This tutorial shows three ways to adjust page margins in Microsoft Word.
[Typewriter sounds]
Hello, my name is Erin.
I’m a technical writer and editor who shares writing tips for the real world on this channel
and on my blog at erinwrightwriting.com.
Today we’re going to look at three different ways to adjust page margins in Microsoft Word.
First, we’ll use the the ruler.
This method is only recommended for short documents.
Then, we’ll use preset margins.
Finally, we’ll create custom margins.
I’ll be using Word in Microsoft 365.
The steps are the same in Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010.
However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions of the software.
As mentioned in the introduction, the page ruler method is only recommended for short documents.
If your document is long or has multiple sections,
consider using the preset or custom margin methods shown later in this tutorial.
If your ruler is not visible, select the View tab in the ribbon.
And then select Ruler in the Show group.
Now, press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select the entire document.
As an alternative to Ctrl + A, you can select the entire document by selecting the Home tab in the ribbon,
followed by the Select button in the Editing group,
and Select All from the drop-down menu.
Once your document is selected, hover your cursor over the inner border of the gray area
on the left or right end of the horizontal ruler until your cursor becomes a double arrow.
You should see a tooltip that says, “Left margin” or “Right margin.”
Slide the double-arrow cursor to the left or right to adjust the margin.
To adjust the top or bottom margins, hover your cursor over the inner border of the gray area of the vertical ruler
until your cursor once again becomes a double arrow.
Then, slide the double arrow up or down to adjust the margin.
You may be wondering about the ruler marker.
The square ruler marker in the horizontal ruler can be used to move the left edge of the text.
However, this technique indents your text; it doesn’t adjust the margin.
Although the visual effect is the same and is usually fine for short documents,
creating unnecessary indents can cause problems for other formatting within longer documents.
Now we’re going to use Word’s preset margins.
Please note that Preset margins only affect your current section.
If you want to apply a preset to an entire document with multiple sections,
press Ctrl + A to select the entire document before performing these steps.
To begin, select the Layout tab in the ribbon.
Then, select the Margins button in the Page Setup group.
Now you can choose one of the preset margins from the drop-down menu: Normal, Narrow, Moderate, Wide,
Mirrored, which is for binding documents like a book, or Office 2003 Default.
If you have had previous custom margins, you will also see Last Custom Setting.
After you make your selection, the Margins drop-down menu will close,
and your margins will adjust immediately.
The preset menu is also available prior to printing.
You can get there by selecting the File tab followed by the Print tab in the backstage view.
Please remember that changes made from this menu affect the document itself, not just the printed version.
Now we’re going to create our own custom margins.
To create custom margin, begin by selecting the Layout tab in the ribbon.
Then, select the dialog box launcher in the Page Setup group to open the Page Setup dialog box.
From there, enter your new margins in inches, which can be whole numbers or decimals,
in the Top, Left, Bottom, and Right text boxes.
Next, select a location in the "Apply to" menu.
You can choose "This section," "This point forward," or "Whole document."
The "This section" option won’t appear if your document doesn’t have section breaks.
When you’re finished, select the OK button to close the Page Setup dialog box.
Your new margins will be applied immediately.
As always, save your file to save your changes.
I have created many other videos about Microsoft Word,
including “How to Adjust Line Spacing in Microsoft Word”
and “Three Ways to Indent Paragraphs in Microsoft Word.”
Please see the playlist called “How to Use Microsoft Word”
linked in the description box below for the complete list.
The companion blog post for this video listing all the steps we just performed
appears on erinwrightwriting.com, which is also linked below.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic related to Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat
that you would like me to talk about in the future.
And please subscribe to my channel and give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!
[Typewriter sounds]