How to show or hide all hidden text quickly in Word?

Hidden text in Microsoft Word can be a useful feature for keeping certain information discreet while still being part of the document. However, there are times when you need to quickly show or hide this hidden text for editing or reviewing purposes.

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to quickly show or hide all hidden text in Word, making your document management easier and more effective.

Hide text in Word

Follow these steps to hide a portion of text in a Word document:

1. Select the text you want to hide, right-click, and choose Font from the context menu.

   

2. In the Font dialog, under the Font tab, check the Hidden option, then click OK.

   

Now, the selected text will be hidden from view in the document.

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Unhide all hidden text in Word

As you see, it’s not easy to find out the hidden text in your Word document. Here, I will reverse the method introduced above, and show all hidden text in the Word document quickly.

1. Press Ctrl + A keys together to select the whole document, right-click, and select Font from the context menu.
2. In the Font dialog, under the Font tab, uncheck the Hidden option, and click the OK button. See screenshot:

   

   Tip: When opening the Font dialog, you may get . Click the checkbox once to check it, and click again to uncheck it .

Now, all hidden text in the document is revealed and no longer hidden.

Toggle to Temporarily Show or Hide Hidden Text in Word

If you just need to view the hidden text temporarily, you can use the Show/Hide button to toggle displaying or hiding all hidden text in your Word document.

1. Click the Show/Hide Editing Marks button ( or ) in the Paragraph group on the Home tab to show or hide the hidden text.

   

Show or Hide Hidden Text or Any Specific Formatting Marks with Kutools

Kutools provides more toggle options for displaying or hiding hidden text and other formatting marks, offering greater flexibility than Word's native tools.

1. Click Kutools Plus > Display Settings.

   

2. In the pop-up dialog, check Hidden Text, and the result will be displayed as shown below:

   

Configure Word to always show or hide hidden text

If you want to permanently show all hidden text in your Word document, you can configure Word options to achieve this.

1. Click File > Options to open the Word Options dialog.
2. In the Word Options dialog, click Display in the left bar, then check the Hidden text option in the Always show these formatting marks on the screen section.

   

   Note: To hide all hidden text permanently, uncheck the Hidden text option.

3. Click the OK button to save the change.

Now, all hidden text will display with a dotted underline. See screenshot:

Print hidden text in Word documents

You might have noticed that hidden text will not be printed by default. If you need the hidden text to appear in printouts, you must configure the Word options.

1. Click File > Options to open the Word Options dialog.
2. In the Word Options dialog, click Display in the left-hand menu. Then, check the Print hidden text option in the Printing options section.

   

   Note: To prevent printing all hidden text, uncheck the Print hidden text option.

3. Click the OK button.

From now on, all hidden text will also be printed.

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