Although Microsoft Word allows users to find hide text, if you are unable to hide text in Word, here is how you can get rid of that problem. There could be several reasons why Word is not hiding text on your Windows 11/10 computer. Here we have consolidated some of the common reasons along with solutions so that you can troubleshoot the issue within moments.
Unable to hide Text in Word
If you cannot hide text in Microsoft Word, follow these suggestions to resolve the issue:
- Check Word Options setting
- Verify Group Policy setting
- Modify Registry value
- Repair Microsoft Office
To learn more about these steps, continue reading.
1] Check Word Options setting
Word comes with an in-built option that allows users to show or hide hidden text in the document. Even if you enable the formatting option, your hidden text may not be visible if this setting is wrongly set up. That is why you need to follow these steps to check the Word Options setting:
- Open Microsoft Word on your computer.
- Click on the File menu.
- Click on the Options menu.
- Switch to the Display tab in the Word Options panel.
- Tick the Hidden text checkbox.
- Click the OK button.
Next, you can click on the formatting icon to show the hidden text.
2] Verify Group Policy setting
The same thing can be enabled or disabled using Local Group Policy Editor as well. If you have changed or modified such a setting using the GPEDIT, you need to revert the change using the same utility. To verify the Group Policy setting, follow these steps:
- Search for gpedit.msc in the Taskbar search box.
- Click on the individual search result.
- Go to this path: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Word 2016 > Word Options > Display
- Double-click on the Hidden text setting on the right-hand side.
- Choose the Not Configured option.
- Alternatively, you can also select the Enabled option.
- Click the OK button to save the change.
Next, you need to restart the Microsoft Word app.
3] Modify Registry value
You can turn on or off Hidden text feature using the Registry Editor as well. If you have done so, you need to use Windows Registry to revert the change. To modify the Registry value, follow these steps:
- Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
- Type regedit and click the OK button.
- Click the Yes button on the UAC prompt.
- Navigate to this path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\word\options - Double-click on the showhiddentext REG_WORD value.
- Enter 1 as the Value data.
- Click the OK button.
- Close all windows and restart your computer.
Alternatively, you can delete the showhiddentext REG_DWORD value as well. To do that, you need to right-click on it, select the Delete option, and click on the Yes button to confirm. As usual, you need to restart your computer to apply the change.
4] Repair Microsoft Office
If none of the aforementioned solutions has worked for you, you can opt for this solution. You can restart the Microsoft Office installation on your computer. At times, certain features may stop working due to a bug or glitch. In such situations, you can repair the Microsoft Office installation using the in-built utility. To repair Microsoft Office, follow these steps:
- Press Win+I to open Windows Settings.
- Go to the Apps section.
- Click on the Apps & features menu.
- Head to the Microsoft 365 app.
- Click the three-dotted icon and select the Modify option.
- Choose the Quick Repair option and click the Repair button.
However, if that doesn’t work, select the Online Repair option.
Read: How to show or hide Formatting Marks in Word
How do I hide text in a Word document?
To hide text in Word document, you need to select the text first. Then, click on the arrow icon visible in the Font section in the Home tab. Next, choose the +Body option in the Font panel and tick the Hidden checkbox. Finally, click on the OK button to save the change. Once done, you can find the text hidden automatically.
Why does Word not show hidden text?
There could be several reasons why Word doesn’t show hidden text in Windows 11/10. In most cases, it occurs due to an incorrect setting in the Local Group Policy Editor. On the other hand, setting the wrong value in the Registry Editor could also cause the same problem. If such a problem appears, you can go through the aforementioned solutions to get rid of it.
I hope these solutions worked for you.
