87

How to remove formatting marks from Outlook. By 30 July 2008 at 11:57 am 66,850 views 87 Comments

Today I thought I’d show you how to remove formatting marks from Outlook 2007 and 2003.  You may never need to use this, but judging from the amount of people in my office who do, it may come in handy.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Help!  I have all sorts of funny symbols and backwards Ps in my e-mail,”  you’re not alone. I can’t tell you how many times I get a question that sounds like that.  When I get to the users’s computer, it usually looks like this:

Look familiar?  So, how does one fix this problem?

Office 2007

1.  Click your Office Button, then Editor Options.

2.  Click “Display,” then uncheck “Show all formatting marks,” then click “OK.”

3.  That’s all!  Fixed!

Office 2003

1.  Click “Tools,” then “Options.”

2.  Click “View,” then uncheck “All” under “Formatting marks,” then click “OK.”

3.  All done!!

Well, I hope this helps those of you out there who have had this issue!!


Add comment

87 responses : “ How to remove formatting marks from Outlook. ”

  1. 1
    Kelly Kilpatrick : 14 August 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you. Your instructions were written very clearly and my problem is now solved!

  2. 2
    Jason : 14 August 2008 at 2:44 pm

    You’re very welcome, Kelly! I’m glad this helped at least one person out!!

  3. 3
    Dan : 22 August 2008 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks so much Jason! As an IT professional, it was a little embarrassing that I didn’t know how to change this setting. The longer I am in this field, it seems, the less I know. :)

  4. 4
    Kris : 05 September 2008 at 7:22 pm

    I followed the instructions for the 2007 version and when I got to ‘editing options’ the word ‘Display’ isn’t there, there’s “Popular” “Proofing” and “Advanced” no “Display” Help, this is driving me crazy to see all of these marks in my emails, can you suggest anything else?

  5. 5
    Dorothy A Stankavage : 06 September 2008 at 8:15 am

    Kris,
    Under the editor option, choose customise and add the Display to your editor options.

  6. 6
    Ron Valarida : 10 September 2008 at 3:33 pm

    If you are using 2003 and you do not have the “view” tab in your options, to show or hide paragraph marks use Ctrl+Shift+8.

  7. 7
    K. Bryan : 23 October 2008 at 5:21 pm

    I have checked the settings under display, and nothing is checked. But when my user goes to create an email, the paragraph marks are there. The other odd thing, is if she replies to an email, her reply does not show up in the preview pane of the recipient until they hit reply, then they can see her reply. all you see is her signature and no text until you go to reply to it. Help please!

  8. 8
    Tired of P's : 07 November 2008 at 2:33 pm

    I am having the same problem! Does anyone know how to disable this?

  9. 9
    Tired of P's : 07 November 2008 at 4:11 pm

    I fixed my own problem and felt inclined to mention how. If anyone is having problems with the formatting marks appearing when you REPLY or FOWARD in Office 2007, try this:
    1) Open a new email
    2) From the ribbon click Signatures then ‘Signatures…’
    3) Click ‘Personal Stationary’ tab
    4) Double check all of your ‘Fonts…’ for all 3 message types to make sure ‘Hidden’ or some other effect you don’t want is NOT checked (Hidden was checked on my ‘Replying and Forwarding’ which is why the marks kept appearing AFTER I tried to reply or forward).
    Hope this helps someone out there! We feel your pain!

  10. 10
    Teresa : 25 November 2008 at 2:01 pm

    Thanks for the control+shift+8 tip – it worked like a charm. If you are in 1 e-mail it will be removed from that e-mail only. If you click on the inbox then control+shift+8 it will be removed from all future e-mails.

    THANKS AGAIN :-)

  11. 11
    Daniel : 07 January 2009 at 1:49 pm

    thanks for the control+shift+8 suggestion. The menu bar was all messed up as well and I couldn’t get to the edit options. That key combination not only cleared the formatting marks, but it also restored my menus. I’m not even going to bother figuring out why. :) Thanks again.

  12. 12
    Bob Cleveland, OH : 22 January 2009 at 9:17 am

    This was perfect. THANKS for posting it! I would never have found it otherwise.

  13. 13
    RP : 05 March 2009 at 9:37 am

    Thank You!!!! I leaned on a hotkey accidentally and then my compose email window was full of odd paragraph marks. This fixed it, thanks a million!!!

  14. 14
    JC : 27 April 2009 at 9:49 am

    Thanks a mil !!! Your instrutions was clear and to the point.

  15. 15
    Christina : 28 April 2009 at 2:37 pm

    I finally found helpful instructions! Thanks!

  16. 16
    Vishal : 26 May 2009 at 3:34 am

    Really helpful, thanks!

  17. 17
    khagendra : 27 May 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Thanks so much. That was really helpful.

  18. 18
    Alexandra : 30 June 2009 at 2:14 pm

    Very helpful. I don’t like having to bug my helpdesk if I dont have to and I couldnt find these instructions in the HELP on Outlook. Thanks!

  19. 19
    DJH : 06 July 2009 at 11:22 am

    Thank you. Very clear and concise directions.

  20. 20
    Dylan : 13 July 2009 at 2:45 pm

    You can also bypass all the menus and just type Ctrl+Shift+8 … That is the hotkey combo that probably got everyone to this site…LOL

  21. 21
    ron : 04 August 2009 at 10:32 am

    thanks so much..I was going insane and almost having a meltdown because to live with those weird formatting things all over sudden, i was not prepared!

  22. 22
    Jon : 10 August 2009 at 9:41 am

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  23. 23
    Anu : 13 September 2009 at 11:23 pm

    Thank you so much for the nice explanation.

  24. 24
    zack : 28 September 2009 at 3:17 pm

    thank you for the help pretty bad im a young IT had a hard time figuring it out on my own but never worked on outlook before

  25. 25
    Larry : 29 September 2009 at 10:40 am

    Thanks a lot. I’ve been trying all sorts of things to turn those markers off but they didn’t work. Then when I tried your simple little thing it worked like a champ. This thing has been driving me nuts. LOL.

  26. 26
    Grace : 11 November 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Thank you so much! very clear instructions :)

  27. 27
    WALID : 29 December 2009 at 3:59 am

    Many thanksssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss man

  28. 28
    jessica : 13 January 2010 at 8:02 pm

    What would I do without you. This is the 3rd time I have had to find your instructions on the web for this silly problem. You are worth your weight in gold.

  29. 29
    Gloria : 20 January 2010 at 12:52 pm

    thank you !

  30. 30
    VYKTOR : 21 January 2010 at 1:16 pm

    i Just want to thank to the person that posted comment # 10 he saved my ass

  31. 31
    Cpalo : 27 January 2010 at 5:43 pm

    Thank you so much! Fixed in a second after finding this link!!!

  32. 32
    kevin : 03 February 2010 at 4:25 am

    thanks, i was looking for this as well.

    sharing keeps the world spinning…..

  33. 33
    Lisa : 03 February 2010 at 7:19 pm

    Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  34. 34
    velmurugan : 06 February 2010 at 3:15 am

    Thank you very much for your tips.i used it .really thank you very much

  35. 35
    Karan : 06 April 2010 at 12:10 am

    Awesome and clear tips, thanks!

  36. 36
    Tina : 21 April 2010 at 4:37 am

    Thank you so much. I switched this on in error, did not even know what the symbols were called.

    All sorted. No further frustration here :o )

  37. 37
    Dan : 14 May 2010 at 8:19 am

    Thank you for your help.
    Can’t really understand why Microsoft is making simple things complicated.Can’t see why Microsoft gre so big when their support and application sucks.
    Thank you again
    Dan

  38. 38
    Tesha : 26 May 2010 at 9:42 am

    Thank you soooooooo muxch! I am at work, and I like to erase all the formatted headers if I am emailing myself something (saves paper when printing). This time around, those formatting marks- that I HATE- appeared and I couldn’t get them off for the life of me. I don’t know why they automatically appeared this time, but it doesn’t matter now, they’re gone- and its ALL THANKS TO YOU!

  39. 39
    Becky Carroll : 03 June 2010 at 7:13 pm

    Thank you! I searched all over for this info then found your post. Much appreciated!!

  40. 40
    Jan Hall : 16 June 2010 at 1:48 pm

    Voila! Very simple and clear instructions on how to remove formatting marks in Word 2007. I had to compose an email really fast, and I needed to know a fast fix. Yours were the first I clicked on, and wanted to say THANKS!

  41. 41
    Janelle : 22 June 2010 at 6:59 pm

    THANK YOU! I never know what it is i accidentally press to have these symbols appear. You’re a lifesaver

  42. 42
    Denise : 23 June 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Thank you x 1,000,000 ! It is 1:44 & I’ve been trying to figure out how to get those pasky little P’s off of my e-mail since 10 AM ! Thank you SO much!

  43. 43
    Joe : 28 June 2010 at 10:39 pm

    Did not help at all. I have Office 2007 and my Outlook does not look at all like either of your options. I found editor options but there is nothing to show me how to remove formatting marks. Thanks for trying…

  44. 44
    Joe : 28 June 2010 at 10:40 pm

    Found it. I was wrong – your way worked – thanks so much!

  45. 45
    Andrew J : 30 June 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Other sites suggested very complicated remedies. What you showed was so … easy. Thanks for saving me lots of time. – Andrew

  46. 46
    Vidyadhar Dabke : 10 July 2010 at 7:27 am

    Thanks a lot!!!!

  47. 47
    Shane Edwards : 13 July 2010 at 9:14 am

    Thanks, that was a very clear and concise (and easy) fix. Appreciate it!

  48. 48
    Julio : 14 July 2010 at 2:20 pm

    Excellent!!! good recomendation solve my problem!!! thanks a lot

  49. 49
    eve : 19 July 2010 at 3:18 pm

    lo maximoooooooooooooooooo…
    mil graciassss

  50. 50
    Aneesh : 04 August 2010 at 4:01 am

    Thanks buddy tc

  51. 51
    E : 13 August 2010 at 3:10 pm

    Wowzer!!! Thanks thanks!!!

  52. 52
    Velu : 17 August 2010 at 3:50 am

    Useful :)

  53. 53
    richard : 23 August 2010 at 9:35 pm

    Hi,

    I was wondering how come my outlook just got those formatting markers… This is helpful.. those are annoying and thanks!

  54. 54
    Troy : 03 September 2010 at 12:56 pm

    Thank you very much. This was the best and most helpful answer I found.

  55. 55
    A grateful Google searcher : 08 October 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Two years later, random people on the internet are still thanking you. I’m one of them.

    Thanks for keeping older posts like this one available.

  56. 56
    Marilyn : 20 October 2010 at 2:23 pm

    Excellent, this gave me my answer first try!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  57. 57
    Another grateful Google searcher : 21 October 2010 at 10:01 am

    THANK YOU!!!! I wasted 10 minutes trying to figure it out myself and this answer was the first one I clicked on – flawless! And I agree – thank you for keeping this avaialble 2 years after the original post!!!

  58. 58
    sherif : 01 November 2010 at 12:56 am

    Thank you so much :D

  59. 59
    Courtney : 08 November 2010 at 5:33 pm

    Thanks for your help! you are the best! those symbols were driving me nuts!!!!

  60. 60
    sudhakar : 09 November 2010 at 2:17 am

    thanks a zillion, this really helped me solving my colleague’s problem…and thanks for keeping this post live since 2 years…

  61. 61
    Nayab : 09 November 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Thank you.
    Very Helpful.

  62. 62
    Lippy : 30 November 2010 at 3:53 pm

    OMG!! I was freaking out all morning think I “Broke” OutlooK.

    Thanks a MILLION

  63. 63
    RG Mcrae : 08 December 2010 at 7:36 pm

    You rock! This worked in a flash, and I’ve been wanting to get this done for a while and you’re method worked without any time wasted. thank u, thank u, and thank u mucho.

  64. 64
    Beth : 09 December 2010 at 8:55 am

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Your site is the only one that had very clear instructions, along with a clear diagram, for getting rid of those symbols. Microsoft Outlook site was useless!

    Thanks again!

  65. 65
    Larissa : 14 December 2010 at 7:52 pm

    OMG thank you so much!!

  66. 66
    Vanessa : 15 April 2011 at 3:36 am

    Hi Jason, Very helpful! Thanks. I liked your screenshots, particularly the first image, where you zoom the image highlighted. Which program do you use? Like that feature. Thanks.

  67. 67
    Adam Patrech : 22 April 2011 at 1:30 am

    Brilliant – a google directing to you was much easier and quicker than Microsoft Help! Thanks a million!

    Just wondering what I did to make the paragraph and punctuation marks appear – must have been some keyboard shortcut I inadvertently made!

  68. 68
    Anna C : 25 April 2011 at 4:53 pm

    I was going out of my mind trying to figure this out and spent a good half hour in MS help and still couldn’t find this annoying fix. Thank you for making it so simple!

  69. 69
    Jazz : 05 May 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Thank you!!! My boss was asking me how to do this and I quickly wen to Google and this came up! He was so happy we go this ’cause it was driving him nuts!!

  70. 70
    Jeni : 15 May 2011 at 10:37 pm

    Thanks…these things drive me nuts….

  71. 71
    Silvia : 19 May 2011 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you very much! This solved the problem very quickly. The only thing that I would add is that you need to start by opening a new message. I was trying to find “View” from outside of a message and could not find it. Thanks!!

  72. 72
    ishu : 31 May 2011 at 2:19 pm

    thanxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx a lotttttttttttttttt. so useful

  73. 73
    Rebecca : 09 June 2011 at 11:10 pm

    Thank you. Windows is hopeless. This issue was driving me crazy and I could not work out how to turn it off….

  74. 74
    Tanya : 18 July 2011 at 12:36 pm

    Thank you! This feature mysteriously appeared and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off! Great easy instructions!

  75. 75
    Jolyon : 26 July 2011 at 11:28 pm

    Thank you, it has been so long.

  76. 76
    Lesley : 04 August 2011 at 10:42 am

    Thank you so much for such clear and brief instructions! I love a good screenshot!

    Lesley

  77. 77
    Linda : 13 August 2011 at 12:59 pm

    Thank You SO VERY MUCH! Couldn’t find this in ms help presenting the same question. Not sure how it got set up, just all of a sudden started to appear on all outgoing messages and was driving me nuts. You were a great help.

    Linda

  78. 78
    Sandra : 17 August 2011 at 8:12 am

    Thank you soo much .it was crystal clear

  79. 79
    Vignesh : 29 August 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Thanks. I knew it was something to do with formatting but could not figure out how to navigate to it with all those options. I pressed some combination on some keys to set this off.

  80. 80
    Alex : 09 September 2011 at 9:24 am

    Perfecto! Thanks a bunch. I love helpful hints that actually do help ;o)

  81. 81
    Paul : 14 September 2011 at 4:58 pm

    Thank you! Lifesaver. Amazing how a little thing like this can be such a hassle to remove. Your advice solved it in
    seconds!!!

  82. 82
    meaners : 22 September 2011 at 4:36 pm

    THANK YOU!!!!!!! :) )))))))))))))))))))))))))))

  83. 83
    janet : 28 September 2011 at 9:48 am

    Your procedure works fine for removing these formatting marks for emails you are wotking in, but how do you remove them pemanently. By the way, I have Outlook 2007, but there is no office button.

  84. 84
    janet : 28 September 2011 at 9:51 am

    OK, it seems to be working now. Thanks so much!

  85. 85
    Tony Romeyn : 19 October 2011 at 6:50 pm

    A BIG THANK YOU :) :)

  86. 86
    Eva Lilly Schafferer : 31 October 2011 at 8:52 am

    Thanks!!!

  87. 87
    Dan : 01 November 2011 at 9:06 am

    Very clear instructions thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave a Reply