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
    2017-10-17T13:25:00+00:00

    I use section breaks at the beginning of my documents.  I have a section break just after the Table of Contents, because I want my page numbering to start after the TOC, not before the TOC, or to include the TOC.

    Selecting "Even" in the Section Start field (go to the Page Layout tab, select the small arrow in the corner of the Page Setup options on the ribbon to open the Page Setup window, then select the Layout tab) will indeed remove the blank page, however, the page numbering will start at "2", even if you are on page 1, and you will be unable to change this.  To me, this is a "bug" in the programming, which should be fixed by Microsoft PDQ.

    The only way I can "control" this blank page business is to ensure that my document's content starts on an odd page, which I can't always do.  I agree with the earlier comments that this problem is maddening and contributes to a lot of wasted time.

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