Software & Apps > MS Office 159 159 people found this article helpful How to Reveal Formatting Marks and Codes in Word Go behind the scenes of your text to resolve formatting issues By James Marshall James Marshall Writer James Marshall is a pro journalist who covers technology and computer troubleshooting. He is also skilled with Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and other word processors. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on January 30, 2022 Reviewed by Lisa Mildon Reviewed by Lisa Mildon Southern New Hampshire University Lisa Mildon is a Lifewire writer and an IT professional with 30 years of experience. Her writing has appeared in Geekisphere and other publications. lifewire's editorial guidelines MS Office Word Excel Powerpoint Outlook Trending Videos Close this video player What to Know Temporary reveal: In Word, go to the ribbon and select Home. Choose the Show Formatting Symbols icon to toggle marks on and off.Permanent reveal: In Word, go to the ribbon and select File > Options > Display. Select Show all formatting marks > OK. This article explains two ways to reveal the formatting marks and codes in a Microsoft Word document. It also includes information on the Reveal Formatting panel. These instructions apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013. Temporarily Show Formatting Symbols Microsoft Word uses bullets, numbered lists, page breaks, margins, columns, and more. To see how Word structures a document, view the formatting marks and codes associated with the text. Quick-view the formatting Word uses in a document by toggling the feature on and off when you need it. Here's how. To reveal the formatting symbols, go to the ribbon and select Home. In the Paragraph group, select Show/Hide (the icon looks like a paragraph mark). The formatting symbols appear in the document and each symbol is represented by a specific mark: Spaces display as dots.Tabs are indicated with arrows.The end of each paragraph is marked with a paragraph sign.Page breaks display as dotted lines. To hide the formatting symbols, select Show/Hide. Permanently Show Formatting Symbols If you find that having the formatting symbols visible makes working with Word easier and you want to have them visible all the time, here's how to change the setting: On the ribbon, select File. Choose Options. In the Word Options dialog box, select Display. In the Always show these formatting marks on the screen section, select Show all formatting marks. Select OK to save your changes. Display the Reveal Formatting Panel To find more information about the formatting of a Word document, display the Reveal Formatting panel. Press Shift+F1 on the keyboard to display the Reveal Formatting panel. To view information about a portion of the document, select that text. In the Reveal Formatting panel, select a link to see detailed information about the formatting components and to make changes to the formatting. To close the panel, select X. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit