Break option in word

Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Adding an Optional Break.

One of the special characters available in Word is the no-width optional break. This character is primarily intended for use in Asiatic languages but can be of use to those of us working in English. Consider the following sentence: The best solution is to write/revise/reissue documents. In this case, you’ve created a very long word consisting of three individual words separated by slashes. As the artificially long word reaches the end of a line, Word treats it as a single word and will move the entire thing to the next line, if wrapping is necessary.

One way around this problem is to insert a no-width optional break after each slash:

1. Position the insertion point right after the slash.
2. Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
3. Click Symbol, in the Symbols group, and then click More Symbols. Word displays the Symbol dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Symbol dialog box.

4. On the Special Characters tab, choose No-Width Optional Break. (You will need to scroll down in the list of characters to find this option.)
5. Click Insert.
6. Click Close.

What you see on the screen when you insert the no-width optional break depends on how you have configured your system. If you have non-printing characters hidden, then you won’t see a thing, but the character is still there. (You can detect it by moving across the character position by using the left or right arrow keys.) If you have non-printing characters visible on the screen (Word Options | Display | Show All Formatting Marks), then the character shows up as a small, gray double-wall box.

As an interesting side note, you must choose the Show All Formatting Marks on the Display options. If you instead choose the individual character options (Tab Characters, Spaces, Paragraph Marks, Hidden Text, and Optional Hyphens), the no-width optional break still won’t be visible—you must choose All.

Now, as your artificially long word approaches the end of the line, Word wraps the text based on the position of the no-width optional break. Since the character has no width, the result is that it appears like the word wraps right after the slash.

For grammatical purists in the audience, I know that the absolute best solution is to do away with slashes between words. For instance, it would be better to say, «The best solution is to write, revise, or reissue documents.» Unfortunately, not all clients want the grammatically correct solution, or they have a penchant for slashes. In that case, the no-width optional break can be very handy.

Author Bio

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…

Asked by: Berniece Rempel

Score: 4.9/5
(62 votes)

Insert a page break in Word

How do you insert a break in word?

Click where you want to insert the section break. On the Page Layout tab, click on Breaks, and then under Section Breaks, click Next Page. This will insert the section break, and text following the section break will begin on a new page.

What is the word for do not break in word?

To stop words from splitting across lines in a paragraph or paragraphs by turning off automatic hyphenation:

What are the 4 types of section breaks?

The different kinds of section breaks include next page, continuous, even page, and odd page breaks.

Which section break will start the new section immediately?

Continuous — Inserts a section break and starts the new section immediately, without inserting a page break. Odd Page — Word begins the new section on the next odd-numbered page. This section break is often used for chapters that begin on odd-numbered pages.

19 related questions found

You can use section breaks to change the layout or formatting of pages in your document.

To change formatting in a document, insert a section break at the beginning of where you want the change. Set up the formatting change just past the new section break. If you want to change formatting again, put in another section break. If your changes are to be on the same page, choose the Continuous section break. Otherwise, choose Next Page, Odd Page, or Even Page section breaks.

If the formatting change occurs in the previous section, press Ctrl or Command + Z and move your cursor to after the section break and try it again.

Use section breaks to layout or format a document

When you insert a section break, choose the type of break that fits the changes you want to make. Here are the types with usage suggestions:

The Next Page command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next page. This type of section break is useful to start new chapters in a document.

The Continuous command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the same page. A continuous section break is useful to create format changes such as a different number of columns on a page.

The Even Page or Odd Page command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next even-numbered or odd-numbered page. To start document chapters always on an odd or even page, use the Odd page or Even page section break option.

/en/word2016/printing-documents/content/

Introduction

When you’re working on a multi-page document, there may be times when you want to have more control over how exactly the text flows. Breaks can be helpful in these cases. There are many types of breaks to choose from depending on what you need, including page breaks, section breaks, and column breaks.

Optional: Download our practice document.

Watch the video below to learn more about using breaks in Word.

To insert a page break:

In our example, the section headers on page three (Monthly Revenue and By Client) are separated from the table on the page below. And while we could just press Enter until that text reaches the top of page four, it could easily be shifted around if we added or deleted something in another part of the document. Instead, we’ll insert a page break.

1. Place the insertion point where you want to create the page break. In our example, we’ll place it at the beginning of our headings.

   

2. On the Insert tab, click the Page Break command. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Enter on your keyboard.

   
3. The page break will be inserted into the document, and the text will move to the next page.

   

By default, breaks are invisible. If you want to see the breaks in your document, click the Show/Hide command on the Home tab.

Section breaks

Section breaks create a barrier between different parts of a document, allowing you to format each section independently. For example, you may want one section to have two columns without adding columns to the entire document. Word offers several types of section breaks.

• Next Page: This option inserts a section break and moves text after the break to the next page of the document.
• Continuous: This option inserts a section break and allows you to continue working on the same page.
  
• Even Page and Odd Page: These options add a section break and move the text after the break to the next even or odd page. These options may be useful when you need to begin a new section on an even or odd page (for example, a new chapter of a book).

To insert a section break:

In our example, we’ll add a section break to separate a paragraph from a two-column list.

1. Place the insertion point where you want to create the break. In our example, we’ll place it at the beginning of the paragraph we want to separate from two-column formatting.

   

2. On the Page Layout tab, click the Breaks command, then select the desired section break from the drop-down menu. In our example, we’ll select Continuous so our paragraph remains on the same page as the columns.

   

3. A section break will appear in the document.

   

4. The text before and after the section break can now be formatted separately. In our example, we’ll apply one-column formatting to the paragraph.

   
5. The formatting will be applied to the current section of the document. In our example, the text above the section break uses two-column formatting, while the paragraph below the break uses one-column formatting.

   

Other types of breaks

When you want to format the appearance of columns or modify text wrapping around an image, Word offers additional break options that can help:

• Column: When creating multiple columns, you can apply a column break to balance the appearance of the columns. Any text following the column break will begin in the next column. To learn more about how to create columns in your document, visit our lesson on Columns.
• Text wrapping: When text has been wrapped around an image or object, you can use a text-wrapping break to end the wrapping and begin typing on the line below the image. Review our lesson on Pictures and Text Wrapping to learn more.

To delete a break:

By default, breaks are hidden. If you want to delete a break, you’ll first need to show the breaks in your document.

1. On the Home tab, click the Show/Hide command.

   

2. Locate the break you want to delete, then place the insertion point at the beginning of the break.

   

3. Press the Delete key. The break will be deleted from the document.

   

Challenge!

1. Open our practice document.
2. Scroll to the Revenue Projections section near the end of the document.
3. Remove the page break after the Quarter 2 Projections by Client chart.
4. Place your cursor at the beginning of the header Web App Projections.
5. Insert a Next Page section break.
6. In the Page Setup group on the Layout tab, click the Columns drop-down menu and choose One. This formats the page back to one column and should allow the Web App Projections header and the table below it to span across the page. You will learn more about columns in our next lesson.
7. When you’re finished, the last two pages should look something like this:

   

/en/word2016/columns/content/

In word processing, a section is a portion of a document in which you set certain page formatting options, which may be different from those applied to other parts of the document. A document can contain at least one section and as many sections as possible. A section can be as short as a single paragraph or as long as a whole document, and each section can contain its own formatting. Also, each section inherits the formatting that is applied to the entire document, before it was divided into sections. But the different formatting you later apply to each section finally replaces the similar ones inherited from the document before dividing it into sections.

Fig: A multiple sectioned document

Dividing a Document into Sections

Dividing a document into sections will enable you to apply formats that affect only a specific part of the document. When you divide a document into sections, you will be able to change any of the following page formats/elements in a different parts of the document:

Paper size. Page margins. Page orientation. Page Borders. Paper source for a printer. Number of newspaper-style columns. Vertical alignment of text on the page. Line numbering. Properties of page numbers. Print location of footnotes and endnotes. Contents of footers and headers.

   1. Position the insertion point in the position where you want to start a new section.
   2. On the Insert menu, click Break.
      The Break dialog box is displayed.
   3. Under Section break types, click the option that describes where you want the next section to begin.
   4. Click OK.

With that, a new section is created. In Normal view (or if you enable the Show/Hide button (¶) in Print Layout, Web Layout, or Outline view), you can identify this with a nonprinting double-dotted line which Word inserts into the document above the position of the insertion point.

Fig: Inserting a section break

To delete a section break, you must switch to Normal view. You can also do the same in Print Layout, Web Layout, or Outline view, provided the Show/Hide button (¶) is enabled. You’ve learned that a section break stores the section formatting for the text above it, and that it also means the end of the section containing the text above the section break. This being the case, deleting a section break then means deleting the section formatting for the text above it. Since it will be kind of ‘unfair’ leaving the stripped text of any section formatting, Word ‘mercifully’ makes the text become part of the section that follows it, as well as take on the section formatting of the ‘fostering’ section. In other words, when you delete a section break, you delete the section formatting for the section preceding the section break, and the text, as a result, becomes part of the section that follows it, and at the same time, assumes the formatting of that section. In light of this, be careful while deleting section breaks in Word. However, you can still use the Undo command to restore a section formatting you inadvertently deleted, before you close the document. To delete a section break, please follow these steps:

   1. First, switch to Normal view by clicking Normal on View menu.
      The document is now displayed in Normal view.
   2. Select the section break you want to delete by clicking on it.
   3. Press DELETE.
      The dotted line is removed, meaning the section break has been successfully removed.
       

Fig: Deleting a section break

Note: From experience, I’ve found that pressing BACKSPACE does not delete a section break in Word XP 2002. So make sure you press DELETE instead of BACKSPACE.

Controlling Section Breaks

When you click the Break command to insert a section break, Word displays the Break dialog box, which offers you a number of options. In the Break dialog box, under Section break types, are the following options: Next page, Continuous, Even page, and Odd page. These options enable you decide where you want a section to begin. Each of the following headings explains the respective option for creating a section break. Being conversant with the behavior of each, or what effect each would have if selected, will enable you choose the appropriate option when creating a section break. Under each heading are helpful tips to help you realize when choosing any of the options is appropriate. As for the first three options — Page break, Column break, and Text wrapping break — under Break types in the Break dialog box, more light is going to be shed on each of them later in this tutorial, or blog.

Next Page

Fig: In Print Layout View ………………………………………………………………… Fig: In Normal View I

Tip: Use the Next page option on a part of a document that will require that you change page formats such as page orientation, margins, paper type, vertical alignment of text, page borders, etc.

Continuous

If you choose this option, or if Word automatically applies it, Word inserts a section break before the insertion point (in Print Layout view), and then begins the new section on the same page. This being the case, you may find it hard to notice the break position in Print Layout view, because text in the preceding and in the new sections follow so closely that you may think they merely fall within different paragraphs. You will have to switch to Normal view (or enable the Show/Hide button (¶) in any other view) before you can visibly see the positions of each section break. As long as the paper size, and page orientation settings on adjacent sections which are separated by Continuous section break remain the same (common), text in such sections will continue to be continuously accommodated on the same page. However, the moment you apply a different paper size or page orientation to any of the adjacent sections sharing a common page, Word will automatically overrule your Continuous section break choice, separate the sections, superimpose the Next page section break option, and begin the affected section on a new page. Simply put, if two sections have different settings for paper size or page orientation, Word will begin the new section on a new page, even if you select the Continuous option in the Break dialog box.

See the following images for illustration.

Fig:  Continuous section break. Word inserts a section break and begins the new section on the same page

Tip: Insert a Continuous section break at the end of a document that is divided into columns where the last column does not fill to the end of the page. Also, use the Continuous section break option if the differences in page formatting settings between the current section and the new section you are about creating are any of line numbering, margins, or number of columns. Two or more sections can remain on the same page even if they have different margin settings, number of columns, or if some have line numbers while others have none. If the preceding section contains multiple columns, Word balances the columns above the section break, and then fills out the page with the new section.

Even Page

Choosing this option, Word inserts the section break (the double-dotted line) before the insertion point (in Print Layout view), and begins the new section on the next even-numbered page. I hope you still remember what an even number is. An even number is an integer (number) that can be divided by 2 without a remainder, e.g 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, …, etc.

Fig: In Print Layout view

For example, if on page 3 you choose the Even page option in the Break dialog box, Word will break the current section in page 3 and and then go to page 4 to begin the new section. However, if the section break falls on an even-numbered page, Word will leave the intervening odd-numbered page blank, and start the new section on the next even-numbered page. For instance, if the insertion point is on page 2 when you choose the Even page option, Word will skip page 3 (and leave it blank, of course), and begin the new section on page 4.

See the following images for illustration.

Fig:  In Print Layout view. new section starting on the next even-numbered page

Tip: This type of section break is most ideal for use for chapters (or other major sections such as Appendix, Index, Glossary, etc) that begin on even-numbered pages. So try forming the habit of using this option (or the Odd page option) for chapters or other important segments of a document, for a consistent and professional look.

Odd Page

See the following images for illustration.

Fig:  In Print Layout view. new section starting on the next odd-numbered page

You must have noticed that on most professionally created textbooks, all new chapters start on either an even-numbered page, or on an odd-numbered page. They are never used together.

You can easily convert the way a section breaks from one form to another. This topic teaches you how. For example, you can change a section break from Continuous to New page, and vice versa.

1. Click in the section you want to change.
2. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Layout tab. 
3. In the Section start box, click the option that describes where you want the current section to begin.
4. Click OK.

Fig:  Click the section to be changed and then display the Page Setup dialog box

Formatting a Section

As you create a document in Word, you apply different kinds of  formatting to relevant elements of the document. Some of the formats affect only characters; some affect entire paragraphs; while some affect as large as an entire section or document. Do not forget that a section can be as short as a paragraph, or as long as an entire document. Formats such as margins, page orientation, page size, headers or footers, columns, line numbering, etc are applied to and affect sections in a document. Each section can be formatted differently. The formats applied to a section are stored in the section break that is placed below the content of that section. So when you delete a section break, you also delete the section formatting for the section containing the text above the section break. As a result, the text in the section whose section break you just deleted becomes part of the text (section) below the section break before it was deleted, and also assumes the formatting of that section. Simply put, deleting a section break means deleting the section formatting for the section preceding the section break. This results in the text in the affected section becoming part of the section that follows, and the text also taking on the formatting of that section. However, before you close the document, you can still use the Undo command to restore a section break you deleted by accident.

Just as character or paragraph formatting can be copied or saved, and transferred to other characters or paragraphs, respectively, in Word, you can also copy section formatting and transfer it to another part of a document. Also, you can save a section break and the formatting it contains and reuse it in future on the same or other documents. I shall share these tips with you later in this tutorial.

Even though each section can be formatted differently, some section formats can still be commonly used by the various sections making up the document. Since, in the face of diversity in section formatting, the various sections can still have some formats in common, a faster and normal procedure in section formatting should be like this:

1. Before ever you divide the document into sections, set the formatting options you know will apply to most of the sections.
2. After this, go ahead and divide the document into sections. Each section, will as a result, retain and have the settings you have just applied.
3. Finally, customize or apply the different formats you want for each section.

How to Copy, Cut and Paste a Section Break

You can copy or cut a section break and reuse it by pasting it into a new location in the same or other Word documents. When you copy or cut a section break, you are in effect copying or cutting the section formatting for the text above the section break. And when you finally paste it into a new location, the text above the section break assumes the formatting contained in the section break. Note that cutting a section break will have the same effect on the text above the section break as when you actually delete the section break. Here are the steps for copying or cutting and pasting a section break.

1. First, switch the document to Normal view by choosing Normal in View menu.
2. To highlight a section break, move the pointer to the white space at the left of the section break you want, and then click when the pointer changes to a right-pointing arrow.
3. To cut or copy the highlighted section break, click either Cut or Copy on the Standard toolbar. Alternatively, select the commands from the Edit menu, or Press CTRL + X to cut, or CTRL + C to copy.

4. To paste the section break and the formatting it contains, position the insertion point in a desired location (below a block of text that is to take on the formatting of the section break you are pasting), and then click the Paste button on the Standard toolbar. You can, alternatively, choose the Paste command from the Edit menu, or press CTRL + V to paste the section break.

   The text above the pasted section break now takes on the formatting contained in the section break.

Fig:  Copying or cutting and, pasting a section break

How to Save a Section Break and the Formatting It Contains

If you like the formatting applied to a particular section and you’d like to reuse it in future, you can save it as an AutoText entry. Here are the steps:

1. Highlight the section break you want to store as an AutoText entry.
2. On the Insert menu, point to AutoText, and then click New. Alternatively, press ALT + F3. The Create AutoText dialog box is displayed.
3. Type a name for the AutoText entry in the box provided.
4. Click OK.

Fig:  The Create AutoText dialog box

How to Retrieve and Reuse a Section Break Stored as an AutoText Entry

1. Position the insertion point in a location (below a block of text that is to take on the formatting of the section break you are pasting) where you want a new section to start.
2. On the Insert menu, point to AutoText, and then click the name with which you stored the section break as an AutoText entry.
• If the name of the AutoText you want is not included in the AutoText submenu, you can insert the AutoText entry by doing the following:
1. On the AutoText sub-menu, click AutoText, and then click the AutoText tab in the AutoCorrect dialog box that displays. 
2. Type the name of the AutoText entry in the Enter AutoText entries here box.
3. Click the Insert button. 

Fig:  The AutoCorrect dialog box, displaying the AutoText tab page

The section break is now inserted and the text above the section break (or before the insertion point) now takes on the formatting contained in the section break inserted through the AutoText entry.

How to Delete a Section Break Stored as an AutoText Entry

If you feel you will no longer need a section break you have saved as an AutoText entry, you can delete it at any time. Doing so will not affect the sections you have created with it.

1. On the Insert menu, point to AutoText and then click AutoText on the submenu.
   The AutoCorrect dialog box is displayed.
2. Click the AutoText tab.
3. Type the name of the AutoText entry you want to delete, and then click the Delete button.
4. Click OK or Close to close the dialog box.

Later in this blog, I will be sharing with you the steps in assigning a shortcut key or button to an AutoText entry.

---

Thank you for taking your time to read this tutorial. Please check back again for updates and helpful tips. Your visits will surely be worth it. I sincerely appreciate your visits and presence here. If you are finding these tutorials and tips informative and helpful, please kindly recommend this blog to your friends. If, on the other hand, there is any area you feel improvement is needed, please kindly forward a piece of advice. These will be highly welcomed and appreciated. If you did not find the information you are looking for in this blog, please feel free to leave a question using the comment link or box below. I will also appreciate comments from you. Your comments will be promptly reviewed and published and your questions speedily looked into and answered in the best possible manner. Thanks.