Working with Page Breaks in Microsoft Word

This Page Breaks for Microsoft Word tutorial is suitable for users of Word 2010/2013/2016/2019 and Microsoft 365.  

Objective 

Insert Page Breaks in Microsoft Word and Sections Breaks into Microsoft Word to control the layout and formatting.  

Page Breaks in Microsoft Word Explained 

If you have ever struggled to get a long Word document to look exactly as you would like, it might be that you need to brush on using breaks. Breaks allow you to split up your text into independent ‘chunks’ and apply formatting or layout options to just that specific chunk.  

There are two types of breaks that you can use in a Word document. The first is a page break, and the second is a section break. In this tutorial, we are going to explore the usage of both.  

Page Breaks in Microsoft Word

By default, Word automatically adds a break at the end of each page. However, you can insert a manual page break anytime you want to start a new page in your document. For example, if you are writing a book, you may want to ensure that each new chapter begins on a new page. This is where a manual page break would be useful.  

Insert a Page Break 

1. Position your curser where you want the page to break 

2. Click the Layout tab 

3. Click the Breaks drop-down arrow 

4. In the Page Breaks section, click Page 

NOTE: A page break can be quickly inserted by pressing the keyboard shortcut CTRL+Enter. There is also an option to add a Page Break on the Insert tab in the Pages group.  

A manual page break will be added to the document and text that comes after the break pushed down on to the next page.  

Show Page Breaks 

Breaks will be invisible until you choose to view them by turning on Show/Hide.  

1. Click the Home tab 

2. Click the Show/Hide button 

Delete Page Breaks 

To delete a page break, you need to ensure that you can see the page break by turning on Show/Hide as detailed above.  

1. Select the page break 

2. Press the Delete key 

Section Breaks 

In Word, you can divide documents up into sections, and each section can work independently from the next. For example, you could have different headers and footers on each page. There are four different types of section break: next page, continuous, even page, and odd page.  

When a new section is added, any of the following formatting and layout changes can be applied to the section: 

• Columns 
• Footnotes and endnotes 
• Headers and footers 

• Line numbering 
• Margins 
• Page borders 
• Page numbering 
• Paper size or orientation 

• Paper source for a printer 
• Vertical alignment of text on a page 

Insert a Section Break 

In this example, my document is currently in portrait orientation. I want one page to be landscape. If I simply click on the page that I want to be landscape and change the orientation, the whole document will switch to landscape. I need to add in section breaks.  

1. Position your curser before the first word on the page you want to switch to landscape 

2. Click the Layout tab 

3. Click the Breaks drop-down arrow 

4. In the Section Breaks group, click Continuous 

5. Position your curser after the last word on the page you want to switch to landscape 

6. Click the Layout tab 

7. Click the Breaks drop-down arrow 

8. In the Section Breaks group, click Continuous 

You have now sectioned the page off from the rest of the document. Formatting and layout changes will now apply to the page.

9. Click your mouse anywhere on the page 

10. Click the Layout tab 

11. Click the Orientation drop-down arrow 

12. Select Landscape 

Another example of section break would be if I wanted the text on one or more pages to be in columns. Here I have added a Section Break (Continuous) at the top and bottom of the page and then changed the layout to two columns. The rest of the document outside of this section is in the normal one column layout.  

Video Tutorial 

If you are interested in learning more about Microsoft Word. Then take a look at the following free resources:

• How to Create and Print Envelopes in Word
• How to Create a Contents Page in Word
• How to Mail Merge in Word
• How to Print Labels in Word

To learn Word with Simon Sez IT. Take a look at the Word courses we have available.

Deborah Ashby

Deborah Ashby is a TAP Accredited IT Trainer, specializing in the design, delivery, and facilitation of Microsoft courses both online and in the classroom.She has over 11 years of IT Training Experience and 24 years in the IT Industry. To date, she's trained over 10,000 people in the UK and overseas at companies such as HMRC, the Metropolitan Police, Parliament, SKY, Microsoft, Kew Gardens, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.She's a qualified MOS Master for 2010, 2013, and 2016 editions of Microsoft Office and is COLF and TAP Accredited and a member of The British Learning Institute.