When you insert a page break, a special "page break" character is inserted into your document. When the document is printed, this character tells the printer to start a new page.
The Return key, on the other hand, inserts a paragraph mark. The paragraph mark has a format that indicates how much vertical space it is to occupy, and that much vertical space appears when the document is printed. Printing that empty space may or may not cause the printer to start a new page; it will only do so if it runs out of space on the current page.
When you want to force a new page to start, it's not a good idea to use
paragraph marks. Any change in the length of the text preceding the intended page break
will mess up the effect, and you'd have to keep adding and deleting paragraph marks to
fit.
Copyright 1996 by the Curators of the University of Missouri