How can I remove sections?
Asked by jricjr:

I try backspace, I try clicking on it, but I can't seem to delete the page section, only the content in it. I guess I could probably do it with the source editor, but there must be an easier way?


Answers:
author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Click on the "page layout" button to get the section menu to drop down, click on the section you want to kill off, then use "remove section" from the menu

comments: author: Ricky McMaster
body: Yes this works perfectly, thank you.


author: Peter Scriven
body: Took me a second to find the "Page Layout" button, for those similarly blind:

![2022-02-11 11_49_30-.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/182880iC2EEE5405FED085D/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2022-02-11 11_49_30-.png")


author: dougknudsen
body: Unfortunately, the option to non-destructively remove multi-sections as shown in the above comment and return to a single panel is only available in Server/Data-Center. If you are on the Cloud, the editor has regressed to a destructive removal of sections only.

It is rather a pain after using Server for all these years.


author: Sherryl Savage
body: Thanks for this , I was trying to do just that after moving to cloud version, that messed things up a bit with section layouts . Tried cleaning up page and almost removed multiple sections that were multi panels . Saved me :) Would be helpful to have a hack for cloud version to delete one panel in a multi panel / 'column' section. :) , or better include it in the cloud version. :)


author: ABC Taylor
body: This demonstrates how much the editor has to improve still. This is a pretty basic ask.

comments: author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Actually, this is a bit of an odd one - most of us are screaming to get sections back!


author: Aleksei Kshumanev
body: Well, I've just found an easy workaround.

* Create a new temporary page.
* Create a section on this new page via "Other macros" -\> "Section" -\> "Insert".  
  ![Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.43.33.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/214353iB792347C0871E35B/image-dimensions/355x166?v=v2 "Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.43.33.png")
* Copy and paste all the section parts from your original corrupted page into this section in your new page. It will not be corrupted inside of the section macros.  
  ![Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.39.03.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/214350i5A91E293A7360279/image-dimensions/522x75?v=v2 "Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.39.03.png")  

  ![Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.37.54.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/214351iE639EF0AA4CEF2B0/image-dimensions/297x116?v=v2 "Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.37.54.png")
* Open "Page layout" in your original corrupted page and press "Remove section" until your document is not COMPLETELY blank. Make sure it is.  
  ![Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.38.12.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/214352i191B0E3FD4645DBF/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2022-09-05 at 23.38.12.png")
* Select and copy all the data from the section in the temporary page. Paste it into the old empty page.
* Remove the temporary page.
* Congratulations :)


author: Shawn Connelly
body: Unfortunately, there is no way to remove sections (page layouts) non-destructively. :(  

<br />

comments: author: Jan Herzog
body: There is a way to do this using the free 'Confluence Source Editor' add-on:

[https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1210722/confluence-source-editor?hosting=server\&tab=overview](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1210722/confluence-source-editor?hosting=server&tab=overview)

Once installed and activated, you have to (carefully!!) remove all the tags pertaining to the layout macro (\<ac:layout...\>) including their respective closing tags by hand.

It's not a pretty solution, but it has worked for me several times. And using the built-in Search \& Replace function of the add-on, it's not that hard to do, either.

**But it would sure be nice if Atlassian added a possibility to remove section/layout macros without deleting all the content that's in them without hacking the source code!**


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud