Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Removing Blank Pages at the End of Your Document.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 13, 2017)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016
When you print out your document, you may notice that a blank page or two prints out at the end of the document. If this is the case with your document, chances are good that you have a bunch of empty paragraphs at the end of your document. Even though you can't see them on the screen (normally), they are there and take up extra space.
To delete the empty paragraphs, simply press Ctrl+End to go to the end of your document. Then press the Backspace key until you have deleted all the non-printing characters (such as empty paragraphs). You can tell when you are done by the position of the insertion point. If it is located next to the last character you want printed in your document, you are done deleting.
If you want to see the empty paragraphs that are at the end of your document—before you delete them—you can instruct Word to display non-printing characters. Just click the Show/Hide tool on the Home tab of the ribbon; it looks like a backwards P. When the tool is selected, you can see all the spaces, paragraphs, tabs, and other characters in your document—all the characters that normally don't show up on your screen. This can be very helpful for figuring out why something doesn't look quite right in your document.
Also, you should know that if the last thing in your document is a table, you won't be able to delete the last paragraph right after the table. (Word requires a paragraph mark at the very end of any document.) The best you can do in that situation is to highlight the ending paragraph mark and set it to a very small point size.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11851) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing Blank Pages at the End of Your Document.
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2018-07-22 09:18:05
Shannon
Thank you!! I tried everything everyone mentioned in every other article and nothing worked!! You talked about the extra paragraph after a table and that was it!! I made my point to five and single spaced the paragraph and it deleted my extra page after my table! Thanks!!
2017-12-22 13:21:13
Lucas
Is there a VB script to reduce that ending paragraph mark to font size of 1 automatically?
2017-05-18 15:00:33
Joel
MJ, maybe check the sum of your row sizes under "Table Properties" > "Row" tab to ensure that it is not larger than the space available on your document at the bottom of the page for your table.
Say, you have 3 rows at 1.5 inches tall each (that's a total of 4.5 inches), and you only have 4 inches of blank space at the bottom of the page (excluding bottom margin) where you're inserting the table, then you're short by a half inch; therefore, the table will make room for itself on another blank page.
Another thing to look for would be if you have a section or page break at the bottom of your page, underneath your table (since you keep your "Hide/Insert" turned on, you should be able to see any possible page or section break (that looks something like this: - - - - - Page Break - - - - -)
To remove that page/section break, you must select the entire - - - - - Page Break - - - - -, including the dashes, and then hit Delete.
I can't think of anything else that may help.
2017-05-14 23:33:00
MJ Genualdi
Thanks for commenting on the end of the page - non printing characters. I only work with the non-printing characters turned on - so I can easily find those problems too. And I appreciate the comment about shrinking the last paragraph marker - that's a great tip. I have used that tip several times to shrink the size of the page without shrinking the font (shrinking the paragraph returns between the lines. Alas, neither of the tips you provided helped with my "table at the end of the page" challenge.
I have a document that is being merged into. It will ultimately have a 3 column table at the end (that's the merge part). There is plenty of room after the table to add another paragraph. However, Word is forcing a blank page. I could probably write 4-5 more lines after the table before the next page would start.
I shrank the space between the columns to see if that would help (no luck there).
I added a single line paragraph after the table merge to get Word to recognize the end of the document, but that didn't help either. I shrank the paragraph marker after the table to a size 1 font. I made the column breaks a size 1 font. I ensured they were column breaks not section breaks (like start a new page). The tables are equal sizes and when I shrink the space between still fit within the margins (I also expanded the margins to get it to stay on one page).
Any other suggestions? Thanks!
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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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