What Are Invisible Characters in Word Processors? (And How to Use Them)

Here's everything you need to know about invisible characters in word processors. And how to use them to improve your document.

Spaces and breaks between words, lines, paragraphs, and pages are collectively known as invisible or non-printing characters. They function just like regular characters (letters, numbers, and symbols), but aren't visible.

By making these characters visible, you can remove unnecessary spaces or breaks and make your document look more professional and organized. In this guide, we’ll discover what invisible characters and their different types are, and how you can view them on different word processors. Let’s start.

What Are Invisible (or Non-Printing) Characters?

Invisible or non-printing characters are a part of a character set that is not displayed while writing. They tell the word processors what a document is supposed to look like (visual presentation).

Since they are invisible by default, most word processors allow you to change document settings and view these characters. Viewing them makes proofreading and formatting the document easier.

For example, you may want to remove double spaces, or unwanted line and page breaks in Microsoft Word. When they’re invisible, you can’t tell where they might be. But, by viewing them, you can quickly manipulate the document to suit your liking.

7 Types of Invisible Characters and Their Usage

Here are some invisible characters that word processors commonly use.

1. Space

The space we insert between letters and words by pressing the spacebar is also a character. If you make it visible, you can see a dot between them instead of the usual blank space.

One dot represents a single space, whereas two represent a double. Here, you can quickly delete the double spaces and organize your document.

2. Non-Breaking Space

Regular spaces often divide words across two lines, which makes for poor visual presentation. So, a non-breaking space helps here by keeping the words together.

For example, you insert a date into your text, and it splits up between two lines. This makes for poor readability and visual presentation. However, by using the non-breaking space, you can keep it together, and achieve the desired purpose. Here’s an illustration:

And, here’s what their symbols look like up close.

To insert a non-breaking space, press Option + Spacebar on Mac, and Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar on Windows.

3. Paragraph Mark / Pilcrow

Before paragraphs were a thing, the pilcrow “¶” was used to represent the starting of a new/different/next idea in a composition. In modern word processors, the pilcrow is used to highlight all the places where a new paragraph is starting.

Here’s how it looks in Apple Pages:

Each pilcrow implies the beginning and end of paragraphs. In some uses of pilcrow (as listed on Wikipedia), its visual presence is necessary, making it a printable character. This could be why it’s available as ¶, too.

You can use the pilcrow to delete unnecessary line breaks and ensure your document is well-structured.

4. Line Break

Represented by ‘↵’,line breaks are used when you want to type in the next line, without starting a new paragraph. Here’s an example:

To insert a line break, press Shift + Enter keys simultaneously to move the cursor to the next line without changing the paragraph.

5. Tab Space

The tab space comes from the typewriter, where it was difficult to insert multiple spaces to present data in tabular form. On modern keyboards, the tab key helps do the same, though few users are aware of its use.

Once you unhide the hidden characters, you can see the tab key denoted with an ‘→’ arrow.

6. Page Break

The Page Break is a special marker that ends the current page and starts a new one. Even though word processors automatically manage when the text should flow into a new page, the users can also choose where a new page should start.

To create a page break, just press Control/Command + Enter together, and the text after that point will be moved to a new page.

7. Section Break

A section break is used to divide the documents into different sections. Once inserted, the users can format each section separately. For example, you can format a section as a single column for your report’s introduction.

There are four types of a section break, mainly next page, continuous, even page, and odd page. Typically, the option to insert these into your document is available in the Insert section of your word processor.

How to Enable Invisible Characters in Different Word Processors

You can easily enable invisible characters in different word processors. Here's how.

Microsoft Word

To view the non-printing characters on Microsoft Word, go to Files > Word Options > Display, and check all the boxes under the option Always show these formatting marks on the screen.

Alternatively, from the main menu, go to the Paragraph tab and click the Show/Hide button, with the pilcrow symbol, or simply press Control/Command + * simultaneously.

Apple Pages

To view invisible characters on Apple pages, go to View > Show Invisibles,or press Shift + Command + I simultaneously.

Google Docs

Google Docs does not have an option to view the non-printing characters natively. So, you have to install the Show add-on for this. Here's how you can do this step-by-step:

1. From the menu bar, go to Add-ons > Get add-ons.
2. In the search bar, type in Show, and open Show by Pasgoude.
3. Here, click Install to install the add-on to your Google Docs.
4. Once done, go to Add-ons from the menu bar, again, and click Show.
5. Here, select Show all from the drop-down menu.

The invisible characters will now be displayed on your Google Docs. If the Show all option doesn't work for you, manually turn on viewing for all invisible characters by going to Add-ons > Show.

Improve Your Documents With Special Characters

Invisibles are a special character set that aren't visible, but are present in your documents. By showing them, you can improve how your documents look, by quickly deleting/managing spaces and breaks. However, apart from the preinstalled special characters, you can also add your own.