Type the Pilcrow Sign ¶ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac.
Pilcrow Sign ¶ is a typographical symbol sometimes called a paraph, or blind P
In typography ¶ marks the start of a paragraph but in Microsoft Word the Pilcrow Sign ¶ marks the END of a paragraph. If you use the Show All command, each paragraph ends with ¶
Pilcrow ¶ is also the icon used for the Show/Hide button on Microsoft Word’s Home tab, Paragraph section.
¶ pilcrow has other uses:
- Citing a specific paragraph in legal documents and sometimes academic writings.
- Before instructions to the congregation (stand, sit, kneel) in an order of service.
- Proofreaders use ¶ to mark splitting one paragraph in two.
- In web publishing ¶ marks an anchor link
- ¶ is in the standard order of footnote marks (the sixth).
How Pilcrow Sign ¶ looks in different fonts.
Here’s some examples of how Pilcrow Sign ¶ looks in common Office fonts.
Pilcrow Sign ¶ codes
These are the important code numbers or values you’ll need to enter the Pilcrow Sign or ¶
Decimal: 182 Hex: 000B6
Web: ¶ or ¶
(web codes aren’t used in Microsoft Office, we’ve included them for the sake of completeness.)
Word and Outlook
The Pilcrow Sign ¶ sign does NOT have an inbuilt shortcut in Word.
Use the standard Word Alt + X symbol shortcut 000B6 + Alt + X
Once in a document you can copy it to AutoCorrect and make your own shortcut.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert | Symbols | Symbol and look for the Pilcrow Sign symbol.
Windows
In Windows there are several shortcuts to enter the Pilcrow Sign ¶ character into any program, but they use a numeric keypad, not the number row above the letters.
Alt + 182 ¶
Window 11/10 Emoji Panel
The Windows 10 Emoji Panel has the Pilcrow. Use Win + . (period/fullstop) to open the panel, go to Symbols then General Punctuation.
See Emoji Panel is part of Windows 10 that totally sucks
Windows Character Map
The Windows Character Map accessory in all Windows releases
Character Map has a search feature, something missing from the Insert | Symbol in Office.
MacOS and Office for Mac inserting characters
On a Mac, to enter the Pilcrow Sign ¶ symbol:
- Command + Control + Spacebar shortcut to open the Character Viewer.
- Search for “ Pilcrow “ and the Viewer should find the symbol you need.
Despite the name Character Viewer, the Apple system tool will also insert characters into any program, including Office for Mac.
Apple command ⌘ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Section Symbol § in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Male ♂ Female ♁ both ⚥ symbols in Word and Office
Degree symbol ° in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Cent ¢ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook
