Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 7, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When you use a typewriter, you press the Return, or Enter, key at the end of each line. This signifies you are done with one line and ready to begin the next. In Word, however, you do not have to do this. When you set up your page margins, Word is programmed to know that when you reach the right margin your text should automatically wrap to the next line.
There may be times, however, when you want to end a line before you get to the right margin. In these instances, you can end a line in either of two ways. The first way is to press the Enter key where you want the line to end. This results in a hard return being entered in the document. This action (pressing Enter) indicates that you have reached the end of the paragraph and want to start a new one.
The other way to end a line is to press Shift+Enter; this results in a soft return, sometimes called a line break or a newline character, being entered in the document. Hard returns are used to signify the end of a paragraph, whereas soft returns simply signify the end of a line.
If you have changed your view options so you can see all nonprinting characters, then a hard return appears on your screen as a paragraph mark (a backwards P), and a soft return appears as a down-and-left pointing arrow.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (170) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!
Need to delete a range of pages out of the middle of your document? It's easy to do using editing techniques you already ...
Discover MoreDo you want Word to always capitalize the first letter appearing after a colon? The program won't do it by default, but ...
Discover MoreWord provides access to a wide variety of characters either from the keyboard or from the Symbol dialog box. Up and above ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2022-06-18 13:29:08
Maciej Słojewski
For some reason Unicode character for „soft return” in Microsoft Word is {U+000B} = Vertical Tabulation (VT), whereas „hard return” is equivalent of {U+000D} = Carriage Return (CR, ␍). In other words: surprisingly „soft return” ≠ Line Feed (LF).
2021-08-17 03:41:10
AG
Thank you. this was really helpful
2021-02-06 17:59:22
John Mann
William
Use Find/Replace. In the Find/Replace dialogue box, click into find the Find What section
Go to the Special button at the bottom, and click
From the list, select "Manual Line Break"
Leave the "Replace with' box blank, will simply remove the new-line.
You could, if necesary, replace with a space.
If you want a new paragaph at that spot
Click the "Replace with" Box, then again the Special button
The top of the list is "Paragraph Mark", which will replace the line break with a new paragraph.
You could experiment with other selections. Once you have the appropriate settings, use Replace All.
Hope that helps.
2020-09-19 07:34:04
When I reformat some documents received electronically I notice breaks in mid sentence (or mid line) which I presume are soft returns in the original document. Removing these by Space + Delete is very tedious; how can I quickly remove all such soft returns/line breaks?
Any advice will be most welcome.
Geordie Lad
2019-01-31 11:40:13
Behdad
Hello. I have a question. I have Office 2013. in my Word, Shift-Enter regularly works; but it does not work in the footnote only in a specific file, while it works everywhere on any other file both in the text and in the footnote.
Thanks you for your reply.
2018-10-16 14:03:32
Brian Schwartz
Shift-Enter is how you do soft line breaks in MS Word on the Mac.
2018-08-21 00:13:31
Stan Hadley
How about in Word for Mac 2016? Shift+Return nor Shift+Enter create a soft return. I cannot find a way to make one on the Mac, but they do show up when opening a Word for Windows document.
2018-06-06 05:31:50
boolion
another excellent (though somewhat obscure) tip. thank you, sir
i'm working on a document with a required format that Table X and its description go on separate lines, but the 'Table' style inserts a large space between paragraphs.
obviously (now, thanks to your blog), what is required is a 'soft 'enter'.
my workaround: turn on 'formatting marks' and copy paste the 'soft enter' symbol.
to be sure, 'shift enter' is much easier
Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments