Word 2010: Adding Breaks

Lesson 11: Adding Breaks



Lesson 10

Word has several different types of breaks you can add to your document to change the layout and pagination. Each type of break serves a different purpose and will affect the document in different ways. Page breaks move text to a new page before reaching the end of a page, while section breaks create a barrier between parts of the document for formatting purposes. Column breaks split text in columns at a specific point. In this lesson, you'll learn how to insert and delete breaks.


Breaks allow you to have more control over the layout of your document. You might use a page break if you're writing a paper that has a bibliography to ensure the bibliography starts on a new page. You might use a column break if you are using columns and want them to be arranged in a particular way.

Optional: You can download this example for extra practice.

To insert a break:

  1. Place the insertion point where you want the break to appear.
  2. Select the Page Layout tab.
  3. Click the Breaks command. A menu appears.
    Adding a page break Adding a page break
  4. Click the desired break option to create a break in the document.

To delete a break:

Breaks are hidden by default. If you want to delete a break, you'll probably want Word to show the breaks so you can find them for editing.

  1. From the Home tab, click the Show/Hide ¶ command.
    Showing paragraph markings Showing paragraph markings
  2. Double-click the break to select it.
    Selecting the break Selecting the break
  3. Press the Backspace or Delete key to delete the break.


  1. Open an existing Word document. If you want, you can use this example.
  2. Create a page break somewhere in the document.
  3. Show the break using the Show/Hide ¶ command.
  4. Delete the break.