You move but a few words, and the whole formatting breaks? You delete a space, and everything shifts? If it seems that formatting characters are conspiring against you in secret, It’s because — they are. Find out here how to show invisible characters (such as column breaks, tabs and non-breaking space) in Apple Pages for Mac ⤓ so you get a clear view of formatting oddities.
First, Thought at Work
Giorgio Vasari, arguably the inventor of art history itself, had something remarkable to say about Jacopo da Pontormo, a fellow master of Florentine mannerism:
When he went to work, he sometimes thought so deeply about what he meant to paint that he went home having done nothing all day but think.
So, the fruits of Pontormo‘s labors were nowhere to be seen at first — just like the control characters hiding in your masterworks of Page expressionism:
How to Show Invisible Characters in Apple Pages for Mac (Fix Formatting Issues)
Time needed: 1 minute
To view formatting and control characters in a document with Apple Pages for Mac:
- Select View | Show Invisibles from the menu in Pages.
Pages keyboard shortcut: You can press Command Shift I to toggle display of invisible characters.
- Find invisible characters rendered in light blue.
Custom color: While a light azure blue is the default color, you can pick your own style for invisible characters; see below.
Invisible again: Select View | Hide Invisibles from the menu to turn display of indivisible characters off again.
Their word: Apple include information on showing invisible characters in the Pages User Guide.
Invisible Characters in Pages and Their Meaning
| Display | Invisible Character |
|---|---|
 | space, hair space, thin space, en space, em space |
 | non-breaking space, narrow non-breaking space, figure space |
 | tab |
 | carriage return, line feed |
 | Line break |
 | page break |
 | section break |
 | column break |
 | unrecognized invisible |
Got a vision for characters?
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How to Show Invisible Characters in Apple Pages for Mac (Fix Formatting Issues): FAQ
Can I change the color for displaying invisible characters?
Yes.
To change the color for invisible characters in Pages:
- Select Pages ] Settings… from the menu.
- Go to the General tab.
- Click the current color under Invisibles.
- Choose the desired color.
Example: Choose a light gray to have the characters fade into the background.
By default, Pages renders invisible characters using a light azure (HEX #2f87eb) and does not change the color depending on the background. On a light azure background, the characters displaying invisible characters become invisible themselves.
Put together the perfect starter document, hidden characters and all?
How to Use Templates in Pages and Numbers
Will Pages display zero-width space characters with “Show Invisibles” enabled?
No.
Pages reveals only characters that are either whitespace themselves or alter how text is displayed. Turning on Show Invisibles will not reveal hidden characters or zero-width space.
Can I make hidden formatting characters visible in Pages for iPhone?
No.
Pages does not offer a means to reveal invisible formatting characters on iPhone and iPad.
(Tested with Pages 15 on macOS Tahoe 26; first published March 2026)