Adding additional pages in Google Docs is a useful skill for organizing longer documents. Whether you’re writing a research paper, creating an eBook, or putting together a long report, splitting the content into multiple pages can make it more readable and navigable.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about inserting new pages in Google Docs, including how to add page breaks on desktop and mobile, as well as more advanced techniques like adding section breaks and formatting headers and footers differently across pages. Read on to become a pro at handling multi-page Docs.
How To Insert a Page Break
The easiest way to add a new page in Google Docs is by inserting a page break. Here’s how:
On Desktop
- Place your cursor where you want the new page to start
- Click Insert > Break > Page Break in the toolbar menu
- A new page will be created after the cursor, splitting your document
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Enter (Windows) or ⌘ + Enter (Mac) to add a page break.
On Mobile
- Tap the editing icon (pen icon)
- Tap the plus icon to open the insert menu
- Select Page Break to add a new page
That’s all there is to it! The page break shifts any text after the cursor down to the next page.
Removing Page Breaks
To delete a page break you’ve inserted:
- Place your cursor at the top of the page you want to combine
- Press Backspace (or Delete on mobile) to remove the break
The text from the next page will move up after the cursor.
Adding Section Breaks
Along with page breaks, Google Docs supports adding section breaks—these allow you to divide a document into sections with distinct formatting and layouts.
There are two types of section breaks:
- Continuous Section Break: Starts a new section on the same page
- Next Page Section Break: Starts the new section on the next page
To add one, click Insert > Break > Section Break and select the type you want.
Section breaks are useful for:
- Having different headers and footers in some parts of the document
- Changing page orientation for specific sections (e.g. landscape for wide tables/images)
- Resetting page numbering when starting a new chapter
And more. We’ll cover how to leverage them for headers/footers next.
Formatting Headers and Footers
Headers and footers are text areas at the top and bottom of each page for adding things like:
- Page numbers
- Document titles
- Author names
- And more
By default, they display the same on every page—but with section breaks you can have different headers and footers across document sections.
Adding Headers and Footers
Click Insert > Header & Page Number in the toolbar, then select Header or Footer. Type any text you want to appear in that area on every page.
Using Different Headers and Footers Per Section
- Add a section break where you want the new formatting to start
- Click inside the header/footer and uncheck the “Link to previous” box
- Customize the text for just that section
Now you can have tailored headers and footers for different document parts!
Conclusion
With this guide, you should now feel empowered to add pages and sections within your Google Docs documents. Key takeaways:
- Insert page breaks with the Insert menu or keyboard shortcuts
- Leverage section breaks for advanced multi-page formatting
- Customize headers and footers differently across sections
- Easily remove breaks by pressing Backspace/Delete
Implementing these best practices will help you organize any long-form Doc for better readability. Whether crafting an eBook, research paper, or report, your readers will appreciate easily navigable, professionally formatted multi-page documents.
So next time you’re authoring a long Google Doc, don’t hesitate to split it into pages and sections—your document organization will greatly benefit.
