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Office Word: Suddenly has boxes around everything I type...I can't find how to remove them

michael-grace108 11 Reputation points
2022-10-25T15:58:36.357+00:00

Hello,

I’ve had a Microsoft 365 Family subscription for years. I have installed and used Microsoft Word on my laptop all that time. When I previously opened a new, blank Word document a literally blank document open (as it should). One day, a few months ago, that changed, and I can’t figure out why or how to fix it to go back to the way it should be.

KEY POINTS OF THIS MICROSOFT WORD ISSUE:

The following is what happens when I use Microsoft word now. I open Microsoft Word on my laptop and select: File New Blank document

There will then be one box (for lack of a better description) at the top of an otherwise blank document.

  1. If I type one continuous sentence, the box continues. If the sentence is 17 lines long, then it's one big box.
  2. If I get to the end of the available space on the right side of the page, and press enter
    then another box begins, opposed to continuing. It looks like a page of thin horizontal rectangles around all of my sentences. 3. If I use Word while online via my 365 account, this "box issue" has never happened.

Please help me figure out how to fix this issue!! It’s maddening that I can’t use Word correctly. It’s just as maddening that I can’t find the answer when I’ve searched in the Microsoft Word Help feature.

Thank you… I greatly appreciate any input, michael-grace

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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Answer recommended by moderator
  1. John Korchok 223.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2022-10-25T17:38:14.463+00:00

    Your screen shot shows that the Text Boundaries option is turned on:

    1. Choose File>Options>Advanced.
    2. Scroll to the Show document content section and uncheck Show text boundaries.
    10 people found this answer helpful.

6 additional answers

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  1. Gwenda McDougall 0 Reputation points
    2025-08-18T22:59:37.24+00:00

    Thank you Stefan and Jay, Your responses helped me to solve the situation.

    Now all I have to do on my Mac is figure out why Word isn't allowing me to upload images or

    even save pages from emails, with images, and CommandV onto a Word doc? Text shows but no images. Thanks again, Any info on this problem would be greatly appreciated as well. Regards, Gwenda

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  2. Hallenberger, Susan 0 Reputation points
    2025-12-10T17:08:10.21+00:00

    When I do that, it removes all the text as well. Need another option. [Moderator's note: In response to the comments, Susan posted her problem as a separate question: https://v4.hkg1.meaqua.org/en-us/answers/questions/5655549/help-with-unwanted-text-boxes]