WD2000: Blank Page Is Printed After You Insert Odd Page or Even Page Section Break

After you insert an odd page section break or an even page section break, a new blank page may appear in print preview and when you print the document.

In addition, you may observe the following problems:

• If your Word document contains page numbers, the page numbers may skip a page number.
• The page number in your document may appear higher than you expect for the page.
• If your Word document contains a total number of pages field (a NUMPAGES field), the total number of pages shown is greater than you expect.
• The page number on the status bar may skip a page number when you page through the document.
• The total number of pages on the status bar may indicate a greater number of pages than you expect.

This functionality is by design in Microsoft Word. When you insert an odd page section break on an odd-numbered page, or an even page section break on an even-numbered page, Word cannot move the following text to the next physical page. Instead, Word moves the text that follows the section break to the next appropriate odd page or even page of the document. To do this, Word has to insert a blank page after the section break.

NOTE: The blank page that is inserted contains no header or footer. In addition, it may appear that you are unable to type text on the blank page.

To prevent the blank page when you view the document in print preview, to allow the page numbers to be printed correctly for each page, and to use the page for additional text in the document, do one of the following:

Method 1: Type Text or Press ENTER

On the page that precedes the odd page section break or the even page section break, move the insertion point to the end of the text on that page. Either type additional text to fill out that page and continue onto the blank page, or press ENTER until the insertion point is on the blank page. Then type the additional text that you want on the page.

Method 2: Insert a Page Break

Insert a page break immediately before the odd page section break or even page section break. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the View menu, click Normal.
2. Move the insertion point to the end of the text that precedes the Section Break (Odd Page) or Section Break (Even Page).
3. Do one of the following:
   • Press CTRL+ENTER to insert a manual (hard) page break.
     
     -or-
   • On the Insert menu, click Break. In the Break dialog box, click to select Page break, and then click OK.
     
     -or-
   • On the Insert menu, click Break. In the Break dialog box, click to select Next Page (listed under Section break types), and then click OK.

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: