You can insert a page break anywhere in your document, or you can specify where Microsoft Word positions automatic page breaks.

If you insert manual page breaks in documents that are more than several pages in length, you might have to frequently rebreak pages as you edit the document. To avoid the difficulty of manually rebreaking pages, you can set options to control where Word positions automatic page breaks.In this article

Insert a manual page break

  1. Click where you want to start a new page.
  2. On the Insert tab, in the Pages group, click Page Break. word ribbon image

Prevent page breaks in the middle of a paragraph

  1. Select the paragraph that you want to prevent from breaking onto two pages.
  2. On the Page Layout tab, click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  3. Select the Keep lines together check box.

Prevent page breaks between paragraphs

  1. Select the paragraphs that you want to keep together on a single page.
  2. On the Page Layout tab, click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  3. Select the Keep with next check box.

Specify a page break before a paragraph

  1. Click the paragraph that you want to follow the page break.
  2. On the Page Layout tab, click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  3. Select the Page break before check box.

Place at least two lines of a paragraph at the top or bottom of a page

A professional-looking document never ends a page with just one line of a new paragraph or begins a page with only the last line of a paragraph from the previous page. The last line of a paragraph by itself at the top of a page is known as a widow. The first line of a paragraph by itself at the bottom of a page is known as an orphan.

  1. Select the paragraphs in which you want to prevent widows and orphans.
  2. On the Page Layout tab, click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
  3. Select the Widow/Orphan control check box.

Note This option is turned on by default.

Prevent page breaks in a table row

  1. Click the row in the table that you don't want to break. Select the entire table if you don't want the table to break across pages.

    Note A table that is larger than the page must break.

  2. On the Table Tools tab, click Layout

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  3. In the Table group, click Properties

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  4. Click the Row tab, and the clear the Allow row to break across pages check box.