How can I remove the blank page after section break?

Anonymous
2010-09-01T15:46:18+00:00

Don't want blank page between different sections in draft document ("next page" section breaks). Tried hiding and tried changing paragraph symbol font size to 1. Still getting blank page. UGH!

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Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2010-09-01T18:04:14+00:00

Under certain circumstances, the section break, or actually the blank paragraph containing the section break, may cause an extra page (this might happen below a table, for example). Formatting it as 1 pt font size, exact line spacing 1 pt, zero spacing before/after should fix it. You may also want to format it as hidden text. In fact, you can create a paragraph style with those characteristics and apply it to the empty paragraph in question.

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Anonymous
2012-08-18T08:09:57+00:00

Don't want blank page between different sections in draft document ("next page" section breaks). Tried hiding and tried changing paragraph symbol font size to 1. Still getting blank page. UGH!

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Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2010-12-31T18:46:25+00:00

The workaround you have found is documented in the article at http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/WorkWithSections.htm.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-02T20:38:31+00:00

    Thank you, Suzanne.

    It worked for me, although I wouldn't say it any close to being easy for the majority of the users to arrive at such a creative solution to a simple problem (without your direct guidance). There are about a dozen of forums where numerous posts report this problem, but no solution identified.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-12-02T22:48:34+00:00

    In most cases the solution you had already applied (making the section break Continuous and formatting the next-page empty paragraph as 1 point) would have sufficed. Only because your last text page was so crammed full did this not help. You can actually use the same solution, instead formatting the empty paragraph as Hidden; when you then hide Hidden text, the blank page disappears. But a solution that gets rid of the section break altogether is more satisfactory in the long run.

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