The simplest way to add a page in Word
To add a new blank page in Word, press Ctrl+Enter on Windows or Command+Enter on Mac. This keyboard shortcut inserts a page break wherever your cursor is positioned, and Word when ready moves to the top of the new page. You can then start typing.
If you prefer using the menu, go to the Insert tab at the top, click Page Break, and Word adds the page the same way. The keyboard shortcut is faster once you remember it, but both methods do exactly the same thing.
The page break itself is invisible when you are working normally. If you want to see where page breaks are, go to the Home tab and click the ¶ symbol (called "Show/Hide Formatting Marks"). Page breaks appear as a dotted line with the words "Page Break" written across it.
Key Takeaways
- Press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command+Enter (Mac) to insert a page break and start a new page when ready.
- Page breaks are different from pressing Enter repeatedly — they force a new page at that exact spot, no matter how much text is above.
- You can delete a page break by clicking on it and pressing Delete, which pulls the content from the next page back up.
- If pages are breaking in the wrong place, check your paragraph spacing and margins, which often push content to a new page automatically.
Why page breaks matter more than just pressing Enter
When you press Enter many times to move text down to a new page, Word does not actually create a page break. Instead, it fills the current page with blank lines. This causes problems when you edit the document later — if you delete text from earlier in the document, all those blank lines shift, and your content no longer starts on a new page.
A proper page break, created with Ctrl+Enter, stays in place. If you delete text above it, the page break moves with the content, keeping your pages organized the way you intended. This is especially important in longer documents like reports or manuscripts where you want chapters or sections to always start on a fresh page.
Removing a page break you no longer need
If you inserted a page break and want to remove it, first turn on the formatting marks by clicking the ¶ symbol in the Home tab. You will see the page break displayed as a dotted line labeled "Page Break".
Click directly on that dotted line to position your cursor there, then press the Delete key. The page break disappears, and any text that was on the page below moves back up to fill the space. If you cannot see the page break even with formatting marks on, it may be a section break instead — these look similar but require a different approach to remove.
When Word adds pages automatically
Sometimes Word creates a new page without you asking it to. This usually happens because of paragraph spacing settings. If you set "Space After" to a large number in the paragraph formatting, Word may push content to the next page to fit the spacing. The same thing happens if your margins are very narrow or your font is large.
To check this, select the paragraph that seems to be pushing content down, go to the Home tab, and click the small arrow in the bottom right of the Paragraph section. Look at the spacing values under "Spacing". If "Space After" is set to something like 72 points or higher, reduce it. You can also check your margins by going to Layout (or Page Layout in older versions) and clicking Margins.
Adding pages in the middle of a document
To insert a page break in the middle of existing text, click at the exact spot where you want the new page to start. This is usually at the beginning of a paragraph or section heading. Then press Ctrl+Enter, and Word splits the document at that point.
Everything before your cursor stays on the current page, and everything after moves to a new page. This is useful when you want a new chapter or section to always begin on a fresh page, even if the previous section is not completely full.
The difference between page breaks and section breaks
A page break straightforward starts a new page with the same formatting as the page before it. A section break starts a new page and also allows you to change formatting — margins, headers, footers, or page orientation — just for that section.
For most documents, a regular page break is what you need. Section breaks are useful if you want one part of your document in landscape orientation and another part in portrait, or if you want different headers on different pages. To insert a section break, go to Layout, click Breaks, and choose the type of section break you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add a page without using a keyboard shortcut?
Yes. Go to the Insert tab at the top of the ribbon, then click Page Break. Word inserts a page break at your cursor position the same way Ctrl+Enter does. The menu method takes slightly longer but works identically.
What if I press Ctrl+Enter but nothing seems to happen?
The page break was likely inserted, but you cannot see it because formatting marks are hidden. Click the ¶ symbol in the Home tab to show all formatting marks, including page breaks. You should then see the dotted line labeled "Page Break" where you pressed the shortcut.
Does adding a page break change the file size of my document?
Slightly, but not meaningfully. A page break is just a single character in the document code, so it adds almost nothing to the file size. Pressing Enter many times to create blank space adds more to the file than a proper page break does.
Can I add multiple pages at once?
No, Word does not have a feature to insert multiple page breaks in one action. You must press Ctrl+Enter once for each new page you want to create. If you need many blank pages, it is faster to press the shortcut multiple times than to use the menu each time.
What happens to page numbers when I add a page break?
Page numbers update automatically. If you have page numbering turned on, Word counts the new page and assigns it the next number in sequence. You do not need to do anything — the numbering adjusts on its own whenever you add or remove pages.