How to Show Paragraph Marks in Word (Windows and Mac)

To show paragraph marks in Word, click the pilcrow button (¶) on the Home tab, or press Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows and Command+8 on a Mac. Press the same shortcut again to hide them. Those little symbols reveal where every paragraph ends, and they make it far easier to spot stray spaces, empty lines and odd breaks that wreck your layout.

Show paragraph marks in Word with the ribbon button

This works on both Windows and Mac, and it is the easiest method to remember.

1. Open your document in Word.
2. Click the Home tab.
3. In the Paragraph group, find the button that looks like a backwards P with a double stem. This symbol is called a pilcrow.
4. Click it once. Paragraph marks, spaces, tabs and other hidden formatting characters appear.
5. Click it again to hide them.

The Show/Hide button is a toggle, so the button looks highlighted when marks are on. If you cannot see the button because the window is narrow, widen the window or open the Paragraph group menu.

Keyboard shortcuts

Platform	Shortcut	Notes
Windows	Ctrl+Shift+8	Use the 8 on the top row, or Ctrl+* where available
Mac	Command+8	Works in current versions of Word for Mac
Windows (ribbon keys)	Alt, H, 8	Press the keys one after another

If the shortcut does nothing, check your keyboard layout. Some non-English layouts place the asterisk or the 8 differently, and some laptops need the Fn key. In that case, use the ribbon button instead. Also make sure another program has not claimed the same shortcut.

Word for the web and mobile

The desktop apps have the full set of options. Word for the web and the phone and tablet apps have fewer, and the location of the formatting marks control can differ between versions. If you cannot find it, look in the Home tab or the View options, or check Microsoft’s official help at Microsoft Support. For complex layout work, the desktop version is the more reliable choice.

What the symbols mean

Once formatting marks are on, you will see several symbols:

• A ¶ at the end of each paragraph, created when you press Enter.
• Small dots between words, showing ordinary spaces. A non-breaking space appears as a small raised circle instead.
• A right-pointing arrow, marking a tab.
• A bent arrow, showing a manual line break created with Shift+Enter.
• A dotted line labelled Page Break or Section Break.

These marks never print and do not change the document. They are only for your view on screen. For background on the symbol itself, see the Wikipedia article on the pilcrow.

Show paragraph marks in Word permanently

On Windows

1. Go to File, then Options.
2. Choose Display.
3. Under “Always show these formatting marks on the screen”, tick Paragraph marks, or other marks you want, such as Spaces and Tab characters.
4. Click OK.

On Mac

1. Open the Word menu and choose Preferences (or Settings in newer versions).
2. Select View.
3. Under “Show non-printing characters”, tick the marks you want visible.

Setting specific marks to be always on means the main toggle may behave slightly differently, because it switches the remaining marks on and off. If you see marks you did not expect, revisit these settings.

Why paragraph marks help

They make layout problems easy to spot and are one of the best troubleshooting tools in Word. With marks visible, you can:

• Find extra empty paragraphs that cause a stray blank page at the end.
• Spot double spaces between words.
• Tell whether a gap is made of spaces, tabs or empty paragraphs.
• See manual line breaks that stop text from flowing or justifying properly.
• Understand why a heading will not stay with its text.

To delete an extra paragraph, place the cursor just before the mark and press Delete, or right after it and press Backspace. Take care: removing a paragraph mark joins the two paragraphs, and the joined text may take on the formatting of one of them, which can surprise you. If that happens, press Ctrl+Z (Command+Z on Mac) to undo.

Using Find and Replace with paragraph marks

Word also lets you search for paragraph marks. Press Ctrl+H (Command+Shift+H on some Mac versions, or use Edit, Find, Advanced Find and Replace), click More, then Special, and choose Paragraph Mark, which enters the code ^p. This is handy when text pasted from a website or PDF has a hard return at the end of every line. Replace double marks (^p^p) with a temporary character first, then replace single marks with a space, and finally restore the real paragraph breaks. Work on a copy of the document so you can undo any mistakes.

Common mistakes and troubleshooting

• Marks will not appear: make sure you are in the document body, not a text box with locked formatting, and that the Show/Hide button is not greyed out because of protection.
• Using Enter for spacing: pressing Enter several times to create a gap is a common habit. Use paragraph spacing in the Paragraph settings instead.
• Using spaces to align: use tabs, indents or tables, which are easier to correct.
• Trying to print the marks: they do not print. If you need a printed record of the structure, take a screenshot.

Once your document is tidy, you may fancy a break from the screen. Our quick reads on the sequels to The Giver and what animal pepperoni is made from are good places to start.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Learning how to use paragraph marks in Word turns mystery formatting into something you can see and fix. Remember the shortcut, learn the symbols and set your preferred marks to stay on, and layout headaches will be much easier to solve.