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!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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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
    2015-08-29T04:20:20+00:00

    One small problem, F4 threw up this message:

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  2. Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-08-29T10:46:04+00:00

    Formatting everything as hidden, as opposed to formatting a single paragraph as hidden, is overkill.

    What you should do is display nonprinting marks (click the ¶ button on the Home tab) and find out exactly what is causing the excessive page and then deal with the actual cause, which may or may not make it necessary to make use of hidden formatting.

    Again, note that it is never necessary to format a whole page as hidden. See Suzanne S. Barnhill's article at http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/BlankPage.htm.

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