Keeping Tables on One Page

As you develop more complex Word documents, it is inevitable that you will add tables. Most tables are relatively short and can easily fit on a page. Because of this, it can be disconcerting to have a page break occur in the middle of a table. Here's an approach that has always worked for me:

1. Select all the rows in the table.
2. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
3. Click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Paragraph group. Word displays the Paragraph dialog box.
4. Make sure the Line and Page Breaks tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Line and Page Breaks tab of the Paragraph dialog box.

5. Make sure the Keep Lines Together check box is selected.
6. Click on OK.

Now you need to repeat the same steps, with two minor variations. First, in step 1 select all the rows except the last one. Then, in step 5, make sure the Keep With Next check box is selected. This is necessary (performing this step with the last row not selected) so that the table stays together as a unit, rather than the table staying with the paragraph that follows it.

Finally, if the last row in your table contains multiple paragraphs, you need to select each paragraph in that row, except the very last paragraph, and repeat the above steps. Again, you are making sure the Keep With Next check box is selected. If you don't perform this step and you have multiple paragraphs in the last row, then it is possible that the row will break between the two pages.

Please note: This tip refers to (as it says in the second sentence) tables that are "relatively short and can easily fit on a page." If your table is longer than what will fit on a single page, this tip will not work; it cannot, since it is impossible for Word to keep the paragraphs in the table together.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12975) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Keeping Tables on One Page.