Pagination issues in WORD

If pagination appears disabled in Word, use these checks:

1. Switch the document back to Print Layout view. If Word is in Web Layout, the document can appear as one continuous page and page breaks seem to disappear.
2. If specific paragraphs are breaking incorrectly, select the affected paragraph, then go to Home > Paragraph dialog launcher > Line and Page Breaks.
3. Under Pagination, adjust the setting that matches the issue:
   • Keep lines together to keep all lines of a paragraph on one page.
   • Keep with next to keep adjacent paragraphs together.
   • Page break before to force a new page before a paragraph.
   • Widow/Orphan control to control single lines at the top or bottom of a page.
4. If the document has many section breaks and page numbering behaves inconsistently, remove unnecessary section breaks. Section breaks should be used only when changing margins, orientation, page size, number of columns, or when different first-page headers/footers are needed.
5. To start a new page without adding a section break, use Home > Paragraph dialog launcher > Line and Page Breaks > Page break before.
6. If page numbers are wrong, press Alt+F9 to show field codes and verify the page number field is: Page { PAGE } of { NUMPAGES }

If the problem is only that page boundaries are not visible, step 1 is usually the fix.

References:

• Visible gap showing pagination in word disappeared - Microsoft Q&A
• Use Line and Page Breaks settings in Word
• continuous pagination in sectioned document - Microsoft Q&A
• Word page numbering severe inconsistency - Microsoft Q&A