How to remove section breaks in Word

A section break can divide your Word document into sections. First, you need to view the paragraph marks to display section breaks in your Word document. Then you can manually remove or delete a section break in Word by selecting it and using the delete button. You can also use the Find and Replace dialog box to delete multiple or all section breaks in Word. This article will also show you how to remove or delete all section breaks in Word.

Show paragraph marks to view section breaks

There are four different section breaks in Microsoft Word. Each section can have different page numbers, headers or footers, margins, or page orientation.

Please note: When you remove a section break, you will also remove all its formatting.

The first thing you need to do is to show the paragraph marks and other hidden formatting symbols.

• Go to the Home tab
• Click on this symbol ¶ in the Paragraph group

You could also use the keyboard shortcut to view section breaks:

• Ctrl + Shift + 8

The icon should be dark grey (highlighted) on the ribbon. Now you should see all section breaks in your document.

Disable Track Changes in the ribbon

Before you start to delete a section break, you should check if you have disabled Track Changes in your Word document.

Make sure that you have Track Changes off. Remember that it should not be dark grey.

Follow the steps below to disable Track Changes:

• Click on Review in the ribbon
• Check if Track Changes is highlighted (dark grey)
  • If it’s not highlighted, then don’t do anything and leave it as it is
• If Track Changes is enabled (highlighted) > Click on the icon Track Changes to turn it off

• Or click on the text Track Changes > then select Track Changes from the dropdown menu

• Or use the keyboard shortcut to enable/disable Track Changes:
• Ctrl + Shift + E

Track Changes should not be highlighted (dark grey) in the ribbon. In the picture below the Track Changes icon is disabled.

Delete a section break in Word

1. After you click the symbol ¶ in the ribbon, you can see the section break in your Word document.
2. Then you check whether you have disabled the Track Changes.
3. Manually select the section break.
4. Select and remove a section break in Word using the delete or backspace button.

Remove all section breaks in Word

Some people have multiple section breaks in a Word document they want to delete. However, it takes time to remove them manually, so it is better to use another tool.

Use the Find and Replace box to delete section breaks in Word

Follow these steps below to remove all section breaks:

• Go to the Home tab
• Click Replace in the ribbon in the Editing paragraph
  • Or use the shortcut > Ctrl + H to open the Find and Replace box

• In the Find and Replace dialog box > click the Replace tab
• Click on More>> to open options

• You have to have your mouse cursor in the line next to Find what
• Click on Special > select Section Break to insert ^b in the line
  • Or type ^b manually in the bar next to Find what

• Go to Replace with and delete everything > Click the delete or backspace button multiple times to ensure it is empty
• Click Find Next to search for the section break you want to remove
  • Then click Replace to remove a section
• Click Replace All > to remove all section breaks at once

Conclusion

Now you know how to remove or delete a section break in Microsoft Word. First, you need to view the paragraph marks. Then you can manually select and delete a section break in Word. Finally, use the Find and Replace dialog box to remove or delete multiple section breaks in your Word document.