How to Delete a Page From a Word Document

Blank pages, unwanted sections, and stubborn extra pages are some of the most frustrating things to deal with in Microsoft Word. The good news: once you understand why those pages exist, removing them becomes straightforward. The tricky part is that "deleting a page" isn't a single action in Word — the right method depends on what's actually causing the page to be there.

Why Word Doesn't Have a Simple "Delete Page" Button

Unlike deleting a file or a photo, pages in Word aren't independent objects. A page exists because content — text, images, paragraph marks, section breaks, or page breaks — pushes it into existence. To delete the page, you need to remove whatever is generating it.

This is why a simple backspace sometimes works instantly, and other times does nothing at all.

Method 1: Delete a Page by Selecting and Removing Its Content

This is the most direct approach and works when a page contains visible text, images, or other content you want to remove entirely.

1. Click at the very beginning of the content on the page you want to delete.
2. Hold Shift and click at the end of the last item on that page.
3. Press Delete or Backspace.

If the page disappears, you're done. If it doesn't, there's likely a hidden element — a paragraph mark or a break — keeping it alive.

Method 2: Delete a Blank Page Caused by an Extra Paragraph Mark 📄

This is the most common cause of mysterious blank pages, especially at the end of a document.

Word requires at least one paragraph mark to exist at all times. Sometimes an extra one gets pushed onto its own page, creating a blank final page that seems impossible to remove.

Here's how to fix it:

1. Go to Home → click the ¶ (Show/Hide) button to reveal hidden formatting marks.
2. Navigate to the blank page and look for a paragraph mark (¶) sitting alone.
3. Click on it and press Backspace or Delete.

If the paragraph mark won't delete — which can happen when it's locked by the document's formatting — try shrinking its font size. Select the mark, then reduce the font size to 1pt. This collapses it onto the previous page without violating Word's formatting rules.

Method 3: Delete a Page Caused by a Page Break

Manual page breaks are often inserted intentionally (using Ctrl+Enter) but can linger after edits, pushing content onto an unwanted extra page.

With Show/Hide (¶) turned on, a manual page break appears as a dotted line labeled "Page Break." To remove it:

1. Click directly on the page break line.
2. Press Delete.

The content below it will collapse upward, and the extra page will disappear.

Method 4: Remove a Page Created by a Section Break

Section breaks are more complex than page breaks. They control formatting like margins, headers, footers, and column layouts — sometimes independently for different parts of your document. Certain section break types (like Next Page or Odd Page section breaks) force a new page to begin.

To find and remove them:

1. Turn on Show/Hide (¶).
2. Look for labels like "Section Break (Next Page)" or "Section Break (Odd Page)".
3. Select the break and press Delete.

⚠️ Important: Deleting a section break merges the formatting of the two sections. The surviving section takes on the formatting of the section below the deleted break. If your document uses different headers, margins, or column layouts on either side of the break, deleting it may reformat content unexpectedly. Always review the document after removing a section break.

Method 5: Delete a Page in the Middle of a Document

Deleting a page in the middle — rather than at the end — requires selecting all of its content precisely.

A fast way to do this:

1. Click anywhere on the page you want to remove.
2. Press Ctrl+G (or F5) to open the Go To dialog.
3. In the "Enter page number" field, type page and press Enter, then close the dialog.
4. Your entire page content will now be selected.
5. Press Delete.

This method reliably selects everything on the page without manual clicking and dragging.

How Word Version and Platform Affect the Process 🖥️

The methods above apply to Microsoft Word on Windows (Word 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365). The logic is the same across versions, but menu locations and keyboard shortcuts can vary slightly.

If you're working in Word Online, some hidden formatting marks are less visible, and section break management is more limited. For complex formatting issues, the desktop app gives you more control.

What Makes Some Pages Harder to Delete Than Others

The difficulty of deleting a page scales with what's causing it:

• Visible content → easiest, just select and delete
• Lone paragraph marks → simple once you can see them
• Manual page breaks → straightforward with formatting marks visible
• Section breaks → manageable, but with formatting consequences
• Table-generated pages → Word doesn't allow a document to end immediately after a table, so a paragraph mark always follows one; this mark can't be deleted, only shrunk

That last scenario — a document ending with a table — is one of the few cases where the blank page can't be fully eliminated, only minimized by reducing that trailing paragraph mark to the smallest possible font size.

Understanding which of these situations applies to your document is the real work. The fix itself is usually just a keystroke or two once you know what you're dealing with.