Word 2003 Formatting marks

[aware]

In word docs I sometimes get a small black square to the left of my text.
Does anyone know what this mark is and what causes it to appear?

 

[Jay Freedman]

In word docs I sometimes get a small black square to the left of my text.
Does anyone know what this mark is and what causes it to appear?

It indicates that one of the option boxes (other than Widow & Orphan Control) on
the Page & Line Breaks tab of the Format > Paragraph dialog is checked.

This is explained near the bottom of
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm.