Adjusting Margins in Print Preview

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 8, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

View your document using Print Preview, as normal.
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.)
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.
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.
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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Searching for Character Formatting

Need to look for a piece of text possessing a particular formatting attribute? Here's the skinny on how this is accomplished.

Discover More

Transposing Table Contents

When you transpose information, it is essentially "rotated" in a direction. If you transpose the information in a table, ...

Discover More

Disabling Moving Between Worksheets

If you want someone to not be able to move from one worksheet to another in a workbook, you've got your work cut out for ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Understanding Mirror Margins

Rather than have the margins of your documents always be the same, you can use what Word calls "mirror margins." Here's ...

Discover More

Determining Page Layout

Getting your document onto paper is the whole purpose of word processing. Here are some concepts that are important when ...

Discover More

Avoiding a Section Break Booby Trap

Section breaks got your document formatting all messed up? It could be because of the way you added the section breaks in ...

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 5 - 3?

2021-05-08 13:01:58

Rohn S, MVP 2012-2018

I'm surprised you either extend the versions covered by this tip, it works in ribbon versions, or have a link to a separate article.

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.