcut is unavailable in your version, look for Go To in Word’s Edit or Find controls.

Common Mistakes

Entering a page number instead of the code. Typing a number such as 4 in the Go To field takes you to page 4; it does not select the page for deletion. To select the current page’s contents, enter \page with the backslash. The page you want must be active when you open Go To, because the code refers to the current page.

Deleting before closing the dialog. Pressing Delete while the Go To dialog is still open may do nothing or act on the field rather than the document. Press Enter to make the selection, close the dialog, confirm the highlight in the document, and only then press Delete.

Assuming a page is a separate object. In a standard Word document, a page is created by flowing text and other content across the layout; it is not usually a standalone item that can be removed from a page thumbnail. The command deletes selected content. Text may reflow, and the visible page count can change as a consequence.

Removing a section break without considering its effect. A page may end because of a section break. Deleting that break can combine sections and change margins, orientation, columns, headers, footers, or page-number settings. If the page you are removing is separated by a section break, check the document layout after deletion. Undo if the following section adopts the wrong formatting.

Expecting the command to fix every blank page. A blank page can be caused by a page break, extra paragraph marks, a section break, or the required paragraph after a table at the end of a document. The page-selection method may remove visible content but leave a layout marker that keeps a blank page in place. Use formatting marks to find the cause rather than repeatedly deleting.

Tips

Turn on formatting marks when the page boundary is unclear. Select Home > Paragraph > Show/Hide ¶, or press Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows. Word then displays paragraph marks, manual page breaks, and section breaks. These marks are not normally printed. Turn Show/Hide off again when you have finished inspecting the document.

Use the status bar as a navigation aid. The page number shown at the bottom of Word can help you check which page is active before using \page. If the page count is not visible, right-click the status bar and enable the page information option. Remember that page numbering in the document’s footer may restart in a section, so the printed number and Word’s document page position might not match.

Work in a copy when removing a complex page. This is especially sensible for documents with forms, tables, multi-column layouts, tracked changes, or several section breaks. Use File > Save As before editing, or make sure you can use Undo. A copy also makes it easier to compare the original and revised layout.

Check tracked changes and comments. If Track Changes is on, deleting text may create a tracked deletion instead of permanently removing it from the document. Review the markup and the final view before sharing the file. Use the Review tab’s tracking controls to decide whether to accept or reject changes; do not assume that hidden markup has been erased just because it is not visible in the current view.

Use the right key for your device. The Windows steps use Ctrl+G, Ctrl+S, and Ctrl+Z. On Mac, Go To is commonly Option+Command+G, Save is Command+S, and Undo is Command+Z. If you use Word in a browser, shortcuts and available commands may differ; the instructions here describe the desktop app.

Troubleshooting

Ctrl+G opens something other than Go To. Check that Word, rather than another application or a browser field, has focus. Click inside the document and try again. You can also choose Home > Find > Go To. If the navigation pane appears instead, look for its Go To tab or switch to the Find and Replace dialog’s Go To tab.

The page is not highlighted after you press Enter. Make sure you typed the backslash before “page,” pressed Enter while the Go To field was active, and then closed the dialog with its Close button. Click in the page you actually want to remove and repeat. If you entered an ordinary page number, Word will navigate there but will not select the whole page’s contents.

Only some of the content disappears. The page may contain a floating image, text box, or other object that is anchored or positioned separately from the main text. Undo, then inspect the page and select the object itself by clicking its border before pressing Delete. For a table, be careful to select the intended table or rows; deleting only surrounding paragraphs may not remove the table.

A blank page remains after deletion. Turn on Show/Hide formatting marks and inspect the blank page. Delete an unwanted manual page break or extra paragraph mark if it is safe to do so. If a section break is responsible, consider changing its type or adjusting the preceding content rather than blindly removing it, because section formatting can change. For a final blank page after a table, Word may require the final paragraph mark. Select that mark and reduce its font size, for example to 1 point, or adjust the preceding content so it fits; do not try to remove a required final paragraph mark.

The following pages change their layout. This often happens when a section break was selected along with the page contents. Press Undo, turn on formatting marks, and locate the break. If you still need to remove the page, decide whether the section’s formatting should be preserved and adjust the break or section settings carefully. Recheck headers, footers, orientation, margins, and page numbering after any change.

The document looks unchanged after pressing Delete. Confirm that the selection was still active after closing the dialog. If it was not, repeat the selection process. Also check whether Track Changes is displaying deletions as markup or whether the page is blank because of layout rather than text. Save only after you can see the intended result.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ctrl+G delete a page by itself?
No. Ctrl+G opens Go To. Entering \page and pressing Enter selects the current page’s contents; you must close the dialog and press Delete to remove the selection.

Do I type the page number after \page?
No. The code \page selects the page where the insertion point is located. To delete a different page, click in that page first, then open Go To and enter the code.

Can I delete a page using Word’s Navigation Pane?
The Navigation Pane is useful for finding and moving to a page, but it does not provide a simple delete-page button. Use it to locate the page, then select and delete the page’s contents with the Go To method or ordinary text selection.

Will this method remove the page number from the footer?
It removes selected page content, not a page-number field that belongs to a header or footer. Word will renumber pages according to the document’s section settings, but you may need to edit a footer separately if it contains unusual numbering or section-specific content.

What is the Mac shortcut for Go To?
In desktop Word for Mac, use Option+Command+G. After the Go To dialog opens, enter \page, press Return, close the dialog, and delete the selected contents. The exact dialog controls can vary by Word version.

Can I recover a page after deleting it?
Yes, if the document is still open, use Undo: Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac. If you have closed the document or made many later edits, restore the saved copy or use your file’s version history if available.

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

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

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