The fastest way to remove a blank page
A blank page at the end of your document usually exists because of extra paragraph marks, page breaks, or spacing that Word is holding onto. The quickest fix is to go to the end of your document, find what is creating the blank page, and delete it directly.
Open your document and press Ctrl+End (or Cmd+End on Mac) to jump to the very end. Look at what is there — often you will see a blinking cursor sitting alone on the blank page. Position your cursor just before the blank page begins, then press Delete repeatedly until the page disappears. If nothing seems to be there, move to the next method.
Key Takeaways
- Most blank pages are caused by extra paragraph marks or page breaks that you can delete by pressing Backspace or Delete at the end of your document.
- Turning on formatting marks (Ctrl+* on Windows, Cmd+* on Mac) shows you exactly what is creating the blank page so you can target it precisely.
- If a table or image sits at the very end of your document, Word may force a blank page after it — delete the paragraph mark after the object to remove it.
- Page breaks inserted intentionally will create blank pages; find and delete them if they are no longer needed for your document structure.
Show formatting marks to see what is causing the blank page
Word hides the invisible characters that create blank pages — paragraph marks, spaces, and page breaks look empty to the eye. Turning on formatting marks reveals exactly what is taking up space. Press Ctrl+* (Windows) or Cmd+* (Mac) to toggle them on. You will now see small symbols: a pilcrow (¶) for paragraph marks, arrows (→) for tabs, and a page break symbol for intentional breaks.
Navigate to the blank page and look at these symbols. If you see multiple paragraph marks stacked together, select them and press Delete. If you see a page break symbol (a line with "Page Break" written on it), click on it and press Delete. Once the blank page is gone, press Ctrl+* again to hide the formatting marks and return to normal view.
Delete a page break if one was inserted intentionally
Sometimes a blank page exists because someone inserted a page break to start a new section — for example, to begin a new chapter on a fresh page. If you no longer need that break, you can remove it. With formatting marks visible (using Ctrl+*), look for the page break symbol, which appears as a dotted line with "Page Break" text.
Click directly on the page break line to select it, then press Delete. The page break will disappear and the content below will move up. If you want to keep the page break but just hide the blank page that appears before it, this method will not work — you would need to restructure your document instead.
Remove a blank page caused by a table or image at the end
If your document ends with a table or a large image, Word automatically adds a paragraph mark after it. This paragraph mark can push onto a new blank page if there is not enough room on the current page. To fix this, click right after the table or image and look for that final paragraph mark (visible as ¶ when formatting marks are on).
Position your cursor on that paragraph mark and press Backspace to delete it. Be careful not to delete the table or image itself — you only want to remove the empty paragraph after it. Once that mark is gone, the blank page should disappear. If the blank page remains, the table or image may be too large to fit on the page with other content, and you would need to resize or reposition it instead.
Check for extra spacing at the end of your document
Sometimes blank pages are created by excessive spacing rather than paragraph marks. This happens when someone has pressed Enter many times at the end of a section, or when paragraph spacing settings are set very high. With formatting marks visible, scroll to the end of your document and look for a long string of paragraph marks (¶ symbols).
Select all of these extra marks by clicking before the first one and dragging to the end, then press Delete. If you do not see obvious extra marks but still have a blank page, check your paragraph spacing: go to the last paragraph before the blank page, right-click it, select Paragraph, and look at the spacing settings under "Spacing" — reduce any large "After" values to zero.
Use Find and Replace to remove multiple page breaks at once
If your document has many page breaks scattered throughout and you want to remove them all, Find and Replace is faster than deleting them one by one. Press Ctrl+H to open Find and Replace. In the "Find what" field, you need to search for the page break code. Click More (or Options depending on your Word version), then check Use Regular Expressions.
In the "Find what" field, type ^m (this is the code for a manual page break). Leave the "Replace with" field empty and click Replace All. Word will remove every manual page break in your document at once. Be careful with this method — if you have intentional page breaks you want to keep, use Find Next and Replace one at a time instead, so you can choose which ones to remove.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Word keep adding a blank page when I delete it?
This usually means there is a page break or a very large object (table, image, or section) that Word is forcing onto its own page. The blank page will reappear as long as the page break or object exists. Check for page breaks using formatting marks, or try resizing a large table or image to fit on the previous page.
Can I delete a blank page in the middle of my document?
Yes, but the cause is usually a page break inserted intentionally. With formatting marks on, find the page break symbol before the blank page and delete it. If there is no page break, the blank page may be caused by a large table or image — try resizing it or moving it to a different location in your document.
What if I press Delete and nothing happens?
The cursor may not be in the right position. Press Ctrl+End to jump to the absolute end of your document, then try pressing Backspace instead of Delete. If the blank page still will not go away, turn on formatting marks to see what is actually there — sometimes the issue is spacing or a section break rather than a straightforward paragraph mark.
Is there a way to prevent blank pages from appearing in the first place?
Yes — avoid pressing Enter multiple times at the end of sections, and be intentional about page breaks. If you need a new page, insert a page break (Ctrl+Enter) rather than pressing Enter repeatedly. Also check your paragraph spacing settings to make sure they are not set to large values that push content onto new pages unexpectedly.