If a short Word document spills onto a second page by a few lines, first look for extra breaks and spacing. Then, in desktop Word, add Shrink One Page to the Quick Access Toolbar and use it on a copy of the document. The command reduces type size and spacing to remove one page when possible. It is a poor fix for a document that has far too much content or a required minimum font size.
Find what is pushing the text over
- Open the document in Print Layout and check the page count at the bottom of Word. Also inspect File > Print; the print preview shows the actual page boundary.
- On the Home tab, turn on Show/Hide ¶. Look at the start of page two for extra empty paragraphs or an intentional page break. Remove only the marks you do not need.
- Inspect the last paragraph on page one and the first item on page two. A large image, table row, or heading may be moving as a unit. Reducing ordinary text by one point will not always solve that layout problem.
If a manual break caused the extra page, fix the break instead of shrinking every paragraph. See our guide to removing page breaks in Word. Keep any break that separates content intentionally.
If stray paragraph marks at the end are creating an extra page rather than overflowing text, learn how to get rid of a blank page instead.
Make a small layout adjustment first
For a few extra lines, review paragraph spacing before changing the entire document’s font. Select the affected paragraphs, open the Layout tab, and inspect the Before and After spacing values. Reducing an unusually large gap can reclaim room without making letters smaller. If the document uses heading styles, edit the style consistently rather than formatting one heading at a time.
Check Layout > Margins only if the current margins are wider than the document needs. Do not move text into a printer’s nonprintable area or violate a school, employer, or submission requirement. Landscape orientation can help a wide table, but it usually gives a text-heavy page less vertical room. Resize oversized images with their aspect ratio locked and inspect captions afterward.
If the document is a resume, our guide to creating a resume or CV in Word suggests which sections to trim before you shrink the formatting.
Add and use Shrink One Page in desktop Word
- Save a separate copy using File > Save As. Microsoft’s guidance cautions that once you save and close a shrunken document, there is no quick way to restore its original sizes.
- Open the Quick Access Toolbar menu and choose More Commands. In Choose commands from, select All Commands.
- Find Shrink One Page, choose Add, then OK. The command appears on the toolbar; it is not normally a button inside Print Preview.
- Click Shrink One Page. Check the page count and inspect body text, headings, footnotes, tables, and page breaks. Keep the result only if it remains readable and meets any formatting rules.
The command tries to shorten the document by one page. It may have little effect if a table, image, or deliberate break controls the layout. If a two-page document becomes one page only with tiny text, restore the copy and edit the content or use two pages instead.
What about Word for the web?
Word for the web has a Home > Shrink Font Size control in editing mode, according to Microsoft. That changes selected text size; it is not the desktop Shrink One Page command. If exact one-page output is important, check the document in desktop Word or export a PDF and inspect the page count there.
If it still will not fit
- A blank page remains: Turn on formatting marks and inspect page or section breaks and the final paragraph after a table. Avoid deleting section breaks blindly because they can control headers and page layout.
- A heading jumps to page two: Check its paragraph settings, including Keep with next, and the size of the following block. Preserve that setting when the heading should stay with its content.
- Printed output differs: Confirm paper size and printer settings in File > Print, then open an exported PDF. A one-page editor view alone is not a print check.
- Text is hard to read: Undo the shrink, restore the saved copy, or keep the extra page. A readable document is more useful than an arbitrary page count.
Microsoft explains the Shrink One Page command and its limits.
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