Adjusting Margins in Print Preview

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated February 13, 2019)

One of the last steps that many people take with a document before printing is to examine it using Print Preview. This allows you to examine the overall look of your document, without wasting paper. If desired, you can change the margins used in your document by following these general steps:

  1. View your document using Print Preview, as normal.
  2. Make sure the Ruler is displayed in the Print Preview mode. You can do this by clicking on the View Ruler button on the toolbar, the Show Ruler check box on the toolbar, or by choosing Ruler from the View menu. (The exact option you use depends on the version of Word you are using.)
  3. To adjust the top and bottom page margins, position the mouse pointer over one of the places on the vertical Ruler where the Ruler changes color (between gray and white or blue and white). The mouse pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, which you can drag to set a new margin.
  4. To adjust the left and right page margins, use the same technique with the same spots on the horizontal Ruler at the top of the Print Preview window. Finding the spot on the right side of the Ruler is often easier than doing so on the left side because of the paragraph indent markers.
  5. Exit Print Preview or print your document, as desired.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (630) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Protecting Bookmarks

Bookmarks are a great boon in developing and working with documents—until someone deletes them. When it comes to ...

Discover More

Defining and Using Custom Colors

Want to spice up your worksheets with your own custom colors? Here's how to define them easily.

Discover More

Pulling a Phone Number with a Known First and Last Name

When using an Excel worksheet to store data (such as names and phone numbers), you may need a way to easily look up a ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Adding a Background to Your Document

Document backgrounds come in handy if you plan on converting the document to a Web page. Here's how you can add a ...

Discover More

Unable to Set Margins in a Document

If you find that you cannot set the margins in a document, chances are good that it is due to document corruption. Here's ...

Discover More

Changing Page Margins

Part of determining page layout is to specify the size of the margins that surround the text on a page. Word allows you ...

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.

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

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}] 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 four minus 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.

Newest Tips
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.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.