Entering Units of Measurement in Dialog Boxes

Summary: Word is very flexible in letting you enter measures in virtually any manner you can imagine. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 6, Word 95, Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

There are many places in Word where you must provide measurements so Word knows how to format elements of your document. For instance, if you display the Paragraph dialog box (which is used for formatting paragraphs), there are numerous places where you can enter measurement values. In this and other dialog boxes, each place you can enter a measurement value is shown as a box with up and down arrows to the right of the box.

You can use the up and down arrows to change measurement values, but Word allows you to input exact measurement values in a number of different ways. These values are typically indicated by a number followed by two letters that indicate the unit of measurement you desire. Word allows you to use the following designations for units of measurement in your dialog boxes:

Abbreviation	Meaning	Example
"	inches	.667"
cm	centimeter	32 cm
in	inches	.25 in
li	lines	2.25 li
pi	picas	8 pi
pt	points	4 pt

Tip #377 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Entering Units of Measurement in Dialog Boxes