# Pesky Word Document Editing Problem! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788 "2012-01-26T23:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/1 "2012-01-26T23:56:38Z")
What do you do when MS Word (Office Suite 2007) won’t let you delete an extra bank page at the end of your document? When I click the “P” button, to show formatting, there is not even a page break! All it shows is a “P” symbol, like a paragraph would be trying to start on that last (blank) page…but no matter what, MS Word won’t let me delete that “P” or even bump it to the page above! FYI: By “P”, I really mean that backwards “P” symbol to reveal paragraphing, spaces, page breaks, etc. PLEASE HELP! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/2 "2012-01-27T00:01:21Z")
WAG, because I’m not sure I understand the problem: Could you have your paragraphs formatted with space at the end? Go to the Page Layout tab and look under paragraph block. If there is space in the “after” section, try reducing it to zero. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/3 "2012-01-27T01:39:46Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > WAG, because I’m not sure I understand the problem: > > Could you have your paragraphs formatted with space at the end? Go to the Page Layout tab and look under paragraph block. If there is space in the “after” section, try reducing it to zero. Thanks, I’ll try it! ---
**Author:** ![ClevelandProud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@ClevelandProud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClevelandProud)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/4 "2012-01-27T02:15:11Z")
Pilcrow The pilcrow (¶), also called the paragraph mark, paragraph sign, paraph, alinea (Latin: a lineā, “off the line”), or blind P, is a typographical character commonly used to denote individual paragraphs. It is present in: Unicode as: U+00B6 In HTML: ¶ > **[Pilcrow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilcrow)** > > The pilcrow, ¶, is a handwritten or typographical character used to identify a paragraph. It is also called the paragraph mark (or sign or symbol), paraph, or blind P. > The pilcrow may be used at the start of separate paragraphs or to designate a new paragraph in one long piece of copy, as Eric Gill did in his 1931 book An Essay on Typography. The pilcrow was a type of rubrication used in the Middle Ages to mark a new train of thought, before the convention of visually discrete paragraphs was c... ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/5 "2012-01-27T02:35:17Z")
Each paragraph has an attribute called “Page break before”, you’ll want to make sure it’s turned off for the empty paragraph in question. ---
**Author:** ![Clementine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8dc957/32.png) [@Clementine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clementine)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/6 "2012-01-28T03:47:58Z")
Is there an image or a table on the previous page? Sometimes Word seems to get confused. Make sure you have the “invisible characters” (pilcrow) clicked in the menu so that you can see pilcrows on the page. Now, click on the table or picture. Cut it (with ctrl+x). Then put your cursor at the end of the page and remove extra pilcrows. Then paste the image on your clipboard (ctrl+v). Hopefully the extra page should be gone. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pesky-word-document-editing-problem/610788/7 "2012-01-28T17:14:30Z")
Collectively it’s a murder of pilcrows.