The fastest way to remove a page
To delete a page in Microsoft Word, select all the content on that page and press Delete or Backspace. The page itself will disappear when the content is gone. The method you use depends on what's on the page — a paragraph of text deletes differently than a page break or a table that's pushing content to a new page.
Word does not have a "delete page" button. Pages exist only because of the content on them. Remove the content, and the page vanishes. This matters because sometimes what looks like a blank page is actually a page break, a table, or extra paragraph marks taking up space.
Key Takeaways
- Select the content on the page you want to remove, then press Delete or Backspace to remove it and the page itself.
- If a page appears blank, it may contain a page break or extra paragraph marks — use Find & Replace to locate and remove them.
- A table or image that spans most of a page will push content to a new page; deleting the table removes the extra page.
- Use Ctrl+A to select all content on a page, or click and drag to select only what you want to remove.
- The Navigation pane shows you all pages in your document and lets you see what content is on each one before you delete.
Selecting and deleting content on a page
Click at the beginning of the content you want to remove. Hold Shift and click at the end of that content to select everything in between. Then press Delete or Backspace. The selected text, images, or other content will disappear, and if nothing else is on that page, the page will be removed from your document.
If you want to select an entire page at once, click anywhere on the page and press Ctrl+A. This selects all content in the document, not just the page — so use this only if you want to delete everything. For a single page, it is faster to click at the start of the page content, hold Shift, and click at the end.
If the page contains a table, click inside the table, then right-click and choose Delete Table from the menu. This removes the entire table and any page it was occupying by itself.
Finding and removing hidden page breaks
A blank page often contains a page break that you cannot see. To find it, press Ctrl+H to open Find & Replace. In the Find field, click More (or Options depending on your Word version), then check Show Formatting. Click in the Find field and select Special or Format, then choose Page Break or Manual Page Break.
Leave the Replace field empty and click Replace All. Word will remove all manual page breaks from your document. If you want to remove only one page break, click Find Next to locate it, then click Replace instead of Replace All.
If the blank page still exists after removing page breaks, it may contain extra paragraph marks. In Find & Replace, search for ^p (the code for a paragraph mark) and replace it with nothing. Do this carefully — you may need to replace only a few paragraph marks at the end of the document, not all of them.
Using the Navigation pane to see what is on each page
Open the Navigation pane by pressing Ctrl+F or clicking Find in the Home tab. The pane appears on the left side of your screen and shows every page in your document as thumbnails. Click on a page thumbnail to jump to that page and see what content is on it.
This is useful when you have a blank page and cannot figure out why. The thumbnail will show you whether the page contains text, a table, an image, or nothing at all. If it shows nothing, the page likely contains only a page break or paragraph marks. If it shows a table or image, you know what to delete.
Removing pages created by large tables or images
A table or image that takes up most of a page will push the next content to a new page, creating what looks like a blank page. To remove this extra page, delete the table or image. Click on the table or image to select it, then press Delete.
If you want to keep the table but move it to the same page as other content, you can resize it. Click the table, then drag one of the corner handles to make it smaller. As the table shrinks, Word may move the content below it back onto the same page, removing the extra page.
You can also change the table's text wrapping. Right-click the table and choose Table Properties, then go to the Text Wrapping tab and select Around. This allows text to flow beside the table instead of below it, which may eliminate the extra page.
Deleting the last page when it is mostly blank
The last page of a document sometimes contains only a few lines or is completely blank. To remove it, go to the end of your document by pressing Ctrl+End. Select any content on that page and delete it. If the page still exists, it contains a page break or paragraph marks — use Find & Replace to remove them as described above.
If you have a section break at the end of your document, that can also create a blank final page. Press Ctrl+H to open Find & Replace, click More or Options, then Special or Format, and choose Section Break. Replace it with nothing to remove it.
Preventing extra pages when editing
Extra pages often appear when you paste content from another document or when you add images and tables. After pasting, check the Navigation pane to see if new blank pages appeared. Delete them right away before you forget they are there.
When you insert an image or table, Word may push it to a new page if it does not fit on the current one. Resize the image or table, or move it earlier in the document, to prevent this. You can also adjust the paragraph spacing before and after the image or table — right-click it, choose Paragraph, and reduce the spacing values.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my blank page keep coming back after I delete it?
The page likely contains a page break or section break that you did not remove. Use Find & Replace to search for page breaks and section breaks, as described above. If the page still returns, it may contain a table or image with a lot of white space — try deleting that object instead.
Can I delete a page without deleting the content on it?
No. Pages in Word exist only because of the content on them. If you want to keep the content but move it to a different page, cut the content (Ctrl+X), move to where you want it, and paste it (Ctrl+V). The original page will disappear when you cut the content.
What is the difference between a page break and a section break?
A page break moves content to a new page but keeps the same formatting. A section break moves content to a new page and allows you to change formatting, headers, footers, or margins for that section. Both create new pages. Use Find & Replace to remove either one.
How do I delete a page in the middle of my document without losing content?
Select only the content you want to remove, not the entire page. Click at the start of what you want to delete, hold Shift, and click at the end. Press Delete. The content disappears, but content from the next page will move up to fill the space.
Does deleting a page affect page numbering?
Yes. If you delete a page, all pages after it will renumber automatically. If you have page numbers in your headers or footers, they will update to reflect the new page count. You do not need to do anything — Word handles this automatically.