Shifting Margins Evident in Word 2002

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 23, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2000, 2002, and 2003

Matt is experiencing a problem with documents created in Word 2000 and then viewed in Word 2002. He's noticing a shift in the top and bottom margins of the pages. When he opens a document that was created in Word 2000 on a Word 2002 system, the two margins are shifted upwards, even though the margin settings are the same.

This is caused by different ways in which the two versions of Word calculate the effect that line spacing has on the margins. The easiest way to make sure that the two versions handle margins the same is to follow these steps:

Open the document in the Word 2000 system.
Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Compatibility tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Compatibility tab of the Options dialog box.

Note which compatibility options are selected. Pay particular attention to the settings entitled Suppress Extra Line Spacing at Bottom of Page and Suppress Extra Line Spacing at Top of Page.
Close the Options dialog box.
Open the document in the Word 2002 system.
Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Compatibility tab is displayed.
Make sure the compatibility options are set the same as they are on the Word 2000 system.
Close the Options dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (297) applies to Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adding Drop-Shadows to Paragraphs

Drop shadows are a style of paragraph border used to enhance the visual impact of a paragraph. They are also a great way ...

Discover More

Specifying Index Section Dividers

When adding an index to your document, you can use one of the available field switches to specify how the index should be ...

Discover More

Copying Found Items to a New Document

Word allows you to use its searching capabilities to easily find multiple items in a document. What if you want to copy ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Word's Native Measurement Unit

Word allows you to specify distances using a number of different measurement units. Figuring out how those measurement ...

Discover More

Embedding Your Phone Number in a Document

One way you can designate your responsibility for a document is to add your phone number to it. There is no need to add ...

Discover More

Viewing Multiple Pages

If you have a large monitor, you can view more than one page at a time in Word. This is very handy when you want to ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is eight minus 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.