In this post, you’ll discover several simple methods for removing the paragraph symbol (¶). Do you have a bunch of fancy-looking inverted ‘P’s in your Word document that you’re not sure how to use? If you want to learn how to get rid of them, you’ve come to the right place. A Pilcrow (¶) is an inverted P symbol that signifies a new paragraph or section of text. The paragraph mark, Alinea, the blind P, and the paragraph sign are all names for it.
Pilcrow is a non-printing character or formatting marker that is concealed in Word and rarely visible on a printed document. The number of paragraph marks in a text is equal to the number of times you have pressed the enter key while typing.
To the average reader, these symbols may appear tacky, making the page appear more complicated. This tool may appear antiquated in today’s tech-driven minimalistic world, but it’s your best friend when you need to verify if there’s a paragraph on an empty page or run through a huge number of paragraphs at once. The sign is useful when you need to fix a document that has sloppy or odd formatting.
When proofreading a document, it’s a good idea to read it first without the nonprinting characters, concentrating solely on the text. Then, with these characters visible, review it to catch any formatting errors.
In MS Word, remove the paragraph symbol (¶)
It’s easy to get rid of these obnoxious Pilcrows. Remove Paragraph Symbol (¶) can be accomplished in three simple and straightforward ways, each of which is described in full below. Individual Pilcrows can be identified and replaced, or all of them can be deleted by hitting a single button.
Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy before deciding which is best for you based on your needs and desires. So, using the ways listed below, let’s see how to remove the paragraph symbol (¶) in Word:
Method 1: Locate and replace the parenthesis
This technique involves locating all paragraph markers and replacing them with blank spaces, thereby deleting them. When you only want to remove the paragraph symbol from a specific section of text rather than the full Word document, this method is useful.
- First, choose the text from which the paragraph symbol should be removed (or, by default, it will be removed from the whole document). Select the ‘Replace’ option from the ‘Editing’ group under the ‘Home’ menu. It is also possible to use the ‘Ctrl + H’ keys.
- Place the cursor in the ‘Find what’ box when the ‘Find and Replace‘ dialogue box displays.Then click on ‘More>>’ in the lower-left corner.
- Select ‘Special’ from the drop-down menu. This shows a list of special characters that have been used in a document.
- From the drop-down box, select ‘Paragraph Mark.’
- The letter ‘p’ will appear in the ‘Find what’ box once you’ve selected it.
(If ‘p’ occurs in the ‘Replace with’ section by accident, there is no need to repeat the process.)
Copy and paste it into the box labeled “Find what.”)
6. Check that the box next to “Replace with” is not checked. To replace the symbol in the chosen text or the entire document, press the ‘Replace All’ button.
If you wish to remove certain paragraph marks, use the ‘Replace’ option to replace them one at a time. You can close the dialogue box and return to editing the remainder of your document after you’ve changed the content.
Method 2: Hide using the Toolbar’s Paragraph Symbol button
The majority of the formatting symbols in MS Word are controlled by the Pilcrow icon.
Paragraph marks, section breaks, optional hyphens, buried text, and many others are examples. It’s the simplest way to get rid of these obnoxious Pilcrows.
- Start by going to the ‘Home’ tab and looking for the ‘‘symbol. It will be in the ‘Paragraph’ section of the document.
- When you click the button, all of the previously visible paragraph marks, as well as the rest of the formatting markers, will be hidden.
- You can also enable or disable this feature by pressing the shortcut key ‘Ctrl + Shift + 8′.
This method is simple and quick, but it isn’t specific to paragraph marks; keep in mind that once disabled, all formatting markers will vanish.
The following are some examples:
When you hit ‘Shift + Enter,’ a right-angled arrow pointing to the left () comes to signify line breaks.
Special characters added to a document using an Arrow () are seen as tabbed characters.
A minuscule dot () is used to symbolize any space between two words.
MS Word has a hidden text option that allows you to hide or suppress text in the display or while printing. With a dotted line beneath it, all hidden text will be displayed.
Hyphens: The(¬) symbol indicates where a word should be divided at the end of a line. These are not printed unless a word truly breaks at the end. If and when they occur, they are shown as standard hyphens.
Item Anchors: This identifies which paragraph on the page is linked to a floating object. A tiny anchor sign (⚓). is used to represent it.
After you’ve broken the page with ‘Ctrl + Enter,’ page breaks occur.
Method 3: Using Word Options, remove the paragraph symbol
You can use Word Options to see and update settings. It allows the user to personalize their interface, modify the initial settings for MS Word, and configure it based on their preferences.
These are advanced ways for controlling and configuring editing tasks, printing settings, and document presentation, among other things.
When you don’t need paragraph makers but still want to see the rest of the formatting tools, this strategy is useful.
(You might not need to see the paragraph marks, but you might need to see the buried text.)
- From the top-left corner, select the ‘File’ option.
- Locate and select “Options” from the drop-down menu that appears.
- A new window titled “Word Options” will pop up on your screen. On the left side of the Word Options window, look for the ‘Display’ setting.
- Uncheck the box next to ‘Paragraph marks’ under Display. This option is in the section titled “Always show these formatting markings on the screen.”
- To save the changes, uncheck the box and click the ‘OK’ button at the bottom of the window.
It will take you back to your document, with the paragraph markings hidden but the rest of the text intact.
How do I add the Pilecrow to only particular locations?
In a few instances, you may need to use paragraph markers or the ‘Pilecrow’ symbol, but leave the rest of the content alone. It will not show your document’s formatting or any additional formatting marks. Remember once you add a symbol; think of it as inserting a simple exclamation mark or question mark into a text. It does not affect the word count, but it does increase the character count.
The technique for adding these identifiers is simple, as described below:
1.First, place your cursor where you want the paragraph mark symbol to appear and navigate to the ‘Insert’ tab in the menu bar.
2. On the right, you’ll see the ‘Symbol’ choice. To open a drop-down menu, click the arrow next to it.
3. Select ‘More Symbols…’ from the drop-down box.
4. A ‘Symbol’ dialogue box will now appear on the screen. Click the ‘Special Character’ tab, which is found adjacent to the ‘Symbols’ tab.
5. Scroll down the list until you find the Pilecrow symbol or ‘¶‘ next to ‘Paragraph’ and click on it.
6. Once they highlight the selection, click the ‘Insert’ button at the bottom.
When you push the Insert button once, the pilcrow sign adds to the pointer’s location. To add paragraph markers at various places across the manuscript, keep moving the pointer and hitting ‘Insert’ simultaneously.
A quick tip: When Word is in full-screen mode, you may move and resize the Symbol dialogue box (by dragging on the window’s corners/borders) such that the document is visible in the background.
You may now quickly and swiftly move the cursor with your mouse to put the symbol in numerous locations.
Alternatively, after inserting one paragraph marker, close the pop-up box and copy simply the Pilcrow symbol from one location and paste it in another. The shortcut keys for copying and pasting are Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, respectively.
Final Words:
I hope you found the following helpful instruction and effectively removed the Paragraph Symbol (¶) in Microsoft Word. However, if you have any further questions about this guide, please leave them in the comments section.
