How to Remove Blue Paragraph Symbols in Word for Mac

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To remove the blue paragraph symbols (¶) in Word for Mac, click the Show/Hide button (it looks like ¶) on the Home tab, or press Command + 8. The symbols disappear right away. They are formatting marks, not text, so hiding them doesn’t change or delete anything in your document, and they never print.

If the marks come back every time you open Word, or only some of them go away, a setting in Word’s View preferences is probably forcing them on. And if what you’re seeing is blue or colored text with underlines and strikethroughs rather than ¶ symbols, that’s Track Changes, which has its own fix. Both are covered below.

Quick Answer

  1. Open your document in Word for Mac.
  2. Select the Home tab on the ribbon.
  3. Click the (Show/Hide) button, or press Command + 8.
  4. If some marks remain, go to Word > Preferences (or Settings) > View and clear the checkboxes under Non-Printing Characters.
  5. If you see colored, underlined, or crossed-out text instead, check Track Changes on the Review tab.

In This Guide

What the Blue Symbols Are (and Why They’re Blue)

This guide covers Microsoft Word for Mac in Microsoft 365, Word 2024, Word 2021, and Word 2019, as of September 2026. Menu names can differ slightly between versions, and those differences are noted where they matter.

The ¶ symbol is called a pilcrow, or paragraph mark. Word adds one every time you press Return to end a paragraph. Normally it’s invisible. When you turn on formatting marks, Word also shows other hidden characters:

  • at the end of each paragraph, including empty lines.
  • Small dots between words, one for each space.
  • Arrows (→) where you pressed Tab.
  • A bent arrow for a manual line break (Shift + Return).
  • Dotted lines labeled Page Break or Section Break.
  • An anchor icon next to pictures or shapes attached to a paragraph.

Microsoft calls these nonprinting characters: they show you how the document is built, but they don’t appear on paper or in a PDF you export. Editors turn them on deliberately to spot double spaces, stray tabs, and extra blank lines.

Why blue? Word for Mac typically draws formatting marks in a blue color, while Word for Windows usually shows them in black or dark gray. The color is just how the Mac version displays them; it doesn’t mean anything is wrong or that the marks are a different kind of symbol. Microsoft doesn’t document the color choice, so the exact shade can vary with your version and your macOS appearance settings.

How did they turn on? Usually by accident. Pressing Command + 8 while reaching for another key, or clicking the ¶ button while formatting, is enough to switch them on. The setting then stays on in Word until you switch it off again.

Method 1: Hide the Symbols with the Show/Hide Button

This is the fastest fix and the one Microsoft points to first. The Show/Hide button is a toggle: click once to hide the marks, click again to show them.

  1. Open the document that shows the blue symbols.
  2. Select the Home tab at the top of the Word window. Expected result: You see the font and paragraph tools on the ribbon.
  3. Find the ¶ button. It sits in the paragraph area, near the alignment, line spacing, and bullet buttons. If your window is narrow, the ribbon may collapse some buttons; widen the window or look for a Paragraph group button that opens more options.
  4. Click the ¶ button once. When the marks are showing, the button appears highlighted or shaded. Expected result: The ¶ symbols, dots, and arrows disappear, and the button no longer looks highlighted.
  5. Check the whole document. Scroll through a few pages to confirm the marks are gone everywhere.

Microsoft describes this toggle in Show or hide tab marks in Word: the Show/Hide button turns hidden characters like spaces, paragraph marks, and tab marks on and off together.

If some symbols vanish but others stay (for example, the ¶ marks go away but the dots between words remain), skip to Method 3. That pattern means one type of mark is set to always show.

Method 2: Use the Keyboard Shortcut (Command + 8)

On a Mac, Command + 8 does the same thing as clicking the ¶ button.

  1. Click inside your document so Word is the active app and the cursor is in the text.
  2. Press and hold Command (the ⌘ key).
  3. Press 8 in the number row above the letters, then release both keys. Expected result: The formatting marks disappear. Press the shortcut again and they come back.

Use the 8 in the top number row. On a keyboard with a separate numeric keypad, the keypad 8 may not trigger the shortcut. If nothing happens, a macOS or third-party app shortcut may be using the same key combination; the ¶ button on the ribbon always works as a fallback.

On Windows, the equivalent shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + 8, which Microsoft lists as “Display all nonprinting characters” in Keyboard shortcuts in Word. That’s handy to know if you switch between a Mac and a Windows PC.

Method 3: Turn Off Marks in Word’s View Preferences

Word has a separate set of checkboxes that force specific marks to show all the time, even when the ¶ button is off. If one of these is checked, the Show/Hide button can’t hide that mark. On Windows, Microsoft notes that these “always show” settings stay in effect regardless of the Show/Hide button’s state, and Word for Mac works the same way through its View preferences.

  1. Open Word’s settings. In the menu bar at the very top of your screen, click Word, then choose Preferences. On newer versions of macOS, this menu item is named Settings instead. You can also press Command + , (comma). Expected result: The Word Preferences (or Word Settings) window opens with a grid of icons.
  2. Select View in the Authoring and Proofing Tools section. Expected result: The View pane opens.
  3. Find the Non-Printing Characters section. Depending on your version, it’s labeled Show Non-Printing Characters or similar and lists checkboxes such as Tab characters, Spaces, Paragraph marks, Optional hyphens, Hidden text, and All.
  4. Clear the boxes for any marks you don’t want to see, especially All and Paragraph marks. Expected result: The marks disappear from the document behind the window as you clear each box.
  5. Close the window with the red close button in its top-left corner. There’s no Save button; changes apply immediately.

Checking All in this list is the same as leaving the ¶ button switched on, so clearing it is often all you need. If you like seeing one type of mark (for example, tabs) while hiding everything else, leave only that box checked.

On Windows, the matching settings are in File > Options > Display, under Always show these formatting marks on the screen.

If the Blue Marks Are Tracked Changes

Sometimes “blue marks” aren’t pilcrows at all. When Track Changes is on, Word records every edit and shows it in color: inserted text is usually underlined, deleted text is crossed out, and each reviewer gets a different color, which is often blue or red. You may also see vertical lines in the left margin and comment balloons on the right.

Before you act, know the difference between hiding and removing tracked changes. Hiding markup only changes what’s on your screen; the changes are still stored in the file and can reappear for anyone who opens it. To get rid of them for good, you have to accept or reject them.

Stop recording new changes

  1. Select the Review tab.
  2. Click the Track Changes switch or button so it turns off. You can also press Command + Shift + E, which Microsoft lists as the Mac shortcut to turn change tracking on or off. Expected result: New edits no longer appear in color. Existing markup stays until you deal with it.

Hide existing markup on screen

  1. On the Review tab, find the markup view list (in Word for Windows it’s called Display for Review or Markup; the label can vary on Mac).
  2. Choose No Markup to see the document as it would look with all changes accepted, or Simple Markup to show only a thin line in the margin where changes are.

Remove the changes permanently

  1. Save a backup copy first if the edits came from someone else. Accepting or rejecting is easy to undo right away with Command + Z, but not after you save and close.
  2. On the Review tab, click the arrow under or beside Accept and choose Accept All Changes (or use Reject to discard them). You can also step through changes one at a time with Next.
  3. Expected result: The colored text turns normal and the margin lines disappear.

Microsoft’s Track changes in Word explains the views: Simple Markup, All Markup, No Markup, and Original. If the leftover color comes from formatting edits rather than text edits, our guide on accepting all formatting changes in Word covers that case.

Which Fix Do You Need?

What you see What it is Fix
Blue ¶ at the end of paragraphs, dots between words Formatting marks ¶ button or Command + 8
Marks stay after clicking ¶ An “always show” setting is on Word > Preferences (Settings) > View
Colored, underlined, or crossed-out text Track Changes markup Review tab: turn off tracking, accept or reject
Wavy blue or red lines under words Grammar or spelling flags Review the suggestion or turn off checking
Dotted line labeled Section Break A break that controls layout Leave it, or delete it carefully

If your blue line is a wavy underline, see our guide to removing the blue line in Word.

Related: How to Turn Off Paragraph Symbols in Microsoft Word.

Troubleshooting

The ¶ button is highlighted but I can’t turn it off

Click directly on the button once, then click back into the document. If the marks are still there, open Word > Preferences (or Settings) > View and clear All under the non-printing characters section. A checked box there overrides the button.

Only the dots (or only the ¶ marks) won’t go away

That’s the classic sign of one “always show” box being checked. Clear Spaces to remove dots, or Paragraph marks to remove pilcrows, in the View preferences.

The marks come back in every new document

Check the View preferences first, since those settings apply to Word as a whole rather than one file. If they’re all clear, try quitting Word completely (Word > Quit Word or Command + Q) and reopening it. Keep Word updated through Help > Check for Updates, because display bugs are sometimes fixed in updates.

Command + 8 does nothing

Make sure the cursor is inside the document, not in the search box or a dialog. Use the number row 8, not the keypad. If another app has claimed the shortcut, use the ribbon button instead.

I see a dotted line labeled Section Break

Hiding formatting marks hides those labels too. If you want to delete a break, show the marks first so you can see it. Deleting a section break can change margins, headers, footers, and page orientation in the pages around it, so read our guide to deleting a Next Page section break in Word before you remove one.

The symbols showed up when I printed or exported a PDF

Formatting marks don’t print. If you see ¶ symbols on paper, they were typed as actual characters (for example, pasted from another document). Use Edit > Find to locate them and delete them like regular text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does hiding the paragraph symbols delete anything?

No. Hiding formatting marks only changes what you see on screen. Your paragraphs, spaces, and tabs stay exactly as they are.

Will the blue ¶ marks print or show up in a PDF?

No. They’re nonprinting characters, so they don’t appear on paper or in exported PDFs, even if they’re visible on your screen.

Why are the marks blue on my Mac but black on a Windows PC?

It’s a display difference between the two versions of Word. Word for Mac typically draws formatting marks in blue, and Word for Windows usually shows them in black or gray. They’re the same marks.

Should I delete the ¶ marks to get rid of them?

No. Each ¶ marks the end of a paragraph and stores that paragraph’s formatting. Deleting one merges two paragraphs and can change their formatting. To remove extra blank lines, delete only the empty paragraphs (a line with nothing but a ¶).

Is it useful to keep formatting marks on?

Sometimes. They make it easy to spot double spaces, stray tabs, extra blank lines, and page or section breaks. Many people turn them on while cleaning up a document and off again for normal writing.

I see blue dots and ¶ in Pages or Outlook, not Word. Is it the same fix?

The idea is the same, but the controls differ. In Apple’s Pages app, these are called invisibles and are typically toggled from the View menu (Show Invisibles or Hide Invisibles). In Outlook for Mac, look for a ¶ button in the message window’s formatting tools while writing an email.

Can I turn off the marks permanently?

Once the ¶ button is off and the View preference boxes are clear, Word stays that way until someone turns the marks on again. There’s no separate “lock” setting.

Summary

  1. The blue ¶ symbols are formatting marks. They don’t print and hiding them changes nothing in your text.
  2. Click the button on the Home tab, or press Command + 8, to hide them.
  3. If some marks stay, clear the boxes in Word > Preferences (or Settings) > View.
  4. Colored, underlined, or crossed-out text is Track Changes; turn it off and accept or reject the changes on the Review tab.
  5. Don’t delete ¶ marks to hide them; that merges paragraphs.

Next step: Press Command + 8 now. If any marks remain, open Word > Preferences > View and clear the All checkbox.

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