Why is Word showing dots instead of spaces

Is your Word document displaying dots instead of spaces? This is actually a fairly common formatting issue that can be resolved quickly if you follow the steps outlined below.

Why is Word showing dots instead of spaces?

The dots you see in Word are the formatting marks you probably switched on by accident. The periods denote spaces in Word, and they don't print. However, you can turn them off easily. Here's how.

How to fix the issue that there are dots instead of spaces in Word?

If your Word is only showing spaces as dots, you can turn this off via this simple procedure:

• Click on Tools menu > Options > View tab.

• Under Formatting marks, uncheck Spaces.
• If Spaces is clear and All checkbox is selected, de-select it to clear the All checkboxes.
• Click on OK to save changes.

Otherwise, you can simply click on the formatting icon (¶) in Word's top menu and turn off all the non-print symbols.