Insert a manual line break

A manual line break ends the current line and continues the text on the next line. For example, suppose your paragraph style includes extra space before each paragraph. To omit this extra space between short lines of text, such as those in an address block or a poem, insert a manual line break after each line instead of pressing ENTER.

  1. Click where you want to break a line of text.
  2. Press SHIFT+ENTER.


Manual line breaks are formatting marks that aren't normally visible in your document. If you want to view these breaks, turn on the formatting marks by clicking Show/Hide Paragraph mark Button image on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.). The manual line break character (Manual line break character ) indicates a manual line break.

Applies to:
Word 2003