Word allows you to separate your styles in a document with section breaks. However, after many viewers have edited a document, the section breaks may no longer exhibit proper formatting. You may have to delete section breaks to fix the problem.
2 ways to remove/delete section breaks in a word document
- Delete section breaks individually
- Delete all section breaks using Find and Replace
Method #1: Delete section breaks individually
Step #1: Make Section breaks Visible
Open the Word document containing section breaks.
Normally, section breaks are not visible.
Click on the Home tab on the menu bar on top to change the ribbon. Click on the Show/Hide icon to show all hidden characters.
Now all section breaks in the document will be visible.
Step #2: Delete a section break
Position the cursor immediately before the section break you want to delete.
Press the Delete key on your keyboard. Word will delete the section break.
Method #2: Delete all section breaks using Find and Replace
Step #1: Make Section breaks Visible
Open the Word document containing section breaks.
Normally, section breaks are not visible.
Click on the Home tab on the menu bar on top to change the ribbon. Click on the Show/Hide icon to show all hidden characters.
Now all section breaks in the document will be visible.
Step #2: Open the Find and Replace dialog
Go to the Editing section under the Home tab and click on Replace to open the Find and Replace dialog.
You can also open the Find and Replace dialog by pressing Ctrl and H together on your keyboard (Ctrl+H).
Step #3: Expand the Find and Replace dialog
Within the Find and Replace dialog, click on the Replace tab on top. Click on More to expand the dialog.
Step #4: Select the section break option
Click on the Special tab to see more choices.
Step #5: Delete all section breaks
Click on Section Break to select it. Word closes the choices and places a ^b in the Find what box. Leave the Replace with box empty.
Step #6: Close the dialog
Click on Replace all. Word offers feedback on how many replacements it has made. Close the feedback by clicking on Ok and return to the Find and Replace dialog.
Step #7: Return to the document
Click on the Close tab to close the Find and Replace dialog and return to the document.
Notice that Word has removed all section breaks.
Conclusion
Although section breaks help to provide a visible improvement to your Word document, they can mess up the document with problematic formatting.
Follow our simple step-by-step approach to remove section breaks while rectifying the problem.