The document I'm working with will not let me delete a "next page" break which is necessary to make sense. The specific page starts out in non-column form, then a break, and columns are started. The break is a "next page" break, which takes us to the next page, but should be a "continuous" break as the starting paragraph is quite small and refers the columns. Is it possible to have a page be both regular and columns?

It is certainly possible to have columns on a page that also has text that is not in columns.


Columns


If I had to guess, I would guess that you changed not only the columns but the margins.


You can post a sample document here if you want. It should not contain any confidential or proprietary information. How to attach a screenshot or file in this forum.

If you are saying that you lose formatting as you delete the section break, that is normal in Word, because a section break stores the section formatting (page setup, newspaper columns and headers and footers) of the preceding section. See https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Formatting/...thSections.htm (but note that the article hasn't been updated for the ribbon versions of Word).

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

You don't need to delete a section break in order to change it to a Continuous Break.

Charles' link contains guidance on how you can change an existing section break to be continuous. look for "I added a next-page Section break to my document. It should have been a continuous Section break instead." Delete a Next-Page Section Break that Word won't delete

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia