The simplest way to delete a page in Word

To delete a page in Microsoft Word, select all the content on that page and press Delete or Backspace. The fastest method is to click at the start of the page you want to remove, then hold Shift and click at the end of that page to highlight everything, then press Delete. Word will collapse the remaining pages together automatically.

If the page is mostly blank — which happens often when a page break sits by itself — you can place your cursor anywhere on that page and press Ctrl+Shift+8 (on Windows) or Cmd+Option+8 (on Mac) to show formatting marks. This reveals whether a page break, section break, or extra paragraph is forcing the blank space. Delete the mark itself, and the page disappears.

The reason this matters: Word pages aren't separate objects like slides in a presentation. They're just the space your content takes up on the screen. Deleting a page means deleting the words, images, or formatting that occupy it — not deleting a container.

Key Takeaways

  • Select all content on the page you want to remove and press Delete; Word will shift remaining content up automatically.
  • Blank pages are usually caused by page breaks or extra paragraph marks, which you can see and delete by turning on formatting marks.
  • If a page contains a table that spans the full height, deleting the table removes the page.
  • Undo (Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z) will restore a deleted page if you change your mind when ready after.

Dealing with blank pages caused by page breaks

A blank page often appears because you inserted a manual page break — a formatting command that forces Word to start a new page, even if the previous one isn't full. To find and remove it, turn on formatting marks by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8 (Windows) or Cmd+Option+8 (Mac). You'll see a symbol that looks like a bent arrow (¶) at every paragraph break and a special mark for page breaks.

Once you can see the marks, click right before the page break symbol and press Delete. The page will vanish. If you don't see a page break mark but the page is still blank, look for extra paragraph marks (¶) — sometimes several in a row. Delete those too. This is the most common reason for unwanted blank pages in the middle of a document.

Removing pages that contain tables

If a page is occupied mostly or entirely by a table, deleting the table removes the page. Click anywhere inside the table, then right-click and choose Delete Table from the menu. Alternatively, click the small square icon that appears in the top-left corner of the table (the table selector), then press Delete.

If you want to keep the table but move it to a different page, select the entire table using that corner icon, cut it (Ctrl+X or Cmd+X), click where you want it to go, and paste it (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V). This is safer than deleting and retyping.

Deleting the last page when it's mostly empty

The final page of a document sometimes contains only a few lines or is completely blank. To remove it, click at the very beginning of that page and select everything from there to the end of the document (Ctrl+Shift+End on Windows, Cmd+Shift+End on Mac), then press Delete. Word will remove all selected content and collapse the page.

If you want to keep some content from that page but remove the blank space below it, select only the blank area and delete it. You can also reduce spacing between paragraphs or adjust margins to fit content more tightly — this prevents blank pages from appearing in the first place.

Why pages sometimes won't delete

If you select content and press Delete but the page remains, the page break itself is the problem, not the content. Switch to formatting marks view and look for a page break symbol (it looks different from a regular paragraph mark). Delete that symbol directly. Page breaks are separate from the text they separate.

Another reason a page won't delete: the document has a minimum page requirement set in the template or styles. This is rare in standard Word documents but common in templates for theses or formal reports. If you suspect this, check the paragraph settings by right-clicking a paragraph and selecting Paragraph, then look at the Line and Page Breaks tab. Uncheck any box that says "Keep with next paragraph" or "Page break before."

Using Find and Replace to remove multiple page breaks

If your document has many unwanted page breaks scattered throughout, you can remove them all at once using Find and Replace. Press Ctrl+H (Windows) or Cmd+H (Mac) to open Find and Replace. In the Find field, type ^m (this is the code for a manual page break in Word). Leave the Replace field empty and click Replace All.

This removes every manual page break in the document at once. Be careful — if your document needs some page breaks (for example, to start each chapter on a new page), use Replace one at a time instead of Replace All, so you can stop when you've removed only the unwanted ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo a deleted page?

Yes. Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z (Mac) when ready after deleting to restore the page. If you've made other changes since the deletion, you may need to press Undo multiple times to get back to the version before the deletion. If you've closed and reopened the document, the deletion cannot be undone.

What's the difference between a page break and a section break?

A page break (^m) straightforward moves to the next page. A section break (^b) does that and also changes formatting settings like margins, headers, or columns for everything after it. Deleting a section break can change the formatting of the page that follows. If you're unsure which you have, turn on formatting marks to see the label.

Why does my document keep adding a blank page at the end?

Word automatically adds a blank page at the very end of every document — you cannot delete it while the document is open. This page disappears when you print or save the document as a PDF. If a blank page appears in the middle of your document, it's caused by a page break or extra paragraph marks, which you can delete using the methods above.

If I delete a page, will it affect page numbering?

Yes. If your document has page numbers, they will automatically renumber after you delete a page. If you've referenced page numbers in the text (for example, "see page 5"), you'll need to update those references manually. Word's page numbers in headers and footers update automatically.