The fastest way to remove an entire page
To delete a full page in Word, select all the content on that page and press Delete. The method that works best depends on what is actually filling the page — text, a table, page breaks, or blank space left over from formatting.
If the page contains regular text that flows from the previous page, selecting and deleting the text will collapse the page into the one before it. If the page exists because of a manual page break or because a table or image is too large to fit on the previous page, you need to delete the page break or the object itself, not the text around it.
Key Takeaways
- Click at the start of the page you want to remove, then hold Shift and click at the end to select everything on it, then press Delete.
- If deleting text does not remove the page, look for a page break by pressing Ctrl+A to show all formatting marks, then delete the page break symbol.
- A page that appears blank often contains a large table or image — scroll through it to find what is taking up space, then delete that object.
- If a page break was inserted manually (not created by text overflow), you must delete the break itself, not the surrounding content.
Selecting and deleting content on the page
Click anywhere on the page you want to remove. Then hold Shift and click at the very end of that page — after the last character or object. This selects everything between those two points. Press Delete or Backspace to remove it.
In most cases, this collapses the page and moves any content that was below it up to fill the space. The page count in the status bar at the bottom of the window will drop by one.
If the page still exists after you delete the content, the page break is being caused by something else — a manual page break, a table, or an image that is too large to fit elsewhere. Move to the next step.
Finding and removing page breaks
Press Ctrl+A to select all text in the document, then look at the Home tab and click the button that looks like a paragraph symbol (¶). This shows all formatting marks, including page breaks. A page break appears as a line across the page with the words "Page Break" written on it.
Click directly on the page break line to select it, then press Delete. The page break will disappear and the content below it will move up. If you do not see a page break line, the page is being created by something else — go to the next section.
To hide the formatting marks again, click the ¶ button a second time. The marks will disappear but your document will not change.
Removing pages created by tables or images
If a page appears mostly blank, a large table or image is probably taking up the space. Scroll through the page slowly to see what is on it. Tables often span multiple pages, and a table that starts on page 5 might push content to page 6 even if the table itself is not visible in your current view.
Click on the table or image to select it — you will see selection handles (small squares) around the edges. Press Delete to remove it. If the table or image is part of your document and you want to keep it, you can instead resize it or move it to a different page by dragging it.
If you cannot find what is taking up space, press Ctrl+H to open Find & Replace, leave the search box empty, and click "Replace All" with the box set to replace with nothing. This removes any extra paragraph marks or spaces that might be creating blank pages. Be careful with this — it will remove all extra spacing in the document.
Deleting the last page when it is blank
The last page of a document is sometimes blank because of extra paragraph marks at the end. Click at the very end of your document (after the last character on the last page with content) and press Delete repeatedly until the blank page is gone.
If this does not work, the blank page is being held in place by a page break or a large object. Use the formatting marks method described above to find and remove the page break, or scroll through the blank page to find and delete any tables or images.
Preventing pages from being created by accident
Pages are often created unintentionally when you press Enter too many times or when a table is set to "keep with next" formatting. To avoid this, press Ctrl+Shift+8 (or Ctrl+* on the numeric keypad) to show paragraph marks. You will see a dot (•) at the end of each paragraph. If you see many dots in a row, you have extra paragraph marks — select them and delete them.
If a table keeps pushing content to a new page, right-click the table, select Table Properties, go to the Row tab, and uncheck "Allow row to break across pages" if you want the table to stay together, or check it if you want it to split across pages naturally.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the page still exist after I delete all the text on it?
A manual page break or a large object (table, image, or shape) is holding the page in place. Show formatting marks with Ctrl+A then the ¶ button, look for a "Page Break" line, and delete it. If you do not see a page break, scroll through the page to find the object taking up space.
How do I delete a page in the middle of my document without losing the text?
Select the text on that page, cut it (Ctrl+X), delete the page using the methods above, then click where you want the text to go and paste it (Ctrl+V). The text will move to the new location and the blank page will be removed.
Can I undo a page deletion?
Yes. Press Ctrl+Z when ready after deleting to undo the last action. You can undo multiple times to go back several steps. If you have already closed the document, the undo history is lost.
What if a table is split across two pages and I only want to delete one of them?
Right-click the table, select Table Properties, go to the Row tab, and check "Allow row to break across pages." This lets the table flow naturally. Then select the rows you want to delete from within the table and press Delete to remove just those rows, not the entire table.