Desperately seeking help on removing a stubborn auto-formatted line in Word for Mac!

kah1 20 Reputation points
2026-06-01T19:41:05.3+00:00

I have tried everything possible to removed a heavy black line from a Word for Mac document. IT WILL NOT GO.

I believe I created it months ago by adding underlined tabs, and that auto-converted into a line that extends to both side margins.

No matter how I try to delete it, it just jumps around. I have tried cutting it. I have tried clearing all formatting. I have tried converting it to a white font color to make it invisible. I have spent WAY too much time searching for an answer.

Please be a hero!

Here’s a screenshot:Screenshot 2026-06-01 at 12.39.01 PM THANKS

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS
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Answer accepted by question author

AI answer

2026-06-01T19:41:18.0666667+00:00

That heavy black line is a paragraph bottom border (Word’s automatic horizontal line). Remove it by clearing the border on that paragraph.

On Word for Mac:

  1. Click in the empty paragraph that contains the line (place the insertion point directly above the line).
  2. Go to the Home tab.
  3. Click the arrow next to the Borders button.
  4. Choose No Border.

The line will disappear because its bottom border has been removed.

If similar lines appear elsewhere, repeat the same steps in those paragraphs.

To prevent Word from auto-creating such lines in the future (when typing ---, ___, etc.), turn off the automatic border feature as described in the horizontal line article.

References:

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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