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To display or hide formatting marks [e.g., spaces, tabs, and paragraph breaks] in a Microsoft Word document:
Word for Windows
- In Word 2010, on the tab, click . In Word 2007, from the Office Button menu, select near the bottom right corner of the menu.
- Select from the listing at the left.
- In the section titled "Always show these formatting marks on the screen", check or uncheck the appropriate boxes to view the marks of your choice. To show or hide them all, select .
- To save your changes, click .
Word for Mac OS X
- From the menu, select .
- Select .
- In the section titled "Nonprinting characters", check or uncheck the appropriate boxes to view the marks of your choice. Check to see all formatting marks.
- To save your changes, click .
You can also toggle between displaying and hiding formatting marks. To do so:
- In Word for Windows, on the tab, in the group, click the paragraph icon.
- In Word for Mac OS X, click the paragraph icon in the Standard toolbar. If you don't see the icon, from the menu, choose , and then check .
This is document ajfe in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 13:09:34.
Have you ever opened up a Word document to find it full of paragraph marks and other symbols?
If you’re editing the doc or troubleshooting a formatting issue, you may find this view especially useful. But if you don’t want to see the formatting marks, simply toggle the paragraph button–seen in the middle of the ribbon above or as described in the video–to turn them off.
If the toggle button didn’t work, you may try this method:
- From the File tab, select Options.
- Click the Display tab.
- In the section Always show these formatting marks on the screen, un-check everything except Object Anchors.
- Press OK.
For information on what the formatting symbols represent, check out this page: What do all those funny marks, like the dots between the words in my document, and the square bullets in the left margin, mean? [Note: some of the references are to earlier versions of Word, but the explanations are still generally up to date.]
119 119 people found this article helpful Updated on January 30, 2022 Go behind the scenes of your text to resolve formatting issues
What to Know
This article explains two ways to reveal the formatting marks and codes in a Microsoft Word document. It also includes information on the Reveal Formatting panel. These instructions apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013.
Temporarily Show Formatting Symbols
Microsoft Word uses bullets, numbered lists, page breaks, margins, columns, and more. To see how Word structures a document, view the formatting marks and codes associated with the text.
Quick-view the formatting Word uses in a document by toggling the feature on and off when you need it. Here's how.
To reveal the formatting symbols, go to the ribbon and select Home.
In the Paragraph group, select Show/Hide [the icon looks like a paragraph mark].
The formatting symbols appear in the document and each symbol is represented by a specific mark:
- Spaces display as dots.
- Tabs are indicated with arrows.
- The end of each paragraph is marked with a paragraph sign.
- Page breaks display as dotted lines.
To hide the formatting symbols, select Show/Hide.
Permanently Show Formatting Symbols
If you find that having the formatting symbols visible makes working with Word easier and you want to have them visible all the time, here's how to change the setting:
On the ribbon, select File.
Choose Options.
In the Word Options dialog box, select Display.
In the Always show these formatting marks on the screen section, select Show all formatting marks.
Select OK to save your changes.
Display the Reveal Formatting Panel
To find more information about the formatting of a Word document, display the Reveal Formatting panel.
Press Shift+F1 on the keyboard to display the Reveal Formatting panel.
To view information about a portion of the document, select that text.
In the Reveal Formatting panel, select a link to see detailed information about the formatting components and to make changes to the formatting.
To close the panel, select X.
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