How to Delete a Section in Microsoft Word

Here are the key steps to delete a section break in Microsoft Word while preserving formatting:

1. Show nonprinting characters by going to the Home tab and clicking the Show/Hide ¶ button. This will display section breaks and other hidden formatting marks.
2. Position your cursor just before the section break you want to delete.
3. Press the Delete key to remove the section break.

To delete multiple or all section breaks:

1. Go to the Home tab and click the Replace button (or press Ctrl+H).
2. Click the More > Special button and select Section Break from the list.
3. Leave the Replace with field blank and click Replace All. This will remove all section breaks at once.

Some key points:

• When you delete a section break, the text before and after joins into one section, adopting the latter section’s formatting.
• You can’t delete section breaks when Track Changes is enabled. Go to the Review tab to turn this off first.
• Deleting section breaks can mess up margins, headers/footers, page orientation, etc. So be cautious and consider using the Replace All method.
• If you have trouble selecting the break to delete, switch to Draft view temporarily using the View tab.

Let me know if you have any other questions!