How to Get Rid of the Microsoft Word Paragraph Symbol

In Microsoft Word, the non-printing paragraph symbol marks the end of a paragraph; it appears whenever a user presses "Enter" or adds a column or page break. This formatting mark is useful for finding and removing formatting that might otherwise go unnoticed. As an example, two line breaks look exactly like a paragraph break when using Word 2013's default settings, but the formatting marks reveal the difference.

Formatting marks, including the paragraph symbol, are added to a Word document when you click the paragraph symbol from the Home tab's Paragraph group. Clicking this button again or pressing "Ctrl-Shift-*" (without quotation marks) toggles the formatting marks off again. However, someone could have configured Word to always display paragraph marks, so this button might not have the expected result. In this case, click "File," "Options" and then "Display." Deselect "Paragraph Marks" and then click "OK" to get rid of persistent paragraph formatting marks.