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: Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point.

Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 28, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Danny is writing a macro and he need to discover the horizontal position of the insertion point, relative to the left margin, in inches. This can be done by using a rather simple macro, such as the following:

Sub HorPos()
    Location = Selection.Information( _
      wdHorizontalPositionRelativeToTextBoundary)
    MsgBox PointsToInches(Location)
End Sub

The macro uses the Information property to determine the distance from the text boundary, in points. This is then converted to inches and displayed. The text boundary is, most often, the left margin in a normally formatted document. In some circumstances it could also be something else, such as the cell boundary in a table or column boundary in a multi-column format.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3497) 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: Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point.

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

Adding Graphics to a Header or Footer

Excel makes it easy to add graphics to a header or footer, as long as you are using at least Excel 2002. Here's the steps ...

Discover More

Recovering Macros from Corrupted Workbooks

Workbooks get corrupted from time to time; that's a fact of life in an Excel world. If those corrupted workbooks contain ...

Discover More

Calculating a Future Date

Need to figure out a date a certain number of days, weeks, months, or years in the future? It's easy to do using the ...

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)

Counting the Instances of a Text String

Sometimes it is helpful to know how often a particular phrase appears within a document. If you need to know such a ...

Discover More

Removing a Directory

Your macro, in the course of doing some processing, may create a directory that you later need to delete. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Determining an Integer Value

One of the math functions you can use in your macros is the Int function. It provides a way for you to derive an integer ...

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 6 + 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.

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.