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Strange arrow instead of a paragraph mark

Anonymous
2016-01-05T13:29:10+00:00

Hi folks,

I recently stumbled upon a strange thing in Word. After one of the updates - can't recall which one - my paragraph marks suddenly appear as left-pointing arrows, not unlike those indicating a soft return. However, as you can see, these are not completely the same. Anyone else encountered this? Or more important, does anyone know how to change it back?

This is on my MacBook Air. My iMac at home which had the exact same updates, is still showing the paragraph marks correctly.

This shows the current situation on my MacBook:

As you can see there are two different arrows. The smaller ones are soft returns (shift-enter), The larger ones have replaced my paragraph marks (plain enter).

For reference, here is a picture of a paragraph mark in Word. This is from a Windows version, the ones on the Mac are blue, just as the arrows above.

Thanks,

Marcel

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points
    2016-01-05T15:45:13+00:00

    This  a known issue that is the result of having selected one of several Languages/Keyboard Input Methods in System Preferences. To restore the standard ¶ you need to:

    • Quit Word
      1. Go to System Preferences - Language & Region
        • Remove any East Asian languages from the list
      2. Go to System Preferences - Keyboard - Input Sources
        • Remove any East Asian languages from the list
    • The ¶ should be restored when you next launch Word

    It has been brought to the attention of Microsoft. As yet, though, there has not been any fix issued. You can add to the demand by using the ☺︎ at the right end of the Word Ribbon to submit your feedback.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-05T15:58:18+00:00

    Hi Bob,

    Thanks, never would have guessed it would be this simple. I noticed indeed some strange new icon on the menu bar, that looked like it belongs to a Far East language.

    Cheers,

    Marcel

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