Word Paragraph Symbol Meaning

Nonprinting Formatting Marks In Word

Word Paragraph Symbol Meaning

The ¶ is a symbol meaning the end of a paragraph. Word will show you where you have pressed Enter by displaying this symbol. The symbol doesn't print. It's just there to enable you to see what's going on. You can delete a paragraph mark in the same way as you would delete text.

The pilcrow, ¶, also called the paragraph mark, paragraph sign, paraph, or blind P, is a typographical character marking the start of a paragraph. The pilcrow may be used at the start of separate paragraphs or to designate a new paragraph in one long piece of copy. Explanation of the Symbol Begin a new paragraph Capitalize a lowercase letter Use a lowercase letter Insert a missing word, letter, or punctuation mark Example ^He explained the rules of Henderson middle School great skiing trips in the^)A/fnter My friend Joe!ln^w green car.

Word Paragraph Symbol Meaning

Symbol For Paragraph In Word

Nonprinting formatting marks show you where certain kinds of formatting have been applied in your Word document. For example, you can see where the tab key has been pressed and where a page break has been inserted.

Formatting marks are not visible by default, and they do not appear when your document is printed. However, you can easily switch them on and they are an invaluable tool if you need to resolve any formatting issues you might have in your document.

Word Paragraph Symbol Meaning

To make nonprinting formatting characters visible, either click the Show/Hide paragraph marks and other hidden formatting symbols button (see image below), or press ctrl-shift-8. This actually toggles the display, so you can hide them again by repeating this action.

Word Paragraph Symbol Meaning

Controlling Formatting Marks In Word Options

If you click the File tab > Options > Display, you can see a series of checkboxes that help you control what formatting marks you see.

Word Paragraph Markers Meaning

Click to enlarge

Their use is not intuitive and it goes something like this:

  • if you put a check in the Show all formatting marks box and click OK, you will see all formatting marks in your document. This is like clicking on the Show formatting marks button in the ribbon . If you go back and uncheck that box, it hides all formatting marks and is the same as toggling them off using the Show formatting marks button again.
  • if you put a check in any of the other formatting boxes, those kinds of formatting will display all the time – whether you have toggled the Show formatting marks button on or off.
  • you might have guessed that the Show all formatting marks check box in Word Options is pretty much redundant because we have a much easier tool to use on the ribbon that does the same thing: the Show formatting marks button .

You know what? I just wouldn’t change the Word Options from their default settings.

Word Paragraph Symbol Meanings

What Do The Formatting Marks Mean In Word 2010?

Now that we’ve seen how to turn on and off the display of formatting marks, let’s find out what they all mean.

Word Paragraph Symbol Meaning

Microsoft Word Paragraph Symbols Meaning

Formatting MarkMeaning
paragraph mark (pilcrow)
line break
Column Break
Page Break
Continuous Section Break
Line and Page Break
.Space
°Nonbreaking Space
?Tab
¬Conditional Hyphen
¤End Of Cell Marker (tables)
Anchor