In Word 2003 there is a toolbar button that controls formatting text as hidden. Click it once and the text is hidden; click it again and it is unhidden. That tool is no longer available on the Home tab of the ribbon in later versions of Word. However, you can add this button to the Quick Access toolbar.
The trouble is, in Word 2003 and earlier the Hidden tool indicates whether the selected text is hidden or not, the same as the Bold and Italic tools do. In Word 2007 and later versions, the Hidden tool, when added to the Quick Access toolbar, behaves differently; it doesn't show the state of whatever text you have selected.
This discrepancy in behavior may make you wonder if there is a way to make the Hidden tool in Word 2007 and later versions act like the Hidden tool in Word 2003. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this is possible. If it is any consolation, however, hidden text, if displayed on the screen, should show with a small dotted underline. This makes it easy to pick out which of your text is formatted as hidden and which isn't.
That being said, it seems inconsistent for the Hidden tool to behave differently than similar formatting tools, such as the Bold and Italic tools. Perhaps Microsoft will make the behavior more consistent in future versions of the program.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9535) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013.
The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!
Need to adjust how your characters look horizontally? Word provides an easy way you can scale the horizontal appearance ...
Discover MoreIf you have text surrounded by quotes in a document, you may want to remove the quote marks and make the text that was ...
Discover MoreFormatting some of your text as hidden can be a great help when you need to keep some things from being viewed or ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2016-03-15 10:44:43
VP
I imported it from word 2003 along with a number of other customised commands in a toolbar. It showed up in word 2007 add-ons tab. Sorry cant remember how I did it and cant recall if it highlighted when active (it got lost in a PC crash some time ago).
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments