• 2-minute read
• 1st November 2023

How to Remove the Paragraph Symbol in Word and Outlook

The paragraph symbol (¶) in Microsoft Word and Outlook can be a useful tool for formatting and editing documents, but it’s not always desirable to have it displayed. If you want to remove those extra symbols from your documents, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process step by step.

Removing Paragraph Symbols in Word

1. Launch Microsoft Word and open the document where you want to remove the paragraph symbols.
2. Go to the Home tab in the Word ribbon.
3. Click on the paragraph symbol (¶).

4. The paragraph symbols in your document will now be hidden. To make them visible, simply click the paragraph symbol in the Word ribbon again.

Removing Paragraph Symbols in Outlook

Removing the paragraph symbols in Outlook is pretty similar to doing so in Word. Go to the Paragraph section of the Format Text tab and click on the paragraph symbol (¶) to turn them on and off.

If you want to customize which formatting symbols are displayed, open a new email message. Go to File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Display. From there, you can manually select which symbols to make visible on the screen.

Keyboard Shortcut

To use a keyboard shortcut to turn the paragraph symbols on and off in both Word and Outlook, simply press Ctrl + Shift + * (select the asterisk on the 8 key) for PC. On a Mac, you can turn paragraph symbols on and off in Word by pressing Command + 8.

Conclusion

The paragraph symbol can be a helpful tool, but sometimes it can clutter your document’s appearance. With these simple steps, you can easily remove the paragraph symbols from your Microsoft Word and Outlook documents.

And if you’d like a professional to take a look at your work for issues with formatting, spelling, grammar, references, and everything in between, send it to us! We’ll even proofread your first 500 words for free.