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: Margins Incorrect when Printing.

Margins Incorrect when Printing

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 10, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Pamela edits doctoral dissertations for grad students and discovered that the margins on her Word printouts are inaccurate. Although the page setup reflects the appropriate margins, when printed the margins are greater. They also appear irregular and greater in the print view. She has contacted Microsoft directly, but they will not assist her because the software was preloaded by Dell at time of purchase. She contacted Dell, and although they attempted to assist her, they were unsuccessful in resolving this issue.

There are many possible causes for the problem, as described. Unfortunately, tracking down the problem means that you are going to have to engage in some "trial and error" to figure out what is going on.

First, you need to figure out if the problem occurs on all documents or not. If it doesn't, then you know that it has to be a document-specific setting. For instance, check the Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box to see if there is a gutter margin set. If there is, set it to 0 and see if the problem goes away.

Check the other margin settings, as well. For instance, do the margins apply to the whole document, or are there different sections in the document that have different margins specified? Try selecting the whole document with Ctrl+A, viewing the Page Setup dialog box, and applying the desired margins to the Whole Document.

Next, check to see if you have changes tracked in the document. If Track Changes is turned on, Word may be set to print "Final Showing Markup," which can cause some funky margins in the printout. If you suspect this is the case, choose to a different printing mode (in the Print dialog box) or resolve all the outstanding changes before printing.

Another thing to check is the settings on the Print tab of the Options dialog box. For instance, if Allow A4/Letter Resizing is enabled, the output can appear different than what you see on-screen. Similarly, if you have Word configured to print hidden text (but not display it) or to print field codes, this could affect the way that information is printed.

You may also want to check to see if some strange font substitution is going on in your printout. If either Word or your printer is substituting fonts on you, then you can get some strange looking results, often in subtle ways.

You should note that the above settings don't actually affect the margins, but may affect what is printed and give the appearance that the margins are changing in the printout. If you are sure that it is the margins that are changing and not the text itself that is changing, then this indicates that the problem may be related to a printer driver. You'll want to figure out the exact make and model of the printer you are using, along with your version of Windows, and then visit the Web site for the printer manufacturer. Download and install the latest printer driver, and the problem may go away.

You need to make sure that you get the printer driver for your exact model of printer—anything for a "related" printer might give the erroneous results. In addition, you'll want to make sure that you have—in Windows—the proper printer driver selected for your output.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (496) 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: Margins Incorrect when Printing.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using Go To to Jump to a Chart Sheet

Create a chart on its own worksheet, and you can display it by simply clicking the tab at the bottom of the Excel work ...

Discover More

Documents Lock on Their Own

Do you have documents that seem to be locked when you didn't lock them? There are several possible reasons for this ...

Discover More

Excel 2013 PivotTables for the Faint of Heart (Table of Contents)

PivotTables are a powerful tool for consolidating huge amounts of data. PivotTables 2013 for the Faint of Heart ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Upside-Down Text with PostScript

Got a printer that understands PostScript? You can use some simple PostScript coding to turn text completely upside down ...

Discover More

Changing the Default 'Print What' Setting

By default, Word automatically changes the "Print What" setting in the Print dialog box to reflect what it thinks should ...

Discover More

Making Banners in Word

Word can be used for printing a variety of document types. You may want to use the program to print a festive banner for ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is five more than 0?

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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.