Removing Extra Breaks in Word Documents

Delete page breaks fast

By
James Marshall
James Marshall
Writer
James Marshall is a pro journalist who covers technology and computer troubleshooting. He is also skilled with Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and other word processors.
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Updated on December 10, 2020
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Ryan Perian headshot
Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
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What To Know

  • Press Ctrl+Shift+8 to show section breaks. Place the cursor left of the break, and press Delete. Press Ctrl+Shift+8 again to hide.
  • For find & replace, press Ctrl+H. Put ^p^p in Find, and Replace With ^p. Press Replace or Replace All.

This article explains how to remove remove extra breaks in Word documents using the find and replace tool or deleting them manually. Instructions in this article apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, and Word for Mac.

Remove Line Breaks in Word: Show Section Breaks

A quick way to find section breaks is to show these breaks in the document.

  1. Go to the Home tab and, in the Paragraph group, select Show/Hide. Or, press Ctrl+* (or Ctrl+Shift+8).

    In Word for Mac, go to the Home tab and select Show all nonprinting characters.

    Word with the Show All button highlighted

  2. All section breaks become visible in the document.

    A Word document with a section break highlighted

  3. Place the cursor to the left of break you want to remove, then press Delete.

  4. Select Show/Hide to hide the section breaks.

Remove Line Breaks in Word Using Find and Replace

Use the Find and Replace tool to delete extra breaks in a document.

  1. Go to the Home tab and, in the Editing group, select Replace. Or, press Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog box.

    In Word for Mac, use the Search box in the upper-right corner of the document.

    Screenshot of Find and Replace dialog

  2. In the Find what text box, enter ^p^p (the letter p must be lower case).

    In Word for Mac, go to the Search box and enter ^p^p.

    Screenshot of ^p^p in Find What box in Word

  3. In the Replace with text box, enter ^p.

    In Word for Mac, select the magnifying glass, then select Replace. In the Replace With text box, enter ^p.

    Screenshot of ^p in Replace With box in Word

  4. Select Replace All or Replace. Or, to view the breaks before deleting them, select Find Next.

This replaces two paragraph breaks with one. You can specify other options, depending on the number of paragraph breaks between paragraphs. You can also replace a paragraph break with another character.

Remove Line Breaks in Word Containing HTML

If you copied the text from the internet, this might not work for you. That's because there are different types of breaks in HTML files.

  1. Press Ctrl+H.

    In Word for Mac, use the Search box in the upper-right corner of the document.

  2. In the Find and Replace dialog box, go to the Find what text box and enter ^l (the lowercase letter L).

    In Word for Mac, go to the Search box and enter ^l.

    Screenshot of ^l in Find What box in Word

  3. In the Replace With text box, enter ^p.

    In Word for Mac, select the magnifying glass, and then select Replace. In the Replace With text box, enter ^p.

    Screenshot of ^p in the Replace With box.

  4. Select Replace All or Replace. To view the breaks before deleting them, select Find Next.

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