How to hide or show no-width optional breaks in Word
A no-width optional break is useful when working with long, unbroken text strings - like file paths or URLs - where you'd like Word to allow a line break without inserting visible spacing. This invisible break tells Word where it can wrap the text without affecting layout.
If you need to show or hide no-width optional breaks in your document, here are two effective methods:
Show or hide no-width optional breaks using Word Options
Show or hide no-width optional breaks with Kutools for Word
 |  |
No-width optional breaks are shown | No-width optional breaks are hidden |
Recommended Productivity Tools for Word
Kutools for Word: Integrating AI 🤖, over 100 advanced features save 50% of your document handling time.Free Download
Office Tab: Introduces the browser-like tabs to Word (and other Office tools), simplifying multi-document navigation.Free Download
Show or hide no-width optional breaks using Word Options
To show or hide no-width optional breaks manually, follow these steps:
- Click File > Options > Display.
- Check the box for Optional breaks and click OK.
- To hide them again, simply uncheck the same box and click OK.
Note: The "Optional breaks" checkbox may only appear in Word Options if your document contains optional breaks. If no optional breaks are present, the option might be hidden. To trigger it, try inserting a no-width optional break into your document first.
Office Tab: Brings tabbed interfaces to Word, Excel, PowerPoint... |
Enhance your workflow now. Learn More about Office Tab Free Download |
Show or hide no-width optional breaks with Kutools for Word
With Kutools for Word’s Display Settings feature, you can quickly toggle no-width optional breaks along with other formatting marks using a simple interface.
- Click Kutools Plus > Display Settings.
- In the Display Settings dialog, check or uncheck the Optional Breaks box, then click Close.
Note: The Display Settings tool also lets you toggle other formatting marks like paragraph marks, hidden text, bookmarks, and field codes.
For more details, visit our Quickly show or hide formatting marks in Word page.
Related articles:
- Show or hide spaces in Word
- Display or hide field codes in Word
- Show document content (text animation, drawings, and text boxes) in Word
Best Office Productivity Tools
Kutools for Word - Elevate Your Word Experience with Over 100 Remarkable Features!
🤖 Kutools AI Features: AI Assistant / Real-Time Assistant / Super Polish (Preserve Format) / Super Translate (Preserve Format) / AI Redaction / AI Proofread...
📘 Document Mastery: Split Pages / Merge Documents / Export Selection in Various Formats (PDF/TXT/DOC/HTML...) / Batch Convert to PDF...
✏ Contents Editing: Batch Find and Replace across Multiple Files / Resize All Pictures / Transpose Table Rows and Columns / Convert Table to Text...
🧹 Effortless Clean: Sweap away Extra Spaces / Section Breaks / Text Boxes / Hyperlinks / For more removing tools, head to the Remove group...
➕ Creative Inserts: Insert Thousand Separators / Check Boxes / Radio Buttons / QR Code / Barcode / Multiple Pictures / Discover more in the Insert group...
🔍 Precision Selections: Pinpoint Specific Pages / Tables / Shapes / Heading Paragraphs / Enhance navigation with more Select features...
⭐ Star Enhancements: Navigate to Any Location / Auto-Insert Repetitive Text / Toggle Between Document Windows / 11 Conversion Tools...
🌍 Supports 40+ Languages: Use Kutools in your preferred language – supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!
✨ Kutools for Office – One Installation, Five Powerful Tools!
Includes Office Tab Pro · Kutools for Excel · Kutools for Outlook · Kutools for Word · Kutools for PowerPoint
📦 Get all 5 tools in one suite | 🔗 Seamless integration with Microsoft Office | ⚡ Save time and boost productivity instantly
Best Office Productivity Tools
Kutools for Word - 100+ Tools for Word
- 🤖 Kutools AI Features: AI Assistant / Real-Time Assistant / Super Polish / Super Translate / AI Redaction / AI Proofread
- 📘 Document Mastery: Split Pages / Merge Documents / Batch Convert to PDF
- ✏ Contents Editing: Batch Find and Replace / Resize All Pictures
- 🧹 Effortless Clean: Remove Extra Spaces / Remove Section Breaks
- ➕ Creative Inserts: Insert Thousand Separators / Insert Check Boxes / Create QR Codes
- 🌍 Supports 40+ Languages: Kutools speaks your language – 40+ languages supported!