📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓
In this article
You add one line to page 2 and every heading after it slides to the bottom of a page. You need one wide table in landscape and the whole document flips. Both problems come from not knowing two kinds of breaks. This lesson fixes page layout for good.
Margins, size, orientation
Layout › Margins (Normal 2.54 cm, Narrow 1.27 cm), Size (A4 for India, not US Letter), Orientation (Portrait/Landscape). Check Size first on files from US templates: Letter is shorter and wider than A4, which messes up printing.
Page break: Ctrl+Enter
Never press Enter repeatedly to push text to the next page; any edit above shifts it. Press Ctrl+Enter to insert a page break. Better still, for headings that should always start a new page: Paragraph settings › Line and Page Breaks › Page break before, set on the Heading 1 style.
Keep things together
In the same Line and Page Breaks tab:
- Keep with next: a heading never sits alone at the bottom of a page (headings have it on by default).
- Keep lines together: a paragraph isn’t split across pages.
- Widow/Orphan control: no single stray line at the top or bottom.
Section breaks: different layout in one document
A section is a part of the document with its own margins, orientation, columns, headers and page numbering. Layout › Breaks › Section Breaks › Next Page starts a new section on a new page.
One landscape page in a portrait report:
- Put a Next Page section break before the wide table and another after it.
- Click inside the middle section, Layout › Orientation › Landscape. Only that section changes.
Continuous section breaks start a new section on the same page, used for switching to two columns mid-page.
Headers, footers and page numbers
Double-click the top or bottom margin to edit. Insert › Page Number › Bottom of Page › Plain Number 2 for centred numbers, or type “Page ” then Insert › Quick Parts › Field › Page, “ of ”, and NumPages for “Page 3 of 12”.
- No number on the cover: tick Different First Page.
- Start at 1 after the contents pages: put a section break before the main text, click in its footer, untick Link to Previous, then Page Number › Format Page Numbers › Start at 1.
Where beginners go wrong
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Enter-Enter-Enter to reach the next page | Ctrl+Enter or Page break before |
| Whole document goes landscape | Use section breaks around the landscape part |
| Can’t change one section’s header | Untick Link to Previous |
| Prints badly on A4 | Paper size was Letter |
Practice
Download the practice document below. Apply the margins, breaks, a landscape section and footers listed at the top. The task list is at the top of the document; tick each one off as you go.
📎 Practice files for this article
- 📘Lesson 3 practice documentSet margins, page breaks, a landscape section and page-numbered footers.⬇ DOCX · 36 KB
Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.
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