This article explains how to remove remove extra breaks in Word documents using the find and replace tool or deleting them manually. Instructions in this article apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, and Word for Mac.

A quick way to find section breaks is to show these breaks in the document.

Go to the Home tab and, in the Paragraph group, select Show/Hide. Or, press Ctrl+* (or Ctrl+Shift+8).

In Word for Mac, go to the Home tab and select Show all nonprinting characters.

All section breaks become visible in the document.

Place the cursor to the left of break you want to remove, then press Delete.

Select Show/Hide to hide the section breaks.

Use the Find and Replace tool to delete extra breaks in a document.

Go to the Home tab and, in the Editing group, select Replace. Or, press Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog box.

In Word for Mac, use the Search box in the upper-right corner of the document.

In the Find what text box, enter ^p^p (the letter p must be lower case).

In Word for Mac, go to the Search box and enter ^p^p.

In the Replace with text box, enter ^p.

In Word for Mac, select the magnifying glass, then select聽Replace. In the Replace With text box, enter ^p.

Select Replace All or Replace. Or, to view the breaks before deleting them, select Find Next.

This replaces two paragraph breaks with one. You can specify other options, depending on the number of paragraph breaks between paragraphs. You can also replace a paragraph break with another character.

If you copied the text from the internet, this might not work for you. That's because there are different types of breaks in HTML files.

Press Ctrl+H.

In Word for Mac, use the Search box in the upper-right corner of the document.

In the Find and Replace dialog box, go to the Find what text box and enter ^l (the lowercase letter L).

In Word for Mac, go to the Search box and enter ^l.

In the Replace With text box, enter ^p.

In Word for Mac, select the magnifying glass, and then select聽Replace. In the Replace With text box, enter ^p.

Select Replace All or Replace. To view the breaks before deleting them, select Find Next.