Ms Word has almost all the settings and formatting options you may think of. Most of the times, they help us achieve what we need. However, there are also examples where such sophisticated settings are turned on/off without our knowledge and cause undesirable effects. One such example I faced is table starting from the next page.
Problem
My Ms Word table was always jumping to next page even after having lot of space in the previous page. No page/section break and no blank lines before table but still irrespective of what I do, table always started on the next page.
Four Solution: Prevent table from jumping to next page
Problem #1: Move with text disabled
Solution: To correct this problem,
- Select the entire table and go to Layout Tab and click Properties.
- In Table Properties window go to Table, and click Positioning under Text wrapping options.
- Check the box against “Move with text” and close all the windows by clicking Ok
If this was the root cause, then now your table should occupy empty space as desired. You can try other solutions is problem persists.
Problem #2: Incorrect setup of repeat header rows
Ms Word provides a feature to repeat header row when table extends to new page. This feature is useful however, incorrect setup of repeat header rows can make your table start from next page.
Solution: Turn off repeat header rows
- Select the entire table.
- Go to Layout tab and deselect “Repeat Header Rows”
If this solves the problem, you can again setup table to repeat header rows using the following steps
Correct way to Repeat Header Rows
- Select only the table rows you want to repeat when table extends to next page
- Go to Layout tab and select “Repeat Header Rows”
If problems persists, try the remaining methods
Problem #3: Page break before setting
Ms Word has a feature that allow you to start text, table or any object always at top of the page by automatically adding page break. This feature is beneficial in many occasions. However, enabling this option knowingly or unknowingly can create unwanted formatting issues which is hard to detect. The biggest problem here is that Ms Word don’t show page break it has inserted even when show/hide formatting option is enabled.
Solution: Remove “Page break before” setting
- Select the entire table
- Go to Home tab and open Paragraph options by clicking at the arrow at the bottom right corner of paragraph group
- Go to “Line and Page Breaks” tab of Paragraph window
- Uncheck the box against “Page break before” and click ok
If the above method doesn’t work, you may try method 4
Problem #4: “Keep with next” option turned on for table
Solution: Turn off “keep with next” option for table
- Select the entire table
- Open Paragraph options by going to Home tab and clicking at the arrow at the bottom right corner of paragraph group
- In “Line and Page Break” tab and uncheck “Keep with next” option and click OK
Video showing all four solutions
Conclusion
The following 4 settings of Ms Word can help you prevent table starting on next page
- Enable “move with text” option
- Correct use of “Repeat row header”
- Turning off “Page break before” setting
- Turning off “keep with next” setting