Delete All Manual Page Breaks in a Microsoft Word Document
Article by: Avantix Learning Team | Updated January 10, 2021
Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 or 365 (Windows)
You can quickly remove all page breaks in a Microsoft Word file using Find and Replace. The following method will delete all manual page breaks created using the Breaks command or by pressing Ctrl + Enter. It will not delete automatic page breaks which are are inserted based on settings in the file (such as font size, paragraph spacing, page size and margins).
Recommended article: How to Add or Remove Page Breaks in Microsoft Word
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Viewing page breaks
It's helpful to turn on Show/Hide ¶ so you can see the manual page breaks.
To view manual page breaks, paragraph marks and other non-printing characters in Microsoft Word:
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- Click Show/Hide ¶ in the Paragraph group Paragraph marks, tabs, spacing and manual page breaks will display but will not print.
Ensuring Track Changes is off
If you want to delete manual page breaks, you will need to ensure that Track Changes is off.
To turn off Track Changes:
- Click the Review tab in the Ribbon.
- Click Track Changes in the Tracking group.
- From the drop-down menu, select Track Changes to turn tracking off.
You can also press Ctrl + Shift + E to turn off Track Changes.
Removing all manual page breaks using Find and Replace
You can remove all manual page breaks using Find and Replace:
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- Click Replace in the Editing group or press Ctrl + H. A dialog box appears.
- Click More >> to expand the dialog box (if necessary).
- Click in the Find what box.
- From the Special menu, choose Manual Page Break. The characters "^m" will appear.
- Click in the Replace with box.
- Ensure there is nothing in the Replace with box by pressing Delete (multiple times if necessary).
- Click Find Next to find the first page break.
- Click Replace All.
Below is the expanded Find and Replace dialog box:
Find and Replace is an extremely useful dialog box in Word. You can use it to find and replace formatting, styles and other special characters.
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More resources
How to Add Page Numbers in Word (Step by Step)
How to Find and Replace in Word (and Use Wildcards)
How to Remove Section Breaks in Microsoft Word (One or All)
How to Keep Text Together in Microsoft Word (Words, Lines or Paragaphs)
10+ Great Microsoft Word Navigation Shortcuts to Move Around Quickly in Your Documents
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Microsoft Word: Intermediate / Advanced
Microsoft Word: Designing Dynamic Word Documents Using Fields
Microsoft Word: Long Documents Master Class
Microsoft Word: Accessible Word Documents
Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced
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