How to Change Page Orientation in Microsoft Word?

Did you ever struck with a big table or image going out of page layout when preparing a document in Microsoft Word? Most of us will resize the table or image to fit within the visible area. However, you can easily change page orientation in Microsoft Word to align the content.

Change Page Orientation in Microsoft Word

Word allows you to create documents either in landscape or portrait orientation. By default, Word will open a document in portrait format and you change the orientation. Good part is that you can even change the page orientation when working on your document in-between.

When you are in a document, go to “Layout” menu.
Click on the “Orientation” list box.
Choose “Landscape” option from the dropdown (choose “Portrait” if your document is in different orientation).

This will change the page orientation instantly. Now, you can start preparing the document with landscape style adding large table or process diagram easily.

Change Default Page Orientation

As mentioned, Word by default open new documents in portrait orientation. Sometimes, you always want to work in landscape mode. In this case, you can permanently change the default orientation to landscape.

Open Word and go to “Layout” menu.
Click on the small arrow in the “Page Setup” group.

This will open “Page Setup” dialog box.
Select the orientation as “Landscape” under “Margins” tab.

Click on “Set As Default” button.
Word will prompt you to confirm, as the changes will be applied to the template.

Click on “Yes” to confirm the changes.

From now onwards, all new documents will be applied in landscape format. You can follow the same process to set the default orientation back to portrait.

Note: You can customize any other settings like margins or choose different paper size and set that as your default options. The changes will be applied to the current and new documents you create in future. Orientation of already existing old documents will NOT change.

Change Orientation for Specific Page

This should be the option you will be looking for in most practical cases. You may be preparing a portrait document and want to insert a large diagram in landscape mode only in one page in-between.

Open your document and go to “Layout” menu.
Click on the “Breaks” option to view the dropdown.
Select “New Page” under “Section Breaks” section. This will insert a section break and start a new section on a new page.

Now, click on the “Orientation” list box and choose “Landscape”.
This will change the page orientation into landscape from the next page onwards.

Click on the landscape page and again insert another section break to start from a next page. Now, change the orientation back to “Portrait” to make further pages in portrait mode.
This will allow you to have a single page on your document having landscape orientation while the entire document is in portrait mode.
You can insert multiple section breaks and change the orientation whenever needed.

Viewing Layout in Navigation Pane

If you want to preview all pages on the document, go to “View” menu. Enable the “Navigation Pane” checkbox. This will show the preview of all pages on your documents with the orientation.

Different Orientation for Different Pages in Word

Viewing Section Breaks

The problem with section breaks is that when you add or delete content on the previous pages, the section break will move down. If you are confused where you applied the section break, viewing all section breaks can help you to visualize the document easily.

Go to “Home” menu and click on the “Show / Hide Formatting Symbols” icon.
Alternatively, you can press “Control + Shift + *” keys (or “Control + *” keys if you use * from number pad) to toggle the formatting symbols.
Now, you can view the sections breaks and adjust the position if required.

How to Change Page Orientation in Microsoft Word?