Quick answer: In a two-page Word document, turn on Home > Show/Hide ¶ and inspect page 2 before deleting anything. An unwanted blank second page may be caused by empty paragraphs, a manual page break, a section break, or Word’s required final paragraph after a table. If page 2 has content you want removed, select that content first.
Diagnose a blank second page
- Choose Home > Show/Hide ¶. The shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows or Command+8 on Mac.
- If page 2 contains extra empty ¶ marks, select only the unnecessary marks and delete them.
- If it contains a labeled Page Break, select that manual break and press Delete.
- If it contains a Section Break, review the document’s headers, orientation, margins, and numbering before changing it. A Next Page, Odd Page, or Even Page break may create another page; deleting a section break can alter formatting.
- Switch back to Print Layout and confirm the document is now one page.
If page 1 ends with a table
Word must keep a final paragraph after a table. Sometimes that paragraph is pushed onto page 2. You cannot delete the required final mark. Select that single ¶ mark and set its font size to 1 point; Microsoft recommends this to pull it onto the first page. If it still does not fit, review margins and paragraph pagination settings rather than repeatedly pressing Backspace.
If the 1-point mark still spills over, hide it instead.
- Select the ¶ mark on page 2.
- Press Ctrl+D (Command+D on Mac) to open the Font dialog.
- Check Hidden and select OK.
- Turn off Show/Hide ¶. The blank page should disappear.
If the second page contains real content
Click anywhere on page 2. In desktop Word for Windows, press Ctrl+G; on Mac use Option+Command+G. Type \page in the page-number box, press Enter, close the dialog, verify what is selected, and press Delete. This removes content, so save a copy first if you might need it.
If no inserted break or extra paragraph is visible, the second page may be an automatic result of content length. Shorten or reformat the content, or review Page break before and Keep with next. An automatic page boundary cannot be selected and deleted.
Microsoft’s instructions: delete a blank page and delete a page with content.
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