Changing Page Margins

Summary: One of the most basic of layout determinations is what margins you will use for the pages in your document. Word allows you to set margins on a section-by-section basis in a document. This tip explains how. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

When you first start Word, certain assumptions are made about your page layout. One of these assumptions has to do with your page margins. You can change your page margins at any time by following these steps:

Choose the Page Setup option from the File menu. Word displays the Page Setup dialog box.
Make sure the Margins tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Adjust the top, bottom, left, and right margins as desired.
Make sure the Apply To drop-down list is set to Whole Document.
Click on OK.

Page margins can be different for each section in your document. This means that if you need to switch margins in the middle of a document, you can do so by inserting a section break and then modifying the margins for each of the resulting document sections. When doing this, the only difference in the above steps is that you would make sure the Apply To drop-down list (step 4) is set to This Section.

Tip #1020 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Changing Page Margins