In Microsoft Word there has always been two key page breaks types, a soft page break and a hard page break and they both have different roles.  I want to take some time to explain the difference between the two.

A soft page break is inserted by Microsoft Word when you get to the end of the page and the program can no longer fit any more text on the page.  How much can be fit on the page is dictated by Page Layout elements such as page size, orientation, margins and font size and type.

The soft page break cannot be removed by the user and as such we really don’t have  a lot of control over where it is placed on the page except for modifying the Page Layout elements I talked about before.

A Hard Page break is different, you can insert a hard page break at anytime into a document.  The hard page break tells the program that this is where you want to end the text on this page and then start a new page.

To insert a hard page break you can do this in Microsoft Office 2003 by using the Insert menu and then choosing break from the drop down menu.  In Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 you can choose the same option from the ribbon.  The easiest way to insert a hard page break is to use the shortcut keys and the shortcut key for a Hard page break is ….. [Ctrl] +[Enter]