Stop Paragraphs from Splitting Between Pages in Word Using Paragraph Formats
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated April 14, 2022
Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)
If you want to stop paragraphs from splitting between pages in a Word document, it's best to use the Keep with next or Keep lines together paragraph formats rather than inserting manual page breaks. In order for this strategy to work effectively, your document should not have unnecessary hard returns after paragraphs so don't press Return or Enter twice after a paragraph. Instead, you should use Paragraph spacing before and / or after paragraphs. In Word, a paragraph is anything with a hard return after it.
Recommended article: 14 Word Selection Shortcuts to Quickly Select Text
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Stopping a paragraph from breaking between pages using Keep lines together
To stop a paragraph from breaking between pages by keeping lines together:
- Select the paragraph in the Word document with the text you want to keep together. You can simply click in the paragraph to select it.
- Right-click and select Paragraph from the drop-down menu. You can also press Shift + F10 to access the context menu and then press P for Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
- Select the Line and Page breaks tab. Word displays options to keep the lines of the paragraph together or to keep the paragraph with the next paragraph.
- Check Keep lines together.
- Click OK. The paragraph will no longer break across pages.
Below is the Paragraph dialog box in Microsoft Word with Keep lines together selected::
Stopping a paragraph from breaking between pages using Keep with next
To stop a paragraph from breaking between pages using Keep with next:
- Select the paragraph in the Word document with the text you want to keep together. You can simply click in the paragraph to select it.
- Right-click and select Paragraph from the drop-down menu. You can also press Shift + F10 to access the context menu and then press P for Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
- Select the Line and Page breaks tab. Word displays options to keep the lines of the paragraph together or to keep the paragraph with the next paragraph.
- Check Keep with next.
- Click OK.
Below is the Paragraph dialog box in Microsoft Word with Keep with next selected::
If you are comfortable using styles in Word, these settings can also be used in some styles (but are not recommended for the Normal style).
This article was first published on November 13, 2020 and has been updated for clarity and content.
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More resources
How to Find and Replace in Word (and Use Wildcards)
How to Superscipt or Subscript in Word (with Shortcuts)
How to Quickly Remove Hard Returns in Word Documents
How to Copy Formatting in Word (3 Easy Ways with Shortcuts)
How to Insert the Does Not Equal Sign in Word (5 Ways to Type or Insert ≠)
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Microsoft Word: Intermediate / Advanced
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Microsoft Word: Long Documents Master Class
Microsoft Word: Accessible Word Documents
Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced
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