Not sure what to call it?

[Guest]

Before typing anything on a new Word document, there is what looks like a
roman numeral two (II), but the top is closed, the bottom is open and on the
left numeral looks like a backwards capitol P with the P being filled in. It
appears on every line and is always before the cursor. Also, if you right
click, it looks like the symbol in the "Paragraph" icon. What is it and how
do I get rid of it?

 

[Chuck Davis]

It's a pilcrow. ¶ It indicates that the Enter or Return key has been
depressed showing the end of a paragraph.

 

[Greg Maxey]

You have non-printing characters displayed. The symbol you decribe is the
"pilcrow" and marks the end of each paragraph.

Press CTRL+Shift+* to toggle the display.

 

[Jezebel]

It's called a pilcrow or (more commonly) a paragraph mark -- try pressing
Enter. You can switch it -- and other non-printing marks tabs and the centre
dot for spaces -- on and off by clicking the button on the format toolbar
that has that same symbol, or through Tools > Options > View.

But before you do, consider that it is actually useful: it tells you things
about how your document is formatted.

 

[Chuck Davis]

You can turn it off. Click on the Show/Hide button on the task bar.

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much!

It's called a pilcrow or (more commonly) a paragraph mark -- try pressing
Enter. You can switch it -- and other non-printing marks tabs and the centre
dot for spaces -- on and off by clicking the button on the format toolbar
that has that same symbol, or through Tools > Options > View.

But before you do, consider that it is actually useful: it tells you things
about how your document is formatted.