Office Settings & Configuration

How to Restore Normal Vertical View in Word Documents

Maira Mehtab Sep 28, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user needs to restore the standard vertical scrolling layout because Word pages currently appear side-by-side like a flip book.

Product: Word
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Reading or editing a document where pages are displaying horizontally or are zoomed in too much.
Observed behavior: Pages display like a flip book due to Side-to-Side movement being enabled, or the zoom level is set unusually high (e.g., 156%), disrupting the normal reading experience.

Before you start

Ensure your document is set to Print Layout view, as other views like Read Mode or Web Layout inherently change how pages are displayed and scrolled on your screen.

Solution 1Recommended

Change Page Movement to Vertical

Switch off the Side-to-Side movement setting to restore standard vertical document scrolling.

The Side-to-Side page movement feature changes your document into a horizontal, flip-book style view. Switching this back to Vertical will immediately restore the traditional up-and-down scrolling.

Open the View Tab

Look at the ribbon menu at the top of your Word application and click on the 'View' tab.

Locate Page Movement

Find the 'Page Movement' group within the View ribbon.

Select Vertical

Click the 'Vertical' option. This instantly disables the side-by-side flip-book view and restores normal scrolling.

View Restored: Your document should now scroll up and down normally. Note that 'View Side by Side' is a different feature used to compare two separate documents and does not cause this specific flip-book behavior.

Solution 2

Adjust Document Zoom Level and Page Layout

Reset the zoom settings if the document appears too large or displays irregularly.

WPS Office Free

Easily Manage Document Views with WPS Writer

WPS Writer offers an intuitive interface to control page layouts, zoom levels, and reading views. You can easily switch back to a standard vertical layout or adjust page sizing with just a few clicks.

1. Open your Document: Launch WPS Writer and open your .doc or .docx file.
2. Access the View Tab: Click on the 'View' tab located in the top ribbon menu.
3. Select Print Layout: Ensure 'Print Layout' is selected for a traditional vertical scrolling experience.
4. Reset Zoom: Click '100%' or 'One Page' in the Zoom group to reset the standard view size instantly.

Quickly toggle between vertical and side-by-side reading modes.Fully compatible with Microsoft Word (.docx) formats with zero formatting loss.Built-in eye-protection and dark mode features for a comfortable reading experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my Word document suddenly change to a side-by-side view?

This usually happens if you accidentally click the 'Side to Side' option in the View tab, or if your laptop touchpad gestures inadvertently triggered a change in the Page Movement settings.

How do I exit Read Mode in Word?

If your document is in Read Mode (which hides the editing ribbon and changes the page layout to horizontal pages), simply press the 'Esc' key on your keyboard, or click 'View' on the top menu and select 'Edit Document'.

Can I lock the zoom level in my documents so it doesn't change?

While Word doesn't natively have a permanent global 'lock' for zoom levels across all files, saving a document will generally retain its specific zoom settings (like 100%) for the next time you open that specific file on the same device.

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