How to Add the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) in Word

Invoking part of a contract or pointing to another section of your text? There’s a handy sign for that. Find out here how to add the paragraph symbol ( ¶ ) in Word for Windows, Mac, and the web.

First, Lift Weights Consciously

If you do what the headline says and do what the muscle magazines say and do what, perhaps, your friends say, you will focus on the muscle you want to build as you contract it to engage it fully and recruit as many muscle fibers as possible.

If you do that, chances are you will find what researchers have found conducting a literature review in the year 2019: you have no idea how to do all that recruiting with conscious control.

Instead, focusing on the muscle itself hurts more than it helps for muscular efficiency.

Focus on the weight (outside the muscle and outside yourself) instead, and your nervous system does the recruiting job handsomely (free, it seems, of the confusing messages of conscious control).

Now, want readers to focus outside the current paragraph (to a different one)? Here’s how to insert just the right symbol for that consciously in Word:

How to Add the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) in Word for Windows

Type the Paragraph Sign Using the Keyboard in Word for Windows

To add a keyboard combination that lets you insert the paragraph sign using the keyboard alone in Word:

1. Select More Symbols… from the Insert tab on the ribbon.
2. Go to the Special Characters tab.
3. Highlight Paragraph.
4. Click Shortcut Key….
5. Click in the Press new shortcut key: field.
6. Press the key combination you want to use for the paragraph symbol in Office.
   Example: Ctrl Alt A is a combination that works well.
   
7. Click Assign.
8. Now click Close.
9. Now close the Symbol dialog.

Enter the Inverted Paragraph Symbol

To insert the reversed paragraph symbol ( ⁋ ) using Word for Windows:

1. Select More Symbols… on the ribbon’s Insert tab.
2. Go to the Symbols tab.
3. Type 204B under Character code:.
4. With the inverted paragraph sign highlighted, click Insert.
   Nothing highlighted: Many fonts do, alas, not include the inverted paragraph sign; one that does is the venerable Times New Roman.
   One-character font: You can select a font that does include the inverted paragraph just for that symbol.

How to Enter the Paragraph Symbol in Word for Mac

To add the paragraph symbol to a text in Word for Mac:

1. Put the text cursor where you want the paragraph symbol to appear.
2. Press Option 7.
   Other keyboards: The key combination above is for the standard U.S.-English macOS keyboard layout; other keyboards let you insert the paragraph symbol on the Mac with other combinations.
   Protected whitespace: Do follow the paragraph symbol with a non-breaking space.

Using the Word for Mac Ribbon

To add the paragraph sign using the ribbon in Word for Mac:

1. Open the Insert tab on the ribbon.
2. Click Advanced Symbol.
3. Go to the Special Characters tab.
4. Highlight  ¶ Paragraph.
5. Click Insert.

Add the Paragraph Sign in Word Online (Microsoft 365 on the Web)

To insert the paragraph sign in Microsoft 365 Word Online on the web:

• Always use the operating system’s method of inputting the paragraph symbol:
  Windows: How to Type the Paragraph Sign ( ¶ ) on Windows
  Linux: How to Insert the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) on Linux
  Mac: How to Make the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) on a Mac

Not in the symbol dialog: Word Online does not include a way of inserting paragraph symbols itself.

Use the Paragraph Symbol in Word for iOS and Android

Word for iPhone and Android do not offer means to insert the paragraph symbol, and neither do the usual mobile keyboards.

You can still insert the pilcrow, though:

1. Copy the paragraph sign for pasting: copy.
2. Paste the symbol where desired.

How to Add the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) in Word: FAQ

How can I tell the paragraph signs I inserted from the paragraph markers at the ends of paragraphs that Word displays as control characters?

Visually, you cannot normally tell the two apart.

Word can show control characters (including paragraph breaks as ¶) when you press Ctrl ( (open parenthesis) or select Show/Hide ¶ on the Home tab of the ribbon. These paragraph markers appear as regular paragraph symbols.

To differentiate the two kinds of paragraph signs:

• Paragraph break control markers always appear at the end of lines and paragraphs; they cannot appear inside text.
• To make paragraph symbols that are part of the text stand out, highlight them using search:
  1. Select Find on the ribbon’s Home tab.
  2. Enter ¶ in the search field under Navigation.
  3. See all paragraph symbols qua text highlighted.

How do I refer to a range of paragraphs?

If you refer to two or more paragraphs, duplicate the paragraph sign.

Example: See ¶¶ 3–7 above.

(How to insert the paragraph symbol in Word tested with Word for Windows 2209–2409 and Word for Mac 16.54; first published November 2021, last updated February 2024)