Breaks are used quite often in a document to disrupt the normal contiguous flow of text. If you are in Draft view, breaks appear as lines extending the full width of your document window. The type of break is denoted by text in the middle of the line. For instance, column breaks appear as a thin dotted line, with the text "Column Break" in the middle of the dotted line.
Breaks are treated like any other characters in Word. If you want to delete a break, simply position the insertion point on the break and use any of the normal editing keys to delete it. Perhaps the quickest way to remove a break is to position the insertion point on the break and press the Del key.
If you are not working in Draft view, you may want to switch to that viewing mode. It is easier to edit many special characters (such as breaks) if you work in Draft view.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9321) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing Breaks.
The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!
Need to swap two adjacent paragraphs? Your editing arsenal can include a command to do this if you use the macro in this tip.
Discover MoreIf you get tired of documents that always seem to have extra spaces at the end of lines, here's a quick way to get rid of ...
Discover MoreIf you need to get rid of a lot of paragraphs in a document, it's easy to do as long as the document relies on styles for ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments