Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: How to Stop a Table Row from Splitting Over Two Pages.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 5, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365
For some documents, it is par for the course to have tables extend from one page to another. As your tables get larger, Word automatically breaks tables so the most information can get on each page. This may mean that a row of your table may start on one page and end on the following page. Obviously, this is not acceptable for some tables. You may have the need to make sure that entire rows of your table stay together.
To make sure that Word doesn't break a particular row of your table, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Row tab of the Table Properties dialog box.
If you are not sure about where a table may break (or even if it will), but you want to make sure that no row of the table is divided, you simply need to select the entire table in step 1 rather than selecting a single row.
Remember that these steps won't stop a table from splitting across two pages; it only stops individual rows from splitting across pages.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6037) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: How to Stop a Table Row from Splitting Over Two Pages.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here:
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