Word for Writers, Part 7: Managing Page Breaks 5

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Do you habitually use paragraph returns to move text to the next page? Did you know that you can insert a page break anywhere in your document,  automatically forcing the following text to a new page, and that you can control how and where Microsoft Word positions automatic page breaks?

If you’d like to control the pagination of your documents, read on. In this article, I will show you how to:

  • Insert and remove manual page breaks
  • Prevent page breaks in the middle of a paragraph
  • Prevent page breaks between paragraphs
  • Specify an automatic page break before a paragraph or title
  • Ensure that at least two lines of a paragraph appear at the top or bottom of a page
The following examples are for Word 2011 for Mac and Word 2010 for Windows. If you have another version of Word, you will have these features available, and they may appear under a different menu or a dialogue box with a slightly different appearance.

How to Insert a Manual Page Break

On a Mac
  • Place your cursor where you want the break to occur.
  • Select INSERT > BREAK > PAGE BREAK from the menu.
1) Insert Page Break Mac
On a PC
  • Click where you want to start a new page.
  • On the INSERT tab, in the Pages group, click Page Break.

1) Insert Page Break PC
  • Any text after the page break will be pushed to the next page.

How to Remove a Manual Page Break

  • First, show all nonprinting characters:
On a Mac
  • Select the Paragraph icon on the Ribbon.

Invisibles
On a PC
  • Select the Paragraph icon in the Paragraph formatting section of the ribbon.
Paragraph section of ribbon word 2010-1
  • On both Mac and PC, Page breaks display on the page as follows:

page break image

  • To remove the page break, highlight the page break line and press the Delete key.

How to Prevent Page Breaks in the Middle of a Paragraph

If you want to keep the lines of a paragraph all on the same page,
  • Place your cursor anywhere in the paragraph.
On a Mac
  • Select FORMAT > PARAGRAPH to open the Paragraph Formatting dialogue box.
  • Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  • Select Keep Lines Together. Click OK.

2) Mac - keep paragraph lines together annotated
On a PC
  • Select the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher.

Paragraph launcher 2010

  • Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  • Under Pagination, select the Keep lines together check box.

2) PC - Keep lines together-1
  • If the paragraph will not fit on its starting page, the entire paragraph will move to the next page. If you subsequently add or remove text, Word will remember to keep this paragraph all on one page, even if pagination shifts during the revision process.

If you want to keep several paragraphs together on one page,

  • Select the paragraphs you want to keep together.
On a Mac
  • Select FORMAT > PARAGRAPH, click the Line and Page Breaks tab, and select the Keep with next checkbox.

3) Mac - keep with next
On a PC
  • Select the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher.

Paragraph launcher 2010

  • Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  • Under Pagination, select the Keep with next check box.

3) PC - Keep with next
  • The paragraphs will shift to the next page on which they will fit together.

How to automatically insert a page break before any paragraph

There may be times when you want a particular heading, paragraph, table, or image, to always appear at the top of a new page. You can insert a page break just before that paragraph, or you can format the paragraph itself to automatically insert a page break. This feature will come in handy later on, when we are working in styles.
  • Place your cursor anywhere within the paragraph (or select the image or table) that you want to start at the top of a new page.
On a Mac
  • Select FORMAT > PARAGRAPH, click the Line and Page Breaks tab, and select the Page Break Before checkbox.

4) Mac - page break before
On a PC
  • On the HOME tab in Word, click the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher.

Paragraph launcher 2010

  • Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.Under
  •  Pagination, select the Page break before check box.

4) PC - page break before
  • The paragraph, image, or table will always appear at the top of the next page.

How to ensure that at least two lines of a paragraph appear at the top or bottom of a page

We all want to prevent those unsightly orphans and widows — where a portion of a paragraph consisting of a word or half a line of text appears all by itself at the top or bottom of a page. By default, Word applies Widow/Orphan control, but if it gets turned off,
  • Highlight the text in your document.
On a Mac
  • Select FORMAT > PARAGRAPH, click the Line and Page Breaks tab, and select the Widow/Orphan control checkbox.

5) Mac - widow-ophan control
On a PC
  • On the HOME tab click the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher.

Paragraph launcher 2010

  • Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  • Under Pagination, select the Widow/Orphan control check box.

5) PC - widow-ophan control

If you have worked your way through these different options, congratulations! You now know how easy it is to have total control over page breaks in your Word documents. And that feels pretty darn good.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

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5 thoughts on “Word for Writers, Part 7: Managing Page Breaks”

  • Reply ↓
    Sharon Lippincott

    Beautifully done, as usual. You make this so clear that the most clueless writer should be able to follow your directions — if they have the courage to try!

    I’ve been using the Paragraph Properties menu for ages, but never noticed that option to add a page break before. Nice to know!

    BTW, Word versions on PCs vary considerably. I never used 2010, but on 2013 the Page Break option is in the Page Setup section of the Page Layout menu and includes Section Break options — a later post?

  • Reply ↓
    patsy ann taylor

    I love this feature on the Mac. And since learning to use it, my writing life is much smoother. Thank you for this series of posts.

  • Reply ↓
    Barbara Toboni

    Thanks, Amber. I now know where to turn when I want the computer to turn a page. I’ll practice this and keep it handy for future reference.