Typing a new Word document

[Beebeee]

I am an untrained beginner. Suddenly when I type in the text for a new
document, it displays little character symbols and puts a dot between every
word. How do I turn that off? They disappear in the printout of document.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Click on the "Show All" button on the formatting toolbar. It is called a
pillcrow and looks sort of like a backwards P. (It is the same as the little
character symbols that appear at the end of your paragraphs.)
http://addbalance.com/usersguide/basic_formatting.htm

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm

 

[Joseph McGuire]

Many people find this a convenience, so that they can see some simple
formatting elements. It is helpful, e.g., to see if you have put too many
spaces between words. But you can toggle it off/on by clicking on the
Show/Hide icon (Toggle means when it is on you turn it off by clicking, or
when it is off you turn it on by click; each click switches to the
alternative state). In Word 2000/2002 this shows up on one of my task bars
in the upper right corner of the Word screen with that backward P (I did not
know it had a name: Pillcrow).