Where the blank page comes from and how to find it

A blank page in Microsoft Word usually exists because of a page break, an extra paragraph mark, or a table that pushed content to a new page. Word treats these as actual content, so deleting the visible text around it won't remove the page itself. The first step is to see what's actually there.

Turn on formatting marks by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows or Cmd+Option+8 on Mac. You'll see paragraph marks (¶), page breaks (shown as a line across the page labeled "Page Break"), section breaks, and tab marks. The blank page usually sits at the end of your document or between two sections of content. Look for a page break symbol or a paragraph mark sitting alone on the blank page.

If you see a page break line, that's your culprit. If you see only paragraph marks, one of those marks is taking up space. Scroll through your document with formatting marks on until you locate the blank page, then position your cursor right before or on the offending mark.

Key Takeaways

  • Turn on formatting marks with Ctrl+Shift+8 (Windows) or Cmd+Option+8 (Mac) to see page breaks and paragraph marks that create blank pages.
  • A page break symbol or an extra paragraph mark is almost always the reason a blank page appears, and deleting it removes the page.
  • If a table or image pushed content to a new page, resize or move it to the previous page, or delete the page break before it.
  • Blank pages at the end of a document often come from a final paragraph mark that Word won't let you delete — reduce the font size of that mark or adjust spacing instead.

Deleting a page break

If you see the words "Page Break" on a line by itself, click right before that line and press the Delete key. The page break disappears, and the content below moves up to fill the space. This is the fastest fix when a page break was inserted intentionally but is no longer needed.

Page breaks are often added when someone wants to force a new section to start on a fresh page — a chapter heading, a new section of a report, or a signature page. If you're removing a page break, make sure the content that moves up still makes sense in its new location. If a heading moves to the bottom of the previous page, you may want to keep the page break or add it back in a different spot.

Deleting extra paragraph marks

If you see only paragraph marks (¶) on the blank page with no page break, click at the beginning of the first paragraph mark on the blank page and press Backspace. This deletes the mark and pulls the content below up one line. Repeat until the blank page is gone.

Sometimes a blank page is caused by multiple empty paragraph marks in a row. Delete them one at a time by clicking before each mark and pressing Backspace. If you have many empty marks, you can select them all at once: click before the first one, hold Shift, and click after the last one, then press Delete.

When a table or image is pushing content to a new page

A table or large image near the end of a page can force everything below it onto a new page, creating a blank page if there's not much content below. To fix this, try moving the table or image up slightly, or resize it to make it smaller so it fits on the same page as the content that follows.

Click on the table or image to select it, then drag it to a new position. Alternatively, right-click the table, select Table Properties, go to the Row tab, and uncheck Allow row to break across pages if the table is splitting awkwardly. For images, right-click and choose Wrap Text, then select Square or Tight to let text flow around it instead of pushing below it.

Removing a blank page at the very end of your document

The last page of a Word document often contains a single paragraph mark that Word will not let you delete — it's required for the document to exist. If your blank page is at the very end, you can't remove the mark itself, but you can make it invisible by reducing its font size or adjusting spacing.

Click at the very end of your document after all content. Select the final paragraph mark (it may be invisible even with formatting marks on). Go to the Home tab, find the font size dropdown, and change it from 12 pt to 1 pt. The mark still exists but takes up almost no space. Alternatively, select the mark and set the line spacing to Single and the spacing after the paragraph to 0 pt.

If the blank page is not at the very end but near it, check whether there's a page break or section break just before it. A section break can force a new page to start, and deleting it will remove the blank page.

Checking for hidden section breaks

Section breaks are less obvious than page breaks. They appear as a line labeled "Section Break (Next Page)" or "Section Break (Continuous)" when formatting marks are on. If you see one and don't need the separate section, click right before it and press Delete.

Section breaks are used when you want different headers, footers, margins, or page numbering in different parts of a document. Deleting one combines those sections and may change the formatting of the content that was in the second section. Check your document after deleting a section break to make sure the formatting still looks right.

Preventing blank pages in the future

Blank pages often appear when someone manually inserted a page break to push content down, then later edited the document and forgot the break was there. Instead of using page breaks to position content, use paragraph spacing: select the paragraph you want to move, go to Home, click the spacing button (usually showing arrows pointing up and down), and add space before the paragraph.

If you need a section to always start on a new page, use the paragraph formatting option instead of a manual page break. Right-click the paragraph, select Paragraph, go to the Line and Page Breaks tab, and check Page break before. This keeps the break attached to the content, so if you delete the content, the break goes with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why won't the blank page delete when I press Backspace?

You may be trying to delete the final paragraph mark in the document, which Word requires and won't remove. If the blank page is at the very end, reduce the font size of that mark to 1 pt instead. If the blank page is not at the end, make sure you're clicking on the page break or paragraph mark itself, not just somewhere on the blank page.

I deleted a page break but the content looks wrong now. Can I undo it?

Yes. Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z (Mac) when ready to undo the deletion. The page break will return. You can then decide whether to keep it or reformat the content differently.

How do I know if it's a page break or a section break?

With formatting marks on, a page break shows the words "Page Break" on its own line. A section break shows "Section Break" followed by the type, such as "(Next Page)" or "(Continuous)". Both can be deleted the same way — click before the line and press Delete.

What if the blank page keeps coming back after I delete it?

Something is pushing content to a new page. Check for a table or image above the blank page that might be too large, or look for a paragraph with Page break before formatting. Right-click the paragraph below the blank page, select Paragraph, go to Line and Page Breaks, and uncheck Page break before if it's checked.

Can I delete a blank page without turning on formatting marks?

It's much harder. Without formatting marks visible, you can't see what's causing the blank page. Turn them on first — it takes one keystroke and makes the problem obvious. Once you know what's there, removing it is straightforward.