1) In print Layout view, hover the mouse cursor over the gap between pages. When you are in the right spot the pointer will change into a graphic representation of the gap between pages. Click on the gap and it will shrink. Is that close to what you are looking for?

2) Try Office button / Word Options button / Advanced option / Show Document content section / turn on "Show Crop Marks" and/or "Show text Boundaries"

3) Right click on the bottom of the Word application window. You can turn on display of the page count etc, like it used to be.