How to Turn Off Paragraph Marks in Word: A Step-by-Step Guide

As you type and edit documents in Word, you may notice strange symbols like ¶ and § appearing on your pages. These are paragraph and section break marks that show formatting in your document. While they can be useful for troubleshooting layout issues, the symbols look messy on the page.

In this guide I’ll explain what paragraph marks are, when to show or hide them and walk you through how to turn off paragraph marks in Word on both Windows and Mac.

What are Paragraph Marks in Word?

Paragraph marks (¶) are special formatting symbols that show where paragraphs, line breaks, and page breaks occur in your Word document.

Here’s a quick overview of what the different paragraph marks indicate

• ¶ – Marks the end of a paragraph This appears anytime you press Enter or Shift + Enter

• Μ – Shows a manual line break, like when you press Shift + Enter. Inserts a new line without starting a new paragraph.

• § – Indicates a section break in your document. Used to divide sections with different headers, footers, formatting, page orientation, etc.

• ↵ – Appears for a column break which splits text into multiple columns on a page.

Paragraph marks help reveal how content is formatted in your document. For example, you can see exactly where paragraphs and sections start and end.

However, many users find paragraph symbols distracting and prefer to hide them while typing and reading. Let’s look at how to toggle paragraph marks on and off.

Showing and Hiding Paragraph Marks

Paragraph marks are hidden by default in Word. Here’s how to toggle their visibility on and off:

To Show Paragraph Marks:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher (small arrow at bottom-right of Paragraph group).
3. Check the box for Show/Hide ¶.
4. Paragraph marks will now appear throughout the document.

To Hide Paragraph Marks:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Uncheck Show/Hide ¶ to toggle paragraph marks off again.

On Windows, you can also quickly show/hide paragraph marks from the toolbar:

• Click the Show/Hide ¶ button in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.
• Or press Ctrl + Shift + 8 on your keyboard.

So in just a few clicks, you can choose to make paragraph formatting marks visible or invisible in Word temporarily for troubleshooting or permanently until you change the setting again.

When to Show Paragraph Marks

Here are some cases when it can be helpful to turn on paragraph symbols in Word:

• Troubleshooting formatting – The marks clearly show unintended line breaks, spaces between paragraphs, section breaks, and other formatting issues.

• Viewing styles – The marks indicate where styles like headings, lists, and block quotes start and end in the document.

• Preparing manuscripts – Many book publishers require manuscripts to clearly show paragraph marks and line breaks.

• Learning Word – Students and new Word users can better understand formatting and structure by seeing paragraph marks.

• Collaborating – When co-editing a document, displaying paragraph marks allows everyone to see and discuss formatting issues.

So paragraph marks can be extremely useful when troubleshooting formatting problems, collaborating with others, preparing publishing manuscripts, learning Word, and viewing document styles.

When to Hide Paragraph Marks

Here are some common cases for hiding paragraph marks:

• Reading – The symbols clutter up the page for readers. Hiding them provides a clean view.

• Printing – You typically don’t want paragraph marks appearing on any printed outputs.

• Presentation – Removing paragraph symbols provides a better visual presentation for documents shared with others.

• Distraction – Many writers find the marks distracting and prefer a clean page while drafting content.

• Simple documents – If you don’t deal with complex formatting, viewing paragraph marks may be unnecessary.

So when sharing professional documents with colleagues or clients, preparing printer-friendly outputs, creating clean drafts, or working with basic formatting, hiding paragraph symbols often works best.

How to Remove Paragraph Marks in Word on Windows

When you want to hide paragraph formatting marks in Word on Windows, here are the steps:

1. Select the Home tab.
2. In the Paragraph group, click the Show/Hide ¶ button to toggle paragraph marks off.
3. You can also press Ctrl + Shift + 8 on your keyboard to show/hide marks quickly.
4. The paragraph symbols will disappear, leaving you with a clean document view.

Remember you can click the Show/Hide ¶ button again at any point to toggle paragraph marks back on once you are finished.

Here are a few additional tips for managing paragraph and formatting symbols on Word for Windows:

• Click the Dialog Box Launcher (small arrow) in the Paragraph group and uncheck Show/Hide ¶ to permanently hide marks until you recheck it.

• Select Show Formatting in the Paragraph menu to show spacing, line breaks, alignment, and other formatting marks in addition to paragraph symbols.

• Click the File tab > Options > Display and check Paragraph marks and other options to always show certain formatting symbols by default.

So with these options, you can quickly toggle paragraph marks on and off, choose to always show certain formatting marks, and customize how Word displays document formatting.

How to Turn Off Paragraph Marks on Word for Mac

Here is how you can hide paragraph symbols in Word for Mac:

1. Select the Home tab.
2. In the Paragraph group, click the Show Invisibles button to toggle paragraph marks off.
3. The paragraph symbols will disappear. Click Show Invisibles again to toggle them back on when needed.
4. You can also press ⌘ + 8 on your keyboard to quickly show/hide formatting marks.

Additionally, here are some tips for controlling paragraph marks on Word for Mac:

• Go to View > Formatting Marks and uncheck Paragraphs to hide paragraph marks until you recheck it.

• Check All under Formatting Marks to display spacing, breaks, alignment, and more.

• Go to Word > Preferences > View and check boxes like Paragraph marks to always show certain formatting symbols by default.

So on Word for Mac, you have options to toggle paragraph marks on/off, choose which formatting marks to view, and set defaults to customize how document formatting appears.

Troubleshooting Paragraph Marks

If you are having problems with unwanted paragraph symbols appearing, try these troubleshooting tips:

• Toggle Show/Hide ¶ off and on – Sometimes marks get stuck on and resetting fixes it.

• Press Ctrl + Z to undo any recent formatting changes.

• Save and close the document, then reopen. This resets the view.

• Check for stray empty paragraphs without text between paragraphs. Delete if found.

• Make sure styles like titles and headings aren’t indented or have extra spacing.

• Adjust alignment and line spacing settings if asymmetrical.

• Look for manual line or column breaks and remove any unnecessary ones.

• Mark all paragraphs as consistent styles like Body Text or Normal.

So review any recent formatting changes, correct styling issues, remove stray breaks and spaces, and reset the document view to resolve stubborn paragraph formatting symbols.

Final Thoughts

The key points to remember about paragraph marks in Word are:

• Symbols like ¶ and Μ reveal formatting like paragraphs, breaks, and sections.

• They are useful for troubleshooting but can distract from reading and printing.

• Toggle visibility using the Show/Hide¶ button or Ctrl + Shift + 8.

• Show marks when collaborating, preparing manuscripts, or learning Word.

• Hide them when reading, presenting, printing, or writing new drafts.

• Check for formatting issues if you have problems removing marks.

Being able to easily show and hide paragraph marks gives you control over document views in Word. Learning when to display or hide the symbols can help boost your productivity.

Understanding how to turn paragraph marks on and off will make work far less frustrating! No more dealing with messy, cluttered pages when all you want is a clean document.