What If a Table Row Cannot Be Displayed on One Page?

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 8, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365


1

Mike has a document that has a large table in it. The table is only two columns wide, but it has many rows. The rows are formatted so that they won't break across pages. Mike is concerned, though, that with this setting made, if he later reformats the document layout (like switching from portrait to landscape), that some large rows won't fit completely on a page. He wonders if this setting will then cause the table to not display properly or the document to be unstable.

The easiest way to figure out is some setting or another will cause a problem in a particular scenario is to test it out. In this case, Mike could make a copy of his document and simply change from portrait to landscape orientation. If he did so, he would quickly find that it doesn't present a problem and the document content displays just fine. What does occur, though, is that Word effectively ignores the setting to not break rows across a page. This is necessary because it is impossible to display the row on a single page.

That being said, if you change the orientation of the pages in the document, it is likely that you will also adjust the width of the columns in the table. When you do so, you may find that your rows are able to fit on a single page. In that case, you could end up with a "funky" layout that has one thin row on one page, one full-page row on the next page, and then a thin row or two on the following page. The only way to avoid that situation is to either turn off the restriction against row splitting or make sure none of your rows are very thick.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10152) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Formatting Axis Patterns

Create a chart in Excel and you can then modify it almost any way you desire. One modification is to adjust the color or ...

Discover More

Adding Leading Zeroes to ZIP Codes

Import a bunch of ZIP Codes into Excel, and you may be surprised that any leading zeroes disappear. Here's a handy little ...

Discover More

Generating Automatic Links to Audio Files

Need to create links to many filenames on your system? Here are a couple of quick ways to get just the connection you need.

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Filling Table Cells with Sequential Numbers

Excel makes it very easy to add sequential numbers to a range of cells. Not so in Word's tables, where adding such ...

Discover More

Counting Values in Table Cells

In Excel it is easy to count how many times a certain character occurs in a column of cells. In Word, it is a bit ...

Discover More

Formatting an ASCII Table with Spaces

When you get a text file from a program other than Word, tabular information may be formatted with nothing but spaces in ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 3?

2024-06-08 05:43:37

Ron S

The document will not be "corrupted", if that is what you are asking.

What do you mean "display properly"?
The text will all be there. Word will "decide" where and how it wraps lines and splits pages. Whether you agree with Word on what is "correct", that may be debatable.

You may have to "trick" it into splitting pages in a way that you think is "proper". Mostly you do that using extra blank spaces and/or "soft return", <SHF><Enter>, or "hard return", <Enter>, or by using "hard spaces", <CTL><Shf><Enter>, to force word to keep words on same line. Or by manually splitting the cell and moving the desired text to the next line.


This Site

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.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.