Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Viewing More of the Left Margin Area.

Viewing More of the Left Margin Area

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 2, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


One of the first things you probably did in Word was to master the use of the scroll bars. These allow you to change the part of your document you want to view. You can use the bottom horizontal scroll bar to view the right side of you document. This is rather obvious from the positioning on the marker within the scroll bar.

There may be times when you are working in Normal View or Draft View and you want to move your document to the right so you can view more of the left margin. To do this, simply hold down the Shift key and click on the left-pointing scroll arrow. You can again view your document properly by scrolling to the left.

This tip only works if you are using Normal View, Draft View, or Outline View. (Normal and Draft are simply two different names for the same view, depending on your version of Word.) The reason for this is simple. In Print Layout View Word displays the full left margin area of your document; there is no need to scroll left.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (22) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Viewing More of the Left Margin Area.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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