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One direct way of removing paragraph marks in Word is to do it manually. You could also invoke a soft return via the keyboard shortcut 'Shift + Enter'. Soft returns are represented by an arrow which faces downwards then to the left side. However, when word wrapping is enabled, soft returns make sure that your formatting remains intact. Hard returns tend to create all sorts of errors in the formatting of content. With this function enabled, you can see where hard returns occur and spot where the text breaks at the wrong places. This function displays all the characters that won't be printed (hidden characters). This is called the 'Show/ Hide Paragraph mark' option.Īlternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut 'Ctrl + *' to enable it. You will find a pilcrow as shown below, select it by clicking on it. To do so, go to the 'Home' tab -> 'Paragraph' group. You can choose to display paragraph marks in your Word document. How can you display paragraph marks in a document?Ī backward 'P' symbol (¶), known as a 'pilcrow', is used to represent a hard return. With a soft return, words that go beyond the right end of the text-box are automatically transferred to the next line, without having to press Enter. On the other hand, soft returns allow you to continue typing without needing to press enter to go to the next line. The enter key forces the line to break to the next paragraph.
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Pressing the Enter key while editing the document results in the word processor inserting a hard return.
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You can also skip directly to How to remove paragraph marks in Word. This will help you churn out well-formatted docs every time with ease. So, we've compiled the below points to help you understand more about paragraph marks in Word and how to remove them. Even if you have encountered them for the first time, it's likely that their use has left you confused. If your job heavily revolves around writing or formatting content, you might be well acquainted with how unnecessary paragraph marks become a nuisance. How to remove paragraph marks & hard returns in Word - Microsoft Word
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