To make one page landscape in an otherwise portrait Word document, select the content for that page and apply the orientation to Selected text. Word uses section boundaries for different page layouts. Changing Layout > Orientation without limiting its scope can rotate the entire document or the rest of a section.
Fastest method: apply landscape to selected text
- In desktop Word for Windows, select the table, image, or text that should appear on the landscape page. Include all the content you want on that page, but avoid selecting the following portrait page.
- Open Layout, then the small Page Setup dialog launcher.
- On the Margins tab, choose Landscape. Under Apply to, choose Selected text, then select OK.
- Check the pages before and after. Word should put the selected content in its own landscape section and leave the surrounding sections portrait.
If the selected material is too large, it may span multiple landscape pages. Reduce its size or adjust margins if the goal is exactly one page. A page is the result of layout, so adding or removing text later can move content across a page boundary.
Check what Word changed
- Turn on Home > Show/Hide ¶ and find the section boundaries before and after the wide content.
- Click the page before the wide page, the wide page itself, and the page after it. Check orientation in Layout > Page Setup for each section.
- Open File > Print and review the preview. A long table or large image can force more than one landscape page even when you intended to rotate only one.
If later pages also turned landscape, your selection may have included their content, or the new section may lack a closing boundary. Undo the change, select only the target material, and use Apply to: Selected text again. If the landscape section starts on the wrong page, check whether the section break is a Next Page break and whether an empty paragraph is pushing content forward.
On Word for Mac, Microsoft’s desktop instructions place the selected-text option under Format > Document > Page Setup. The Mac procedure can require section breaks for a partial-document change. The simple Layout > Orientation button affects the current scope and may turn every page if no section is isolated.
Insert a new blank landscape page
If you need an empty landscape page for a chart or wide table you have not added yet, create its section first.
- Click where the new page should begin.
- Choose Layout > Breaks > Next Page under Section Breaks.
- Choose Layout > Breaks > Next Page again. Word now has an empty section between the two breaks.
- Click on the blank page, before the second break.
- Choose Layout > Orientation > Landscape.
- Scroll to the next page and confirm it is still portrait.
Adding content to the blank page can push the second break onto another page, so check the layout again when you finish.
Switch the page back to portrait
You do not need to delete anything to undo the change.
- Click anywhere on the landscape page.
- On the Layout tab, open the Page Setup dialog launcher.
- Choose Portrait, set Apply to to This section, and select OK.
The leftover section breaks are harmless. If you delete one, the text before it takes on the formatting of the section after it, so recheck orientation, margins, headers, and footers afterward.
A new section starts with Link to Previous turned on, so the landscape page keeps the same header, footer, and page number sequence as the pages around it. You usually don’t need to fix anything.
On the landscape page, the header and footer run along the long edges. If you want different text on that page, double-click its header, turn off Link to Previous on the Header & Footer tab, and edit it. Turn it off in the section after the landscape page too, or your change will carry forward.
If the page numbers restart at 1 after the rotated page, double-click the footer, select Page Number > Format Page Numbers, and choose Continue from previous section.
Alternative: set section breaks yourself
Place a Next Page section break before the target content and another after it using Layout > Breaks. Click inside the middle section and choose Layout > Orientation > Landscape. The two surrounding sections should remain portrait. A single break before the page is insufficient because the landscape section would continue through later pages. Turn on Home > Show/Hide ¶ to see the breaks if the result is unexpected.
Review any headers, footers, page numbers, and wide tables after the change. If the result looks wrong, undo and retry with a tighter text selection.
Source: Microsoft Support: change the orientation of part of a Word document.
Matt has been writing about Microsoft Windows and other Microsoft products since the days of Windows XP. He spends much of his time writing for sites like WindowBrain.com