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Text Disappearing in Word at Page Break

Anonymous
2021-02-09T15:04:37+00:00

I've noticed this the past week or so, but whenever I type in Word I lose several sentences at the page break. I can get them back by undoing, but then I have to move my next paragraph to start on the next page and that leaves up to half a page blank on the previous one. I'm a nursing student, and I write my discussion boards and papers through Word, but this formatting issue makes it very difficult to do so. I tried searching online for a solution but I haven't found anyone who seems to have the same problem as me (except for someone several years ago with 2007 Word, and even then it didn't seem like they really got any kind of actual 'fix'). 

I'm not sure which version of Word I'm using, but its probably one of the later versions. If anyone could help me out with this, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 338.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-02-09T15:36:53+00:00

    This issue has been reported over the past week or so, and you should be able to work around it by turning off "Widow/orphan control" for the Normal style.

    Press Ctrl+Shift+S to display the Apply Styles pane. Verify that the style name is Normal. If you see some other style name, you can type Normal. Click the Modify button. In the Modify Style dialog box, click Format and then click Paragraph. Go to the Line and Page Breaks tab and clear the check mark next to "Widow/orphan control." Confirm settings by clicking OK.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-26T13:30:10+00:00

    Another quick workaround is to hover your mouse over the offending page break and click when the cursor changes. This collapses the visual page break into a horizontal line and reveals the hidden text.

    Thanks so much for posting this question so Google could find it! Since I only discovered this page after realizing the solution, here are some keywords I used trying to find it:

    "hitting enter on top line of Word makes it disappear"
    "Word gap between pages covering text when I click enter"
    "Word header covering up text"

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-16T20:42:45+00:00

    Also having this issue. Here's what I have noticed. 

    1. This issue has been happening for months. I noticed it sometime in the Fall of 2020.
    2. The disappearing words only happen at the page break (I notice it especially when I am using bullet points for case briefs (I am a law student))
    3. It doesn't occur when I copy and paste text--only when I am typing and it goes onto the next page.
    4. It's hard to notice because it doesn't remove everything. I will notice it'll remove the part of the sentence going onto the next page after I have already typed multiple sentences after it. 
    5. It has to do with the Widow/Orphan function because the problem resolves once I turn it off, but it's super annoying. 

    I will record my screen next time it happens and post it on this thread.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Stefan Blom 338.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-02-17T00:28:31+00:00

    Note that this issue is already known by Microsoft. Use the workaround, that is, turn off "Widow/Orphan control," until an update has been released.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-12T20:09:57+00:00

    Hi Alys,

    Please feel free to share the requested information when you have time.

    Thanks,

    Chitrahaas

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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