Microsoft Word is the most used word processor be it for creating documents writing content drafting emails resumes and whatnot. It offers a plethora of formatting options that make it easier to personalize pages based on specific requirements. However, sometimes, it fails to charm due to minor but obvious flaws. For instance, people often find it difficult to delete blank pages or there’s always an extra page at the end of the document.
Deleting these pages isn’t always a hefty task but if you are an avid MS Word user, you will find instances when the page simply fails to delete itself. Let’s do a recon on all the methods you can deploy to get rid of that extra page or a blank page on MS Word. Of course, these are simple but effective methods that people of all ages and tech-savviness can do.
How to Delete an Extra Page in Microsoft Word?
Delete page on MS Word with Backspace
Technically the easiest of all, this is what most people do to get rid of an extra page at the end of the document.
Step #1: Go to the last page of the document
Step #2: In case there are some lines of written content or other assets overflowing on the last unwanted page, you can try to adjust them in previous pages such as by reducing the font size, the image size, etc.
Step #3: Finally, tap on the last line of the last page wherever it ends. For instance, if there are 5 blank lines on the last blank page, you will have to delete those 5 blank lines first.
Step #4: Once you reach the top of the blank page, simply hit the backspace button and the last page should vanish.
Step #5: Verify the page count before and after on the lower left corner of the MS Word app.
Delete Page on MS Word with \page function
Here’s a simple method you can use to delete a page on MS Word across both Windows and Mac devices.
Step #1: Go to the page you want to delete (let’s say Page 2 of 5)
Step #2: Press Ctrl+G (Windows) or Option+⌘+G (Mac) that should open a dialog box for ‘Find and Replace’ and load you into the ‘Go To’ function.
Step #3: Select ‘Page’ from the left menu, go to the right side, and enter ‘\page’ within the ‘Enter Page Number’ field.
Step #4: Press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard and select ‘Close’ from the dialog box.
Note: This will automatically select the entire page you want to select, i.e. Page 2 of 5 in this example.
Step #5: Hit ‘Delete’ on your keyboard and the page will automatically delete itself.
Note: Although this works on pages with little to a lot of content, it doesn’t work on empty pages. You can still enter an alphabet or a number on the page to be deleted and repeat the aforementioned steps to get rid of it.
Check if you have Paragraph Marks Stop enabled
You must have accidentally enabled Paragraph Marks Stop (or Pilcrow) that looks like this “¶”. Well, these are formatting marks that tell when a paragraph ends. These can be sticky since you might see them as an unnecessary element that won’t delete itself no matter what you do. Indeed, these are not visible once you print that particular document. Coming back to the topic, you can check if any paragraph marks stop on the page you want to delete. It could tell why you were able to delete that page in the first place. You can enable them via Home >> Paragraph >> Show Paragraph Mark.
Tables in MS Word could create an extra page
MS Word lets you do wonders which includes creating tables, adding details, and more. However, when you add a table at the end of the document, you will see an extra paragraph stop mark at the end which is impossible to get rid of.
A workaround is to select it, change its font size to 1, and mark it with a ‘white’ font color. This should make the pilcrow invisible or see-through. You will have to adjust the table so that it falls on the actual last page and not the one you want to delete.
Document Margins in MS Word can prevent you from deleting pages
Margins are imaginary lines spread around a page on MS Word beyond which you can’t type or add any elements. Depending upon the use cases, these margins prevent the elements on the doc from spilling over or getting cut after printing or opening it on different systems.
However, a large page margin also means you have limited space to write. Sometimes, your content might go overboard to a new page. Lowering the margins to default settings can help delete that extra page in Word without any hassle.
Also Read: Access Word, Excel, & More for Free: Legal Methods to Get Microsoft 365 in 2024
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