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How to Move and Rearrange Pages in Word

We show you how to rearrange pages in Word using the navigation pane, as well as how to copy a whole page in Word and move it somewhere else in your document.

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When you pen a small document, it's quite easy to put everything in a logical order. You start at the beginning and finish at the end. Once a document gets longer, however, it gets unwieldy. You start to realize that perhaps you would be better off introducing a certain concept sooner, or switching two chapters or your novel around. In these cases, it's very useful to know how to rearrange pages in Word.

How to reorder pages in Word

There are a few ways to move pages in Word, but the most effective involve the use of the Word navigation pane or some simple copy and pasting. It's these two methods that we'll be covering today.

Before we start, we do recommend that you perform these changes on a separate version of your document. If you save your document out as “documentname-rearranged”, you can look at both versions and see which flows the best. With that said, let's get started:

How to Rearrange Pages in Word via the Navigation Pane

The navigation pane is an incredibly useful tool for large documents – particularly if you have split your document into separate parts with the relevant headings. Technically, the method we'll show below won't show you how to move pages in Word. Instead, you'll be reordering those ever-important headings and all of the text in their section. Many times, this is faster and more useful than moving individual pages.

Here's how you can do so:

  1. Add headings to your document
     

    If you haven't already, split your document into sections by adding Heading 1 to your main title, Heading 2 to their sub-sections, and Heading 3 for sections within that. You can do so by opening the “Home” tab in your ribbon and clicking on the preset heading options in the styles section.

    Windows 10 - Word - Home - Styles

  2. Open the headings section of the Word navigation pane
     

    Open the “View” tab in your ribbon and tick the “Navigation Pane” option in the “Show” section. When it opens on the left, make sure you're in the “Headings” tab.

    Windows 10 - Word - View - Check Navigation Pane - Headings

  3. Click and drag your heading to rearrange pages in Word
     

    You can click and drag on any heading in the navigation pane to move it before or after another heading in your document. Once you let go of your mouse button, the heading all of its content will be moved to that section of your document.

    Windows 10 - Word - View - Check Navigation Pane - Headings - Move a Section

  4. Click on your heading in the Word navigation pane to view the changes
     

    It should now comfortably sit in the place you released your mouse button. You can now make further adjustments to content and order as required.

    Windows 10 - Word - View - Check Navigation Pane - Headings - Move a Section - Result

How to Move Pages in Word by Copy and Paste

We've shown you how to reorder pages in Word based on their headings, but what if you want to swap two specific pages within a section? Here's how to copy a whole page in Word and paste it elsewhere:

  1. Select your text and use the cut tool
     

    Set your cursor at the very start of the page you want to move and hold Shift on your keyboard. Then, click at the bottom of the page to select all of the text. Alternatively, you can just click and drag.

    With your text selected, click open the “Home” tab of your ribbon and press the scissors icon in the top left or press Ctrl + X on your keyboard. This will cut your text causing it to temporarily disappear. Don't worry, we'll return it again, but make sure you don't copy anything else until you finish the next step.
     
    Windows 10 - Word - Select Text - Home - Cut

  2. Put your cursor at the start of your target page and paste your contents
     

    The paste button is next to the scissor icon in the home tab, and should look like a clipboard. You can alternatively press Ctrl + V.

    Windows 10 - Word - Move the Cursor in Place - Paste

Extra: How to Delete a Page in Word

Now you know how to rearrange pages in Word and move them using the copy and paste tools. However, what if you decide there's a page you don't want in there at all? You can follow our guide on how to delete a page in Word to safely remove it without affecting your other content.

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Extra: How to Make One Page Landscape in Word

If instead, you're wondering how to rotate a page, you can follow our guide on how to make one page landscape in Word.

 

Last Updated on February 14, 2022 7:42 pm CET by Markus Kasanmascheff

Ryan Maskell
Ryan Maskellhttps://ryanmaskell.co.uk
Ryan has had a passion for gaming and technology since early childhood. Fusing the skills from his Creative Writing and Publishing degree with profound technical knowledge, he enjoys covering news about Microsoft. As an avid writer, he is also working on his debut novel.

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