How to Make One Page Landscape in Word

To make one page landscape in Word, select the content for that page, open Page Setup, choose Landscape and set Apply to to Selected text. Word then wraps that content in section breaks and rotates only that part. The reason this works, and the reason the obvious approach fails, is the same: orientation belongs to a section, not to a page. If your document is a single section, Landscape rotates everything. If you add only one section break, everything after it turns too. Once you know where the section breaks need to go, mixing landscape and portrait pages takes about a minute.

Orientation is stored per section

Every Word document is made of one or more sections. A new document is a single section, so Layout > Orientation > Landscape turns the whole thing. Microsoft's article on section breaks explains that each section can carry its own formatting, such as columns, headers and footers, and page borders. Orientation, paper size and margins work the same way.

The important catch: a page break (Ctrl+Enter, or Insert > Page Break) does not start a new section. It moves text to the next page, but that page still belongs to the same section and must share its orientation. Only a section break from Layout > Breaks can separate a landscape page from portrait ones.

Method 1: Apply to Selected text

This is the quickest method and the one Microsoft's orientation guide recommends for part of a document.

1. Select the content that should be landscape: the table, chart or paragraphs.
2. Open the Page Setup dialog with the small launcher arrow at the bottom right of the Page Setup group on the Layout tab.
3. On the Margins tab, choose Landscape.
4. In Apply to at the bottom, choose Selected text, and click OK.

Word inserts a section break before and after your selection and rotates only the middle. The Selected text option appears only when something is selected, so step 1 is the one not to skip. The other choices in Apply to are also useful: This section changes only the section the cursor is in, and This point forward inserts a break at the cursor and rotates everything from there to the end.

Method 2: Insert section breaks yourself

When you want exact control over where the landscape block starts and ends, or the document already has several sections, insert the breaks by hand.

1. Turn on formatting marks with Show/Hide ¶ on the Home tab or Ctrl+Shift+8, so you can see where the breaks land.
2. Put the cursor at the very start of the landscape content and choose Layout > Breaks > Next Page from the Section Breaks group, not Page from the group above it.
3. Put the cursor at the start of the content that should return to portrait and insert another Next Page section break.
4. Click inside the middle section and choose Orientation > Landscape.

You need two breaks. With only the first one, everything after it is one section and turns landscape. And the break type matters: a Continuous section break starts a new section on the same page, which cannot have a different orientation from the page it shares.

Finish the landscape page

Margins and paper size

With the cursor in the landscape section, choose a preset such as Narrow from Margins; only that section changes. Paper size is per section too. If a table is too wide even for a landscape Letter page, choose Legal or Tabloid from Size, or use Size > More Paper Sizes to reach Apply to. Check that the office printer takes that paper before you send it.

Table width

Rotating the page does not widen the table. Click inside the table and choose Table Layout > AutoFit > AutoFit Window so it stretches to the new width. If the table runs over more than one page, select its first row and click Repeat Header Rows so the column headings print on every page. On the Row tab of Table Properties, clearing Allow row to break across pages stops a single row from being split between two pages.

Headers, footers and page numbers

A new section is linked to the previous section's header and footer by default. To change the header on the landscape page only, double-click it, turn off Link to Previous on the Header & Footer tab, and edit it. Remember to check the portrait section that follows, too: it is still linked to the landscape one unless you unlink it.

The footer on a landscape page prints along the long edge of the rotated sheet, so in a bound report the page number ends up on the side. If numbering restarts at 1 on the landscape page, go to Insert > Page Number > Format Page Numbers and choose Continue from previous section.

Worked example: one landscape table in an inspection report

Ridgeline Manufacturing's maintenance team writes a quarterly production line inspection report. Section 1 (overview) and section 3 (follow-up plan) are ordinary portrait text. Section 2 is a results table with eight columns: line, equipment, units inspected, passed, needs action, replacement part, owner and re-inspection date. On a portrait page the last two columns wrap and the table is hard to read.

Draft view shows no section breaks, so the report is a single section. That explains why the maintenance lead's first try, Layout > Orientation > Landscape, rotated all three sections.

The fix:

1. Open the Navigation Pane from the View tab and click "2. Inspection Results by Line" to jump to it. Select from that heading to the end of the table.
2. In Page Setup, choose Landscape and Apply to Selected text. Section breaks appear before and after section 2, and only that page turns.
3. Click in the table and apply AutoFit Window. All eight columns now fit on one line.
4. The heading of section 3 had come along onto the landscape page. With formatting marks on, it was clear why: the selection had included that heading, so the closing break landed after it. Undo, reselect only up to the end of the table, and reapply.
5. The footer showed page 1 on the landscape page. Format Page Numbers > Continue from previous section fixed the sequence.
6. Save as PDF and check: page 1 portrait, page 2 landscape, page 3 portrait. PDF keeps each page's size and orientation, so the customer sees exactly the same layout.

👉 How to Delete a Blank Page in Word That Won't Go Away

Check which section you are in

In a document with several sections, knowing which section the cursor is in prevents rotating the wrong page. Right-click the status bar at the bottom of the Word window and check Section; the section number then appears at the left of the status bar. When the cursor is on the landscape page and the number differs from the pages around it, the breaks are in the right place. Double-clicking a section break also opens Page Setup for the section before it, which is handy for checking orientation and margins one section at a time.

Troubleshooting

When landscape isn't the best answer

If only one column overflows, reducing the table font by a point and narrowing cell margins often fits it on a portrait page. A table with more than ten columns can be transposed so items run down the page. If the table lives in Excel, printing it to a one-page PDF and attaching it as an appendix is another option. But when readers need the table and the explanation side by side, a landscape page inside the report is the most readable choice.

Version differences

The steps are the same in Microsoft 365 and Word 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024. In Word 2013 and earlier, the Layout tab was named Page Layout, with the same Orientation, Breaks and Page Setup controls. Section orientation is saved in the file, so it survives opening the document in another version.

FAQ

Q. Can I make just one table landscape?

Yes. Select the table, open Page Setup, choose Landscape and set Apply to Selected text. Word adds the section breaks and rotates only that page.

Q. How do I give the landscape page a different header?

Double-click the header on the landscape page, turn off Link to Previous, and edit it. Check the next portrait section as well, since it follows the landscape section's header until you unlink it.

Q. Does the landscape page survive saving as PDF?

Yes. PDF stores each page's size and orientation separately, so the file looks the same as it does in Word, and printers rotate each page as needed.

Q. How do I turn the landscape page back to portrait?

Click inside the landscape section and choose Orientation > Portrait. The section breaks can stay; to remove them, turn on formatting marks, put the cursor before each break and press Delete.

How inline AI handles report layouts

inline AI opens the report from your shared drive, turns only the pages with wide tables to landscape, fits the tables, keeps headers and page numbers in sequence, and saves the PDF. Next quarter's report comes out in the same layout from a single request.