View special characters and formatting codes in Word. Sometimes Word will just format things oddly and it’s not really clear what is going on. Seeing the formatting codes will really help. The Styles Pane had a 'Show Styles Guides' checkbox that would show/hide this. Additionally, right below that checkbox, the Styles pane had a 'Show Direct Formatting' checkbox. I can't find these options in Word for Windows 2016, even though in Options Advanced, there is a field where you can enter the width that the Styles Guides would take up. Seeing the formatting codes will really help. Go into the Format menu. Click Reveal Formatting. Under options in the Reveal Formatting window, select the Show all formatting marks check box. Do this again to turn it off or just close the Reveal Formatting window. Shortcut: SHIFT-F1 and then click on your text. Click on the link below for additional instructions -how to -. Reveal Formatting for Selec. The style dialog box like format shape floats independent of Microsoft Word. That means you can move it outside the document to make more room or even more it to a second monitor if you are using dual monitors. Click “options” and you can select how the styles pane is shown and sorted.

To use Reveal Formatting, select the text for which you want to view the formatting informationand press Shift+F1.

The Reveal Formatting pane will open:

• To view the formatting on a word, click on the word
• To view the formatting on more than one word of the text, select the text fragment

Another, more long way to open the Reveal Formatting pane:

1. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click thedialog box launcher:

2. In the Styles pane, click the Style Inspector button:

3. In the Style Inspector dialog box, click the RevealFormatting button:

See also this tip in French:Comment analyser la mise en forme du texte rapidement en utilisant le volet de Révéler la mise en forme.

Topics Map > OS and Desktop Applications > Applications > Productivity

This document explains how to show or hide the formatting characters within a Word document.

All Versions

Formatting characters can be easily toggled on and off using the key combination Ctrl + Shift + 8. Otherwise, every version has a button that controls the visibility of formatting characters, the location of which is detailed below:

Microsoft Word 2007/2010/2013

You can toggle between hiding and displaying formatting characters by clicking on the Show/Hide ¶ button in the toolbar.

Microsoft Word 2003

You can toggle between hiding and displaying formatting characters by clicking on the Show/Hide ¶ button in the toolbar.

How To Reveal Formatting In Word 2016

If the Show/Hide ¶ button is not present:

• Click the button at the far right end of the toolbar to display more buttons.

If the toolbar is not currently displayed:

• Click on the View menu and select Toolbar.

Reveal Formatting Pane

Reveal Formatting In Word 2016

Keywords:	word Office microsoft 2007 2010 2001 97 formatting marks characters carriage returns hiding displaying 2013Suggest keywords	Doc ID:	950
Owner:	Jeff W.	Group:	DoIT Help Desk
Created:	2001-03-18 19:00 CDT	Updated:	2014-10-07 08:43 CDT
Sites:	DoIT Help Desk
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