The fastest way depends on which Word version you use
In Microsoft Word on Windows or Mac, the quickest method is to click anywhere on the page you want to remove, then press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac) to select all text on that page, and delete it. If the page is blank or mostly blank, you can often just position your cursor at the top and press Delete or Backspace repeatedly until the page disappears. In Word Online (the browser version), the process is identical — click on the page, select the content, and delete.
The reason this works: Word treats pages as containers for text and formatting. When you remove the content, the page itself vanishes. A blank page usually means there is an extra paragraph mark, page break, or section break taking up space. Deleting these invisible characters removes the page.
If you are using Google Docs instead, pages work differently — they are not discrete objects you can delete. You straightforward remove the content, and the document reflows to however many pages it needs. There is no separate "delete page" step.
Key Takeaways
- Select all content on the page you want to remove using Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac), then press Delete.
- Blank pages are usually caused by extra paragraph marks or page breaks, which you can remove by positioning your cursor and pressing Backspace.
- If a page refuses to delete, it may contain a section break — use Find & Replace to search for section breaks and remove them.
- In Google Docs, pages are automatic and cannot be deleted separately; removing content makes the document reflow to the correct length.
- Showing hidden formatting marks (Ctrl+* on Windows, Command+* on Mac) makes it easier to spot and remove the invisible characters causing blank pages.
Finding and removing hidden paragraph marks and page breaks
Word documents often contain invisible formatting characters that create unwanted blank pages. To see these characters, press Ctrl+* (Windows) or Command+* (Mac). You will see paragraph marks (¶), tabs, and spaces displayed on screen. A page that looks blank but refuses to delete usually has one or more paragraph marks or a page break sitting on it.
Once you can see these marks, position your cursor right before the paragraph mark or page break and press Delete or Backspace to remove it. If you see a line that says "—Page Break—", click on it and delete it. Repeat this until the blank page is gone, then turn off the formatting marks display by pressing Ctrl+* or Command+* again.
This method works because the blank page is not truly blank — it is holding formatting that takes up space. Removing the formatting removes the page.
Using Find & Replace to remove section breaks
Sometimes a page persists because it contains a section break rather than a straightforward paragraph mark. Section breaks control page orientation, margins, headers, and footers independently for different parts of your document. If you want to remove a section and merge it with the surrounding content, you need to delete the section break itself.
Open the Find & Replace dialog by pressing Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+H (Mac). In the "Find what" field, type ^b (this is the code for a section break). Leave the "Replace with" field empty and click "Replace All". This removes all section breaks in the document at once. If you want to remove only one section break, click "Find Next" to locate it, then click "Replace" instead of "Replace All".
After removing a section break, the pages on either side will merge and adopt the formatting of the section that came first. Check that headers, footers, margins, and page orientation still look correct after the merge.
Deleting pages in the middle of your document
If the page you want to remove is in the middle of your document and contains text you want to keep elsewhere, cut the content instead of deleting it. Click at the start of the content you want to save, drag to select it, then press Ctrl+X (Windows) or Command+X (Mac) to cut. Navigate to where you want to paste it, then press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac).
Once you have moved the content, go back to the now-empty page and delete it using the methods described above. This approach keeps your content safe while removing the page.
If the page contains formatting (like a table or image) that you want to keep, cut that element the same way. Word will preserve the formatting when you paste it into the new location.
Handling pages with tables or images
Pages that contain only a table or a large image sometimes refuse to delete because the object itself is anchored to that page. To remove such a page, click on the table or image to select it (you will see selection handles around it), then press Delete. The page will disappear when the object is gone.
If you want to keep the table or image but move it to a different page, cut it using Ctrl+X or Command+X, navigate to the new location, and paste it. Then delete the now-empty page.
For tables specifically, if the table is taking up more space than it should, check the row heights. Right-click on the table, select "Table Properties", and look at the row height settings. If a row is set to a fixed height larger than its content, reducing it will shrink the table and may eliminate the extra page.
Why pages sometimes reappear after deletion
If you delete a page and it comes back when you reopen the document, the cause is usually a formatting setting rather than content. Word may be forcing a page break before a heading, before a table, or before a new section. To check this, click on the content at the top of the unwanted page, then right-click and select "Paragraph" (Windows) or look in the Format menu (Mac). Under the "Indents & Spacing" tab, check the "Line and Page Breaks" section. If "Page break before" is checked, uncheck it.
Similarly, if a table or heading has "Keep with next" enabled, Word will push it to a new page to keep it together with the following paragraph. Right-click the table or heading, select "Paragraph", and uncheck "Keep with next" if you want it to flow naturally with surrounding content.
These settings are useful when you want to force a page break intentionally, but they can create unwanted blank pages if applied by accident or inherited from a template.
Preventing accidental page deletion
Before you delete a page, save a copy of your document with a different name. Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or Command+S (Mac), then use "Save As" to create a backup. This way, if you delete the wrong content or the document behaves unexpectedly, you can revert to the backup without losing work.
You can also use the Undo function to reverse a deletion when ready after it happens. Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac) to undo the last action. If you realize the mistake later, open the backup file instead.
When working with long documents or documents with complex formatting, take a moment to confirm you are on the correct page before deleting. Use the page counter at the bottom of the screen (it shows "Page X of Y") to verify your location.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my blank page keep coming back?
The page likely contains a formatting setting that Word is enforcing, such as "Page break before" on a heading or "Keep with next" on a table. Right-click the content at the top of the unwanted page, select Paragraph, and check the Line and Page Breaks section. Uncheck any settings that force a page break.
Can I delete a page without deleting the content on it?
Yes. Cut the content using Ctrl+X (Windows) or Command+X (Mac), paste it elsewhere in the document, then delete the now-empty page. This preserves your text while removing the page.
What if I accidentally delete the wrong page?
Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac) when ready to undo the deletion. If you have already closed the document, open your backup copy instead. This is why saving a backup before major edits is helpful.
Does deleting a page affect page numbers or cross-references?
Yes. If your document uses automatic page numbering or cross-references that point to specific pages, deleting a page will shift the numbering. Word updates these automatically, but you should review the document to confirm the references still point to the correct content.
How do I delete multiple pages at once?
Select all the content across the pages you want to remove by clicking at the start of the first page and dragging to the end of the last page, then press Delete. Alternatively, use Ctrl+A to select all and then manually delete the sections you do not want, or delete pages one at a time using the methods above.