Why Deleting a Section Break Feels Harder on a Mac
Most instructions for removing section breaks are written for Word on Windows, and two of the details they rely on simply don't match a Mac. First, the shortcut to reveal hidden formatting is different: Windows uses Ctrl+Shift+8, while Word for Mac uses Cmd+8. Until formatting marks are visible, a section break is completely invisible — you can put the cursor right on top of it and never know.
Second, and far more confusing: the Mac Delete key deletes backwards. It behaves like the Backspace key on a PC, removing whatever sits behind the cursor. Windows tutorials say "click before the break and press Delete" — follow that literally on a Mac and you delete your own text while the break survives. What you actually need on a Mac is a forward delete: Fn+Delete on a MacBook or Magic Keyboard, or the dedicated ⌦ key on a full-size keyboard.
One more piece of background that makes everything click: a section break is not a standalone character sitting between paragraphs. It lives on the paragraph mark at the end of a paragraph, and the label Word shows you — such as "Section Break (Next Page)" — actually describes how the following section starts, not a property of the paragraph the break sits on. That is why breaks so often survive deleting the text around them, and why a Next Page break parked on an empty paragraph produces the classic phantom blank page. If a blank page is your real problem, our blank-page remover guide attacks it from that angle.
How to Delete a Section Break in Word for Mac (Step by Step)
These steps work in Word 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365 for Mac. The ribbon in Word for Mac is laid out slightly differently from Windows — the ¶ button sits on the Home tab, and Draft view is under the View menu in the menu bar rather than on a ribbon tab — but everything you need is here.
Step 1: Show formatting marks with Cmd+8
Press Cmd+8 (⌘8), or click the paragraph mark button (¶) on the Home tab of the ribbon. Word for Mac now displays every hidden paragraph mark and every section break as a visible double dotted line labeled with its type. Nothing about the document changes when you toggle the marks — you are only making the invisible visible.
Step 2: Find the section break line
Scroll to the double dotted line labeled "Section Break (Next Page)", "Section Break (Continuous)", or similar. If your document is long, switch to Draft view via the View menu — Draft view stretches each break across the full width of the window so it is much harder to miss. Remember that the label describes how the next section starts, so the break responsible for a blank page is usually labeled Next Page, Even Page, or Odd Page.
Step 3: Click immediately before the break
Place the insertion point directly to the left of the double dotted line. Do not select any surrounding text — you only want the break itself.
Step 4: Press Fn+Delete to forward-delete the break
On a MacBook or a Magic Keyboard, hold the Fn key and press Delete. This performs a forward delete (⌦), removing the section break in front of the cursor. On a full-size keyboard with a numeric keypad, press the dedicated ⌦ key instead. The two sections merge into one. If you prefer to avoid the Fn combination entirely, there is an equivalent trick: click at the very start of the first line after the break and press the plain Delete key once — the break is now behind the cursor, so a backward delete removes it.
Step 5: Check the layout and save
The merged content now uses the page setup, headers, and footers of the section that followed the break. Confirm the layout still looks right, press Cmd+8 again to hide the formatting marks, and save the document. If the layout shifted unexpectedly, press Cmd+Z to undo and use the automatic fixer at the top of this page instead.
When the Break Still Won't Delete on Your Mac
Did everything above and the break is still there? These are the situations where the manual method genuinely fails, and none of them are Mac-specific quirks — they are built into how Word documents work.
It's the final section of the document. The page setup of the last section is stored on the document body itself, not on any paragraph, so there is no break character at the end of a file to delete. Pressing Fn+Delete there does nothing, and that is by design — removing it would corrupt the document. Fix the empty paragraphs in front of it instead.
The break sits on the required paragraph after a table. Word insists on a paragraph immediately following every table. When a section break attaches to that paragraph, the paragraph can't be deleted, so the break appears immortal. The safe fix is to strip the break out of the paragraph's properties while leaving the paragraph in place — tedious by hand, automatic with the tool above.
Editing restrictions or Track Changes are interfering. A protected document silently ignores your delete presses, and with Track Changes on, a deleted break keeps affecting the layout until the change is accepted. Our troubleshooting guide for section breaks that won't delete walks through unblocking each of these — the steps apply equally to Mac and Windows.
Or Skip the Keyboard Gymnastics Entirely
The uploader at the top of this page works with any .docx, whichever platform it was written on. It opens the file directly in your browser, lists every section break it finds along with the blank-page issues they cause, and removes exactly the items you approve — without ever deleting the mandatory final section settings or the required paragraph after a table, and without being fooled by protection or tracked changes. Nothing is uploaded: the entire fix runs locally on your Mac, and the repaired copy downloads with -fixed added to the file name. Free, no sign-up. For the full background on how section breaks work, see our complete guide to deleting section breaks in Word.
FAQ
What is the shortcut to show section breaks in Word on Mac?
Press Cmd+8 (⌘8). It toggles formatting marks on and off in Word for Mac, revealing paragraph marks, manual page breaks, and section breaks. The Windows equivalent is Ctrl+Shift+8 — a detail many tutorials get wrong for Mac users. You can also click the ¶ button on the Home tab of the ribbon; both do exactly the same thing.
Why does pressing Delete not remove the section break on my Mac?
The Delete key on a Mac keyboard deletes backwards — it removes the character behind the cursor, like Backspace on Windows. If your cursor sits before the section break, plain Delete eats the text in front of it and leaves the break untouched. Either click before the break and press Fn+Delete (forward delete), or click at the start of the line after the break and press plain Delete so the break is behind the cursor.
Will deleting a section break change my formatting?
It can. A section break separates two blocks of page setup: when you delete it, the sections merge and the combined content takes on the page settings, headers, and footers of the section that came after the break. In the typical blank-page scenario both sections use identical settings, so nothing visibly changes — but if your document switches orientation, margins, or headers between sections, check those after deleting.
Why can't I delete the section break at the very end of my document?
Because it is not really a break. The settings of the final section are stored on the document body itself rather than on any paragraph, so there is nothing there for the Delete key to remove — on Mac or Windows. If the end of your document shows a stubborn blank page, the cause is the empty paragraphs or paragraph-level breaks sitting before that point. The tool on this page removes those safely and never touches the final section settings.