2/1/24, 6:51 PM CE Word 365 Lesson 2

CE Word 365 Lesson 2

Revealing Formatting Marks

When creating a document it is important to use consistent formatting, such as a
single space after the period at the end of a sentence. As you create a document,
Word adds formatting marks that are hidden from view. For example, a paragraph
mark, ¶ , is created every time the Enter key is pressed.
When creating professional documents, it is considered bad practice to use extra line
breaks to add space between paragraphs in a document. By displaying formatting
marks, you can quickly see where these extra line breaks occur in your documents
and then easily delete them. Formatting marks appear on-screen only. They do not
appear in the printed document.
To display formatting marks in a document:
1. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the Show/Hide button.
2. The formatting marks are displayed in the document.
3. Review the document for extra ¶ symbols between paragraphs or for more than
one dot between words or after punctuation.
4. Use the Delete key to remove extra paragraph marks or spaces.
5. Click the Show/Hide button again to hide the formatting marks.

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2/1/24, 6:51 PM CE Word 365 Lesson 2

FIGURE WD 2.17

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2/1/24, 6:51 PM CE Word 365 Lesson 2

Formatting marks include symbols that represent spaces, nonbreaking spaces, tabs,
paragraphs, and page breaks. The following table shows examples of formatting
marks and the keyboard commands used to create them:

Character Formatting Mark Keystroke/Command

Space • Spacebar

Paragraph ¶ Enter

Tab → Tab

Line Break Shift + Enter

Nonbreaking Space ∘ Ctrl + Shift + Enter

Page Break Ctrl + Enter

tips & tricks

You can choose to always show specific formatting marks on-screen even when
the Show/Hide button is inactive. To show specific formatting marks:
1. Click the File tab and select Options.
2. In the Word Options dialog, click the Display category.
3. Select the formatting marks you want to display in the Always show these
formatting marks on the screen section.
4. Click OK.

tell me more
A nonbreaking space is a space between two words that keeps the words
together and prevents the words from being split across two lines.
A line break forces the text on to a new line, but does not treat the text as a
separate paragraph.

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2/1/24, 6:51 PM CE Word 365 Lesson 2

another method
To show formatting marks, you can press Ctrl + Shift + 8 .

let me try Live!

If you do not have the data file from the previous skill open, open the student data
file
wd2-15-SpaNewsletter and try this skill on your own:
1. Show the formatting marks in the document.
2. On the first page, there is an extra blank line. Remove the extra blank line from
the document.
3. In the I'm So Gelish article, there should be no spaces after punctuation at the
end of a paragraph. Remove the extra spaces from the article.
4. Hide the formatting marks.
5. If you will be moving on to the next skill in this chapter, leave the document
open to continue working. If not, close the file.

Page(s)
ID wd21_sk_02_15

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