Office Settings & Configuration

How to Remove Text Boundary Boxes Around Lines in Word

Phi Hung Vo Oct 9, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user wants to hide or disable the dotted text boundary lines that continuously appear around paragraphs and lines of text in their document.

How to Remove Text Boundary Boxes Around Lines in Word

Product: Microsoft Word
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Viewing or editing a document where the text formatting outlines are visually distracting and cluttering the screen.
Observed behavior: Text boundary boxes or outlines are visibly wrapping around every individual line of text within the document view.

Before you start

Ensure your document is currently in Print Layout view, as text boundary lines are typically only visible within this specific viewing mode.

Solution 1Recommended

Disable Text Boundaries in Word Options

The most direct way to remove the outlines around your text is by unchecking the text boundaries feature within the application's advanced settings.

Text boundaries are designed to help visualize the margins and limits of text blocks. However, in newer versions of Word, they appear around every single line of text rather than just the page margins, which can make the document difficult to read.

Open the Options Menu

Click on the 'File' tab located in the top-left corner of the ribbon. From the left-hand sidebar, select 'Options' at the very bottom to open the Word Options dialog box.

Navigate to Advanced Settings

In the Word Options window, click on the 'Advanced' tab found on the left-side navigation pane.

Turn Off Text Boundaries

Scroll down through the advanced settings until you reach the 'Show document content' section. Locate the checkbox labeled 'Show text boundaries', uncheck it, and click 'OK' to apply the changes.

Print Output Unaffected: Turning off text boundaries only affects your on-screen display. The document's physical layout and printed output will remain completely unchanged.

Seamless Document Editing

Manage Text Boundaries Easily with WPS Office

WPS Writer offers a clean, distraction-free interface for editing your documents. If you prefer a simpler way to manage document views without unexpected layout clutter, you can easily toggle text boundaries in WPS Office.

1. Open your Document: Launch WPS Writer and open the document where you want to adjust the view settings.
2. Access the Settings: Click on 'Menu' in the top-left corner of the interface and select 'Options' from the drop-down list.
3. Navigate to View Preferences: In the Options dialog, click on the 'View' tab located in the left-hand navigation pane.
4. Disable the Boundaries: Under the 'Show' section, uncheck the box for 'Text boundaries' and click 'OK' to instantly clear the screen of formatting outlines.

Clean and intuitive user interface without cluttered formatting marks.Fully compatible with Microsoft Word (.docx, .doc) formats.Lightweight software that loads large documents quickly and efficiently.Free to download and use for your daily office and study tasks.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did text boundaries suddenly appear in my Word document?

This usually happens if the setting was accidentally toggled on in the Advanced Options menu, or if a recent software update reverted your default view preferences back to factory settings.

Will the text boundary lines print on my paper?

No, text boundaries are strictly an on-screen visual aid for editing. They are non-printing characters and will not appear when you print the document or export it as a PDF.

Can I remove the boundary box around a specific paragraph only?

Text boundaries are a global application setting rather than a paragraph format. To turn them off, they must be disabled for the entire document using the Options menu.

Office App Problems