Section breaks let you to split a Word document into separate parts and apply different formatting and layout options to each section. Section breaks let you use different margin settings, headers and footers, and page orientations in various parts of your Word document.
Some section breaks also add page breaks which may result in additional pages being added to your Word document – but don’t worry, it’s easy to delete a page, if you need to.
While section breaks in Microsoft Word are incredibly useful, long documents with multiple section breaks can be difficult to manage. This article discusses how to remove a section break in Word.
View Section Breaks in Word
By default, section breaks are hidden in Microsoft Word.
To see section breaks in Word, you need to display non-printing characters by clicking the Show/Hide ¶ button in the Home > Paragraph group (or press Ctrl + *).
Turn Track Changes Off to Delete Section Breaks
You can’t delete section breaks when Track Changes is enabled.
Deselect Track Changes in the Review > Tracking group, if necessary.
Remove a Section Break in a Microsoft Word Document
To delete a section break in Word, verify that non-printing characters are displayed, then do the following.
- Click to the left of the section break or drag to select it.
- Press the delete key to remove the section break.
Remember: The delete key removes 1 character at a time to the right of the insertion point. It’s important that you click to the left of the section break (or to select it) before you press delete.
Remove Multiple Section Breaks with Find and Replace
Find and replace is a quick and convenient way to delete section breaks. You
To remove multiple section breaks – or all section breaks – use the Find and Replace dialog box.
- Click Replace in the Home > Editing group (or press Ctrl + H).
The Find and Replace dialog box appears. - Click the More >> button to display additional options, if necessary.
- Click in the Find what: box then click the Special button and select Section Break.
^b appears in Find what: box. - Verify that the Replace with: box is blank.
- Click Find Next to locate the first section break.
- Click Replace to delete the selected section break or click Replace All to delete all section breaks.
Want to Know More?
We cover section breaks and other advanced formatting techniques in our Microsoft Word courses.