Hiding Smart Tags

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 13, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2002 and 2003

If you routinely work with documents sent to you by other people, you may want to hide the display of Smart Tags—the wavy purple underlines that appear in the document. To turn them off, so they are not visible, you can follow these steps:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the View tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

Clear the Smart Tags check box.
Click OK.

These steps only hide the wavy purple underlines; it doesn't stop SmartTags from being saved with the document. You need to follow the steps outlined in the previous tip to stop them from being saved with the document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7833) applies to Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing the User Name in Existing Comments

Want to change the name that Word associates with various comments previously added to your document? Here are some ideas ...

Discover More

Checking Your Data File

When you get ready to merge a document with a data source, you'll want to make sure that everything is "as expected" ...

Discover More

Compiling a List of Students in a Course

Need to pull just a limited amount of information from a large list? Here are a few approaches you might be able to use ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (menu)

Changing Document Links

If your document contains links to information in other documents, you can modify the source document that is linked to ...

Discover More

Creating Labels

Using Word to create and print labels is a snap. All you need to do is provide the text you want on the labels, pick a ...

Discover More

Using the Discussion Pane

Tips for using the Discussion pane during a Discussion session.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 1 + 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

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.