Microsoft Word 2003 Document Viewing and Navigation – Small Arrows Appearing When Pressing Tab Key

If, when pressing the tab key on your keyboard, small, seemingly ubiquitous arrows appear in your Microsoft Word 2003 documents, here’s how to remove them.

Note that these arrows may only be appearing onscreen, not when you print your documents.

Note also that sometimes when you press the tab key at the beginning of a paragraph, an arrow may not appear. This is because Word is instead adjusting the paragraph’s indentation instead of tabbing text in your document.

1. Click on the “Tools” menu, selecting “Options”.

2. When the “Options” multi-tabbed dialog box appears, make sure the “View” tab is selected.

3. Underneath “Formatting marks”, uncheck “Tab characters”.

4. Click “OK” to close the dialog box.