Understand the Show All markers in Word
Here are the major marks Microsoft Word displays with the Show All option on. There’s common ones like Paragraph Mark, Tab and Space and lesser known such as optional hyphen and hidden text. Show All will also display the seven different types of break in Word.
Paragraph Mark, the symbol is called a Pilcrow. It’s the symbol used for the ‘Show All’ button on the Home tab.
Line Break, angled arrow pointing left.
Tab, a right pointing arrow
Space, a dot in the middle of the line
Hidden Text, dots under the text. Hidden Text, Images and objects in Word
Optional hyphen, line with bend at end. Hyphens and Hyphenation, all the options in Word
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Seven different Breaks in Word
The different types of breaks in Word get labelled except the Text Wrapping break.
Column Break and Page Break
Page Break
Whether it’s a manual paragraph setting or style setting, a page break appears as finely dotted line when Show All is on.
No text explains that the dotted line is a page break, let alone what causes the page break. You need to check the direct paragraph or style to find the cause.
Section Breaks
Section Breaks are hidden divisions between parts of a document. They can be continuous or force a new page, a new Even numbered page or a new Odd numbered page.
Column Break
Column Break forces the following text to a new column, in multi-column sections.
You’ll normally see Section Break (Continuous) before and after a multiple column part of a document. The section break tells Word where to start and end the column setting.
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