How to have both landscape and portrait pages in word: Easily mix landscape and portrait orientations in your Word document

If you want your Word document to contain both landscape and portrait pages, you can achieve this by setting section breaks and applying orientation changes to specific sections. Here’s a straightforward step-by-step guide:

1. Place your cursor at the beginning of the page where you want the new orientation (landscape or portrait) to begin.
2. Go to Layout (or Page Layout in some versions).
3. Click on Breaks and select Next Page under Section Breaks. This creates a new section.
4. Now, with your cursor in the new section, go to Layout > Orientation and choose either Portrait or Landscape as needed.
5. If you want to switch back, insert another section break at the end of your landscape (or portrait) page and repeat the process.

By using section breaks, Word will only change the orientation for the pages in that specific section—making it easy to blend landscape layouts (great for tables, wide images, or design plans) with standard portrait text pages in one document.

As a designer, I often rotate orientation for floor plans or wide diagrams. If you frequently work with spatial layouts or need to digitally sketch different room arrangements in 2D plans, toggling between page orientations in Word or design tools is essential for clarity and presentation.

Tips 1:

Remember to use section breaks—not page breaks—since only section breaks allow page orientation changes within the same document. To visualize how your content flows across orientations, use the 'View > Multiple Pages' feature. This lets you preview your document holistically, similar to how a designer would review floor plan transitions between different rooms or spaces.

FAQ

Q: How do I apply landscape orientation to just one page in Word?

A: Insert section breaks before and after the page you want to set as landscape, then change the orientation for that section only.

Q: Can I use these techniques in Microsoft Word Online?

A: Most formatting features are available in the desktop version. The online version supports some orientation changes, but section management is more limited.

Q: Will headers and footers change between portrait and landscape pages?

A: They may appear differently; you can link or unlink headers/footers in each section to customize as needed.

Q: Can I copy the orientation settings when moving or copying pages?

A: The section break and its formatting settings move with the content, but double-check after pasting into a new document.

Q: Why would a designer need both orientations in one document?

A: It allows for versatile presentations—for example, placing wide graphics, tables, or floor plans (landscape) alongside standard written content (portrait) in a professional look.