Fix Page Break Causing Blank Pages in Google Docs to PDF
A manual page break that creates a blank page in the PDF is usually placed immediately before a section that was already starting on a new page naturally, or is placed twice in a row. Here is how to find and remove the problematic breaks.
Show page breaks in the document
Press Ctrl+Shift+8 to show hidden formatting marks. Page breaks appear as a dotted horizontal line with the label 'Page break'. Scan the document looking for these marks, especially in locations that correspond to the blank pages in your PDF.
Remove duplicate page breaks
If you see two page break symbols next to each other with only an empty paragraph between them, delete one of them. Click immediately before the first page break and press Delete until both the break and the empty paragraph are removed, leaving just one page break.
Remove page breaks before heading styles
Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles in Google Docs have a 'Keep with next' and sometimes a 'Page break before' option built in. If a manual page break was also added before the heading, the combination creates a blank page. Delete the manual page break and let the heading style handle the page break.
Replace page breaks with spacing adjustments
In some cases, a page break was used to push content to the bottom of a page or to create visual separation. Replace the page break with paragraph spacing adjustments. Select the paragraph after the break, go to Format > Line and paragraph spacing, and increase the 'Space before paragraph' value instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I tell the difference between a page break and a section break?
With paragraph marks visible, page breaks show as a single dotted line labeled 'Page break'. Section breaks show as a double dotted line with the type labeled, such as 'Section break (next page)' or 'Section break (continuous)'.
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