Using formatting marks during document

composition
Each time you press the Tab, Spacebar, or Enter key, characters called formatting marks are
inserted into the document. Normally these formatting marks are not shown on the screen,
but you can toggle their display by clicking the Show/Hide ¶ button, located on the Home
tab in the Paragraph group.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUT Press Ctrl+Shift+8.

When you press Enter, a paragraph mark, also called a pilcrow sign, (¶) is inserted into your
document. Each press of the Tab key adds a right-pointing arrow (➞), and a dot in the mid-
dle of the line (·) indicates that the Spacebar was pressed.

Space Tab Paragraph 7

TIP To always view specific formatting marks on the screen without using the Show/
Hide ¶ button, click the File tab to display the Backstage view, click Options, and then
on the Display page, select the formatting marks you want to make visible.

If you use multiple spaces and tabs for horizontal alignment, or press the Enter key several
times to change vertical alignment or to create blank lines, it can complicate the editing
and formatting processes, because each character uses a specific amount of space.

Using formatting marks during document composition    163