Forum Discussion
How do I Stop Word Switching to Multiple Pages View
I have a high resolution wide screen monitor. Every time I open a Word document in full screen, it switches to the Multiple Pages view (typically 2 pages, side by side). I hate this view! I can't read 2 pages at a time. I always want a single page view. Does anyone know if there is a way to stop Word changing to this view?
I am using Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2202 Build 16.0.14931.20128) 64-bit
44 Replies
Sorry mate, 3 years later, but its down to your zoom, in error you may be hitting the zoom at the bottom of the document, which if its reduced under 100%, will automatically throw up 2 pages to one page. I figured it out looking for an answer to the same problem. Thanks!!
I think it actually goes multi-page whenever there's space on the screen, which depends somewhat on screen size. But wanting to increase or decrease the "magnification" is not the same as wanting multi-page, so I would not see it as user error.
You will get more control of the view and zoom (and other settings as well) if you make use of Jay Freedman's add-in, which I believe has been mentioned previously in this thread. Look for SaveViewLocMulti.zip on his downloads page at https://jay-freedman.info/.
Note that the add-in will only work on your machine, or if you send the document to someone else who is also running the add-in of course.
Again, that's only valid for a single document. As in my last post, I, and I believe most other contributors here, are looking for a single setting to stop any document opening in multi-page view, ever, at least without our permission.
Hi, forgive me if this isn't the solution you were looking for, but I have found that in the view tab, there is an option called 'One Page' and if you select that then it will remain at one page no matter the zoom.
I think we are going round in circles here? Most people contributing seem to know about that setting. The aim is to stop any document opening in two-page view, ever (for a particular user, obviously), rather than to have to make the setting every time a document is opened in order to get back to one's preferred view.
The problem is that even if that is selected, often other documents then open in two-page view the next time they're opened, though that view has never been selected . It seems to be random. There's a bug somewhere.
There have been a few comments that this needs to be raised as a suggestion, and a generic link to the suggestions system. I think there are probably multiple suggestions there for this. Here's one I found but do post if there are any with more votes, as fragmenting the votes isn't going to help anyone:
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/27e97911-08c6-ee11-92bd-6045bd7b0481
Yet again, Microsoft is making our work days just a little harder.
Make sure that you send feedback to Microsoft. Word developers do not read these forums.
6,307 items of feedback have been offered for word. If you filter those suggestions by the options such as "We're working on this" and other such options that indicate actual action by microsoft do you know how many times feedback has mattered and actually yielded an improvement. 7. 7 times out of 6,307. They do not care at all about us beyond whether we continue to subscribe.
The core aim though is a way to stop Word doing this, as opposed to a way to set it back (yet) again when it does.
Had the same issue working on a downloaded Word document. The solution I found was to set the zoom back to 100% and I got one page to view, not 4. Hope this helps
Changing the zoom often helps, but note that the required zoom setting to get a single page view will depend on the screen size and resolution, as well as on the size of the Word window.
The other trick I found was to switch to "edit" in the View settings. Hardly annoying at all
It makes me angry that Microsoft CARES SO LITTLE about what it's customers need and how they use Microsoft Office.
There is NEVER any time that I want my documents to open in a 2 page view. Who thought this was a good design decision anyway? Why on God's green earth do Microsoft developers and program managers WANT to make it hard for users?????????
Anyone do Use Case Scenarios any more? Good user-focused design requires it. How about this one? An end user wants to view all their documents in a single page format. Many end users have requested this since 2022 at least. How ridiculously easy would it be to include a persistent, global switch where end users can CHOOSE FOR THEMSELVES how they would like to work with documents.
The solution is so incredibly simple, I can only assume that Microsoft simply does not give a rat's **bleep** about whether their end users are happy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - this is only one example of how Microsoft designs software that makes work harder (instead of easier).
Make sure that you send feedback to Microsoft developers by using the feedback facility in your version of Word. Or you can use the public feedback portal at https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472.
Disregard! When I restarted and opened an external file, it opened in 2 page view.
SaveViewLocMulti it is.
The steps you listed (in an unedited version of your reply) will only work for older versions of Word in which it was still possible to save the view and zoom with individual documents.
Word 2013 and later do not let you store view options in an individual document or template. Instead, Word starts with the settings that you specified in the last open document in the previous session (at least that is how it is supposed to work nowadays).
To restore the behavior of pre-Word 2013, use Jay Freedman's add-in, called SaveViewLocMulti (see https://jay-freedman.info/).
"Instead, Word starts with the settings that you specified in the last open document in the previous session (at least that is how it is supposed to work nowadays)."
Sorry, but that's not how it's working, which is exactly the problem. I never use two page view, NEVER. And yet Word randomly opens a document that way.
It should not take an add-in to correct this. It should not be doing it in the first place.
I'm on Office 365 home edition, constantly updated.
I've had the same problem intermittently for several years, and it drives me crazy. As others have posted, it is not because I was in two-page view previously or because vertical isn't selected--it's just random when opening files. All the "solutions" are just workarounds that require multiple clicks--this is a bug that needs to be fixed.
To get full control over the view in each document, you will have to try Jay Freedman's add-in, SaveViewLocMulti. See https://jay-freedman.info/.
Stefan_Blom
Again, that only works for documents that we create. Given collaboration, loads of the ones we work on will be originated by others.
- Here when re-opening Word, the Zoom ratio that is in effect is that, which was applied to the document that was the last one closed in the previous Word session
@Did you read his question? The answer has nothing to do with the question.
If you want to be able to save the zoom ratio and view with each document, you can make use of the SaveViewLocMulti add-in by Jay Freedman. See https://jay-freedman.info/.
