Paragraph mark differences in Word 2010 from one system to another

Question

When I open a Word document with Word 2010 on my desktop, the paragraph mark is shown as

However, on my laptop with the same Word version when I open the same document it’s shown as

Why? How can I change the paragraph marks?

PS: I do not mean how to hide or display the paragraph marks but how to change this symbol.

Solution 1

Though this is an ancient question and we are now using Office 365 instead of Word 2010, I had and (just) resolved this problem, so I'll put down my solution:

The appearance of the paragraph marks seems dependent on your language preferences (Option/Language). The pilcrow seems to be used in English, while the carriage return lookalike is used in East Asian languages (for me it was Japanese), so if you want the pilcrow, change the Editing, Display and Help languages all to English and the pilcrows should start showing up.

Solution 2

Source Nonprinting Formatting Marks In Word

What Do The Formatting Marks Mean In Word 2010?

will be displayed if you press Enter to insert a paragraph break (start a new paragraph).

will be displayed if you press Shift+Enter to insert a Line Break (start a new line).

Source Line, page and section breaks

Insert a Line Break

There are two types of line breaks: a paragraph (hard) break and a manual (soft) break.

You insert a paragraph break by pressing Enter. The new paragraph applies all the related styles, for example, the spacing between paragraphs or creates a new bullet or numbered item in a list

Suppose you want to omit the extra space between paragraphs because you are entering an address, writing a poem or suppose you require a line break in a list without adding a new item. To do this you insert a manual break.

You do this by placing the cursor where you want to insert the line break and then press Shift+Enter

How can I change the paragraph marks?

You cannot change which symbol is displayed. However you can delete the paragraph mark or line break and use the other one if it meets your formatting need better.

Comments

[Rsya Studios]

@user154424 Try Ctrl + Shift + 8 . Also is there a button with that symbol at the top? I have edited the question for the answer's method too.

[Rsya Studios]

Try this: Home tab-> Unselect the paragraph symbol. Edited answer.

[Quanwang]

Sorry, I do not mean how to hide or display the paragraph marks but how to change this symbol.

[Rsya Studios]

@user154424 What do you want to replace it with?

[DavidPostill]

They are not both paragraph marks. The first is a paragraph mark (pilcrow), the second is a line break

[Rsya Studios]

@DavidPostill Ya somehow someone edited my answer from "It's a paragraph mark" to "They are both paragraph marks". Edited it back again haha

[Quanwang]

Thanks for your answer. However, the problem for me is this paragraph mark is different in different machines. I have edited my problem to make it clear.

[DavidPostill]

Then there must be a difference between the two copies of the document (or maybe the default style sheets on the two machines). Try deleting the line break one and use enter instead.

[Quanwang]

Actually it is the same document which is synchronized by Dropbox, and the desktop and laptop have the same system and software: Windows 8 and Office 2010.

[DavidPostill]

Try deleting the line break one and use enter instead. What does it then show on both machines? Are both machines fully updated?

[DavidPostill]

Do you have a very small document showing the problem that you can share?

[Quanwang]

I think it has no connection with the specific Word Document, because every Word document has the same problem.

[Quanwang]

The desktop has been updated to windows 8.1 but the laptop remains windows 8.0. Both are in the English version.

[Quanwang]

Previously, when I use some windows and office in the Chinese version, the paragraph mark is always shown as the latter case.

[Quanwang]

This helps solve my problem.

[Scott - Слава Україні]

It appears that you may have misunderstood the question. Please read it again, and read the accepted answer.