Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Table Header Rows after a Manual Page Break.

Table Header Rows after a Manual Page Break

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 19, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Ed had his table set up the way he wanted, with a couple of rows repeated at the top of each page. He ran into a problem, however, when he inserted a manual page break in the middle of the table. When he did, the formerly repeating rows no longer repeated at the top of the table.

The reason for this is rather simple—when you insert a page break into a table you are, in reality, splitting the table into two separate tables. The rows that were repeating are no longer in the new table, but in the original table.

To get around this problem, don't insert a manual page break in the table to force a row to a new page. Instead, use this formatting approach:

Put the insertion point at the beginning of the row that you want on the new page. (Make sure it is at the beginning of the row, at the left side of the first cell in the row.)
Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
Click the small icon at the bottom-right corner of the Paragraph group. Word displays the Paragraph dialog box.
Make sure the Line and Page Breaks tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

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

Select the Page Break Before check box.
Click on OK.

Now the row will always start at the beginning of a new page, your table is not "broken" into two parts, and your desired rows will still repeat at the top of each page.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13094) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Table Header Rows after a Manual Page Break.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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2022-12-20 01:43:06

Michelle

THANK YOU!! I couldn't figure this out for the life of me, then I googled it and this popped up and saved me. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for!!

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